04-15-2007, 08:03 AM
Another re-issue of sorts from Blue Underground and the expired Anchor Bay catalog. In this case I think I'll stick with the original tin for sure! This is set to be released on April 24th!
Pre-Order
Pre-Order
04-15-2007, 08:09 AM
Yes indeed , it's not going to get any better than the Superb Tin set. The Quality of the print was Excellent. The moment when the lead Zombie comes into shot between the open gates during that daytime scene in the open countryside as the camera pans in to those truly eeirie eyes is spine tinglingly creepy even now. A Great movie & one to be grabbed in this new version from Blue Underground for newcomers or those that missed out on the Tin Set but for me I'm very content thankyou. bb
05-06-2007, 07:16 AM
I will stick with my tin and my R2 release that sports the neat hypnotic opening sequence missing from most prints. As stated newbys to this film should grab up a copy as it is one of the best zombie films ever made.
05-24-2007, 08:05 AM
We never got the tin release in Canada, damn!!!
06-04-2007, 01:10 PM
I think this is my favorite Zombie Film.
I have it on VHS though.
I have it on VHS though.
06-04-2007, 07:08 PM
jamiemark Wrote:
We never got the tin release in Canada, damn!!!
We had the tin here in Canada, I bought mine here...
06-09-2007, 11:57 AM
I wrote this review of LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE for the now defunct Horror-Wood webzine back in 2003. The late editor Joseph Meadows turned it down because he felt that LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE crossed a line into total goriness for its own sake and didn't qualify as Classic Horror, which was Horror-Wood's main focus. (And yet Joe ran a series on the works of Herschell Gordon Lewis, the Wizard of Gore). I could never reconcile the contradiction, as Lewis's stuff is trash whereas LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE is a solid well-crafted production with plenty of genuine chills and thrills. This review has never seen daylight, so I present it to you for your amusement and edification.
_____________________________________________
LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974); 95 min. Color. Directed by Jorge Grau. With Ray Lovelock, Christina Galbo and Arthur Kennedy. Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is a surprisingly well-made zombie film that has somehow escaped notice, possibly because it had too many alternate titles. It was simultaneously released as Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue, Don't Open the Window, The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue and Zombi 3. Anchor Bay’s excellent restoration (with image and sound enhancement and 10 minutes of restored footage) should heighten this film’s stature among horror cinephiles.
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is certainly an oddity – a Spanish/Italian coproduction shot in English in northern England, helmed by a Spanish director whose work in the horror genre is limited to three pictures, and starring an obscure Anglo-Italian actor (Ray Lovelock) who delivers a strong performance as the doomed young hero. Excellent in a co-starring role as a bitter policeman is Arthur Kennedy, a five-time Academy Award nominee who had fallen from grace in Hollywood and spent his last working years lending his once classy name to Eurotrash potboilers like The Antichrist (1974) and The Humanoid (1979). Happily, past-his-prime Kennedy fared much better in Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, under the assured guidance of director Jorge Grau, who used Kennedy’s real-life bitterness to great effect.
This was one of the first gut-churners made to cash in on the worldwide success of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). (The history of Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is described in a delightful 20-minute interview with Grau that bookends the film.) But unlike so many derivative efforts, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is directed with intelligence and benefits from an excellent screenplay, co-written by Sandro Continenza and Marcello Coscia. The film offers the requisite gore, but manages to generate concern for the characters and white-knuckle suspense, while building up to masterful scenes of carnage.
George, an art dealer on holiday in the remote and gloomy expanses of the Lake District, becomes the unwilling traveling companion of the troubled Edna (played anemically by Christina Galbo), after she accidentally backs over his motorcycle at a gas station. On the way to the isolated home of Edna’s sister, George encounters a group of technicians testing an experimental pest-control device. Designed as an alternative to chemical pesticides, the contraption uses “ultrasonic radiation” to overload the nervous systems of insects, causing them to turn into crazed cannibals and devour each other. Trouble is, the device creates a similar effect on the dead, reanimating the nervous systems of the recently deceased who lie buried in local churchyards or on slabs in nearby mortuaries. The not-so-dear-departed are returned (very convincingly) to life, with a murderous appetite for human flesh.
As befits a film made in the early 1970s, generational conflict is introduced with Kennedy’s appearance as a foul-tempered, hippie-hating chief of police, who too readily assumes that the bohemian George is responsible for the gruesome killings, simply because he has long hair and bears a slight resemblance to Charles Manson.
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie contains several stunning set pieces, including a very suspenseful scene in which George and Edna are pursued by zombies in a labyrinthine, underground crypt, with no apparent means of escape. At this juncture, the protagonists realize that these zombies are not just shuffling automatons but crafty and intelligent beings, able to develop learning curves and ensnare their hapless prey. It also becomes increasingly evident that these walking dead hold grudges against those among the living who did them dirt.
Sound design by Giuliano Sorgini, visual effects by Gianetto De Rossi and special makeup effects by Juan Antonio Balandin and Luciano Byrd are top-drawer, and it’s a pity that Grau and this team of master craftsmen never worked together again on a horror project.
Anchor Bay’s restoration includes a TV spot and two radio ads for the film’s release in the US under the totally inappropriate title of Don’t Open the Window. A ‘gallery’ of posters and production stills accompanies the frenetic radio pitchman’s voiceovers.
Here’s hoping that Anchor Bay restores Grau’s other classic horror films -- Blood Ceremony (1973), with Lucia Bosè as the real-life blood-drinking countess Elizabeth Bathory; and Penalty of Death (1973), a gory revenge drama starring Fernando Rey and Marisa Mell.
-- Harvey F. Chartrand
_____________________________________________
LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974); 95 min. Color. Directed by Jorge Grau. With Ray Lovelock, Christina Galbo and Arthur Kennedy. Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is a surprisingly well-made zombie film that has somehow escaped notice, possibly because it had too many alternate titles. It was simultaneously released as Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue, Don't Open the Window, The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue and Zombi 3. Anchor Bay’s excellent restoration (with image and sound enhancement and 10 minutes of restored footage) should heighten this film’s stature among horror cinephiles.
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is certainly an oddity – a Spanish/Italian coproduction shot in English in northern England, helmed by a Spanish director whose work in the horror genre is limited to three pictures, and starring an obscure Anglo-Italian actor (Ray Lovelock) who delivers a strong performance as the doomed young hero. Excellent in a co-starring role as a bitter policeman is Arthur Kennedy, a five-time Academy Award nominee who had fallen from grace in Hollywood and spent his last working years lending his once classy name to Eurotrash potboilers like The Antichrist (1974) and The Humanoid (1979). Happily, past-his-prime Kennedy fared much better in Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, under the assured guidance of director Jorge Grau, who used Kennedy’s real-life bitterness to great effect.
This was one of the first gut-churners made to cash in on the worldwide success of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). (The history of Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is described in a delightful 20-minute interview with Grau that bookends the film.) But unlike so many derivative efforts, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is directed with intelligence and benefits from an excellent screenplay, co-written by Sandro Continenza and Marcello Coscia. The film offers the requisite gore, but manages to generate concern for the characters and white-knuckle suspense, while building up to masterful scenes of carnage.
George, an art dealer on holiday in the remote and gloomy expanses of the Lake District, becomes the unwilling traveling companion of the troubled Edna (played anemically by Christina Galbo), after she accidentally backs over his motorcycle at a gas station. On the way to the isolated home of Edna’s sister, George encounters a group of technicians testing an experimental pest-control device. Designed as an alternative to chemical pesticides, the contraption uses “ultrasonic radiation” to overload the nervous systems of insects, causing them to turn into crazed cannibals and devour each other. Trouble is, the device creates a similar effect on the dead, reanimating the nervous systems of the recently deceased who lie buried in local churchyards or on slabs in nearby mortuaries. The not-so-dear-departed are returned (very convincingly) to life, with a murderous appetite for human flesh.
As befits a film made in the early 1970s, generational conflict is introduced with Kennedy’s appearance as a foul-tempered, hippie-hating chief of police, who too readily assumes that the bohemian George is responsible for the gruesome killings, simply because he has long hair and bears a slight resemblance to Charles Manson.
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie contains several stunning set pieces, including a very suspenseful scene in which George and Edna are pursued by zombies in a labyrinthine, underground crypt, with no apparent means of escape. At this juncture, the protagonists realize that these zombies are not just shuffling automatons but crafty and intelligent beings, able to develop learning curves and ensnare their hapless prey. It also becomes increasingly evident that these walking dead hold grudges against those among the living who did them dirt.
Sound design by Giuliano Sorgini, visual effects by Gianetto De Rossi and special makeup effects by Juan Antonio Balandin and Luciano Byrd are top-drawer, and it’s a pity that Grau and this team of master craftsmen never worked together again on a horror project.
Anchor Bay’s restoration includes a TV spot and two radio ads for the film’s release in the US under the totally inappropriate title of Don’t Open the Window. A ‘gallery’ of posters and production stills accompanies the frenetic radio pitchman’s voiceovers.
Here’s hoping that Anchor Bay restores Grau’s other classic horror films -- Blood Ceremony (1973), with Lucia Bosè as the real-life blood-drinking countess Elizabeth Bathory; and Penalty of Death (1973), a gory revenge drama starring Fernando Rey and Marisa Mell.
-- Harvey F. Chartrand
02-02-2008, 03:04 PM
zombi69 Wrote:
jamiemark Wrote:
We never got the tin release in Canada, damn!!!
We had the tin here in Canada, I bought mine here...
Where?? I work at HMV and was unsuccessful getting any in......
02-22-2008, 08:46 AM
I read that this new release is a considerable imporovement in terms of extras so it might be a nice supplimentary copy to the Anchor Bay release - included are interviews with Ray Lovelock and Jorge Grau revisiting locations in the North of England where the film was shot. Also various different title sequences as well. If the price is good I would pick it up, it's one of the few Zombie movies I find interesting as well as entertaining (!)
Still no interview with Cristina Galbo sadly...
Still no interview with Cristina Galbo sadly...