Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This Italian movie was filmed in the UK and features mostly dubbed actors. However, Arthur Kennedy provides his own voice...and that's a real shame! THis is because you assume he's supposed to be Irish but his accent comes and goes...and often he just sounds like an American. It also is a movie with 16 different titles!The film is set in a rural part of the UK. Some folks from the Department of Agriculture have deployed a machine that kills bugs by using sonic waves or the like. However, folks don't realize it also causes gestating babies to be born evil and the dead become flesh- eating zombies. Some people witness this but, of course, the police are too stupid to listen. In fact, no one seems to learn anything from all this and it ends of a very downbeat note!The film is a mixed bag. On one hand some of the characters act like inexplicably like idiots. For example, in one scene Martin is being killed while his girlfriend just stands there screaming (a bad movie cliché) and when the zombie comes after her, her reaction is unintentionally funny! There's also a stupid scene where a guy can't start his car and his girlfriend is driving off...and he never bothers to honk the horn, just yell! Duh. Despite people being dummies now and then, the film IS pretty exciting. The blood, gore and other effects are excellent for the early 1970s and the movie does have a very scary aura about it. Worth watching...just make sure NOT to think too much while watching this gore-fest....and it really IS awfully gory.

"Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" haphazardly follows George and Edna, two strangers who are united on a trip to a small English village. Little do they know, they are about to become implicated in a series of apparent murders that are a result of zombies who are being revived through an experimental pesticide operation being used on local farms.The film opens with a montage of pollution, dead animals, and industrial wasteland from Northern England, which sets in place the film's overarching ecological subtext, but "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" is a through-and-through zombie flick that makes no bones about it. The film is interesting in the sense that it rests on eerie imagery and soundtrack to make for horrific zombie encounters, while divvying in a good deal of zombie gore that is appalling but not overtly gratuitous. The narrative is a bit wonky in terms of trajectory and character relations, but it has a weird '70s charm to it that allows me to forgo criticizing it.What makes the film stand out among all else, however, is the somber landscapes and the wide shots in which they are photographed, which accentuate the isolation and atmospheric disconsolation of Northern England. The photography of the village and surrounding land is what really makes this film stand out— it's beautiful but haunting, and is an entirely unique (and strangely appropriate) setting for zombies to roam. Key scene: the first zombie encounter at the river with Edna. Absolutely terrifying, and perhaps one of my favorite scenes in any horror film ever— that's saying something too, especially since I am not one who typically enjoys zombie films. 9/10.

I recently attended ALL NIGHT HORROR MADNESS 8 at the Edinburgh Cameo, where I happened to see THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE for the first time. I have been a fan of horror movies for 25 years or so, but somehow just never managed to catch this one until now. Among the many other zombie movies I am familiar with, Romero's original Night Of The Living Dead is perhaps my favourite and serves as a benchmark with which I gauge all others!I thought this movie generally succeeded as a horror movie as such; the zombies are pretty scary and there is a copious amount of gore and flesh-eating. There is a predominant atmosphere throughout of dread and portending doom. The film felt pretty well directed and the camera work was capable and at moments very creative. The script itself had a fairly intriguing back-story and plot, although it is not clear to me whether the dialogue was any better in it's original Italian.Dialogue was one of it's failings, perhaps let down by poor translation into English or the Italians not grasping how Brits really talk. The dubbed voice-talents at times were unintentionally hilarious! There was a wide range of regional accents adopted by the voice-over crew - ironically, not one of them an actual Manchester accent! Many of the actors' performances felt either too hammy or too wooden. Ray Lovelock's portrayal of George, the erst-while hero was slightly irritatingly too flippant in fact. Christina Ghabo was satisfactory as the main girl Edna but Jeannine Mestre, who played her hysterical junkie sister Katie, was way too over the top! I appreciate the era that this movie came out, so am aware that the Italians were churning out horrors by the dozen at a time at this point. Hence why some of it may be rushed or to a strict budget.I liked the apparent underlying themes in this film. Issues with the environment are possibly more relevant today than they were back then. The suggestion that the cause for the outbreak of the undead was caused by experimental agricultural pest control radiation is entirely original! The other theme played out was the very familiar "Establishment vs Counter-culture" trope. The some-what overbearing Jack-the-lad type hero and his nemesis, a decidedly extreme right-wing Chief Inspector (superbly carried off by Arthur Kennedy), belong squarely in their own era and are properly out-dated for younger audiences to identify with. In fact, they might miss the point of the adversity from both sides; counter-culture really doesn't exist now as it did in the 60's and 70's or the outrage it seemed to provoke in older, middle-class people.All over, I found this very enjoyable; marred perhaps by production value but bolstered by original ideas. From 1974, it was released after Night Of The Living Dead but before the more famous zombie flicks of the 80's, so it may seem to some to be not very good. However, I would argue that having only the one predecessor to be influenced by, it manages to be truly unique. In approach and tone it feels to me to be Night Of The Living Dead crossed with Lucio Fulci's City Of The Living Dead. I would definitely recommend this to any zombie film fan or anyone who likes retro horror cinema.

it felt to me like if Fulci directed night of the living dead. It is similar to most Fulci films in that the quiet somber tone makes the unviolent parts almost unwatchable to the point where i start dozing off. Then a gory moment pops in and im wide awake. Luckily the second half of this movie went at a quicker pace and kept my attention. The gore was well done although there weren't any particularly memorable moments of blood. The ending however was totally unexpected and pretty much was the part that won this movie over for me as something slightly above your average zombie movie. The characters were highly forgettable except for mayyyyybe the cop. If you are really into your Italian horror than i would guess that you would like this movie. I've never been a huge fan but thought the beyond and zombi2 were both alright, this is along the same lines as those two.