Let Sleeping Corpses Lie = Badass Entertainment

I Love me some Zombieness, but in recent years I feel that the horror of a Zombie holocaust has lost some of it's "edge". Now I have loved some of the more recent Zombie movies that have come out (Shaun, Both 28's, Land and yes, Even Diary) they have never made me feel the dread and horror that old school Romero and Fulci could provide. Well, tonight, I have found that movie. A little movie made in 1974 and directed by Jorge Grau. Creepy landscape-check. Ghouls-check. Gut munching- oh yeah but not as much as you would expect from a '70's European flick.

"Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" is a slow burn. George leaves his shop in London for a few quite days in the scotish countryside. When he goes to fill up his motorcycle with gas we meet Edna, who so kindly backs into his bike. With repairs needed , George decides that the only fair way is that Edna drives him to his destination. He comes off like a true pompous asshole. And what procedes is something that is somewhat unheard of in any recent zombie movie...character development. I didn't like George at all.

Eventually Edna persuades George to take her to her sister's house with the promise that George can take the car and she'll send someone later to pick it up. Really, let the stranger take the car. This is one of many funny, possibly intentional, possibly not moments that really make the movie. I found it to be some devilishly black humor but that is for you to decide.

Oh wait, I'm talking Zombies here, right? So the government is testing a new device to kill bugs on a farm, some sort of gamma ray device where the bugs go crazy and cannabalize themselves. There is only one problem...

I don't want to give away too much of this wonderful film. It owes a lot to Uncle Geogre's "Night" but it is it's own film. The "Zombie rules" are very different, and even though I'm a Romero purist, I accepted them. No the zombies don't have super human speed, but they do have a certain intelligence that makes this a very welcome entry to the genre. The gore is not extreme but when it happens it is quite extreme.

Going into this I thought that it would be a good example of European '70's exploitation horror, what it is is a very well made piece of cinema by a very confident director and a very damn creepy movie. In fact the first movie I've seen in years when I have felt a great sense of dread throughout.

Grace review next, I swear, but since I have no readers, who's going to complain?

Until next time...