I Sell the Dead

Directed By: Glenn McQuaid

Starring: Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, Larry Fessenden, Angus Scrimm, Brenda Cooney

Synopsis: Sometime in the 18th Century, graverobbers Willie Grimes and Arthur Blake are finally captured and brought to justice. While Grimes has a date with the guillotine, Blake is given a brief respite in order to tell his life-story to a priest called Father Duffy. Blake tells of how he met Grimes as a young boy and his apprenticeships as a grave robber, before stumbling upon an even more macabre profession – selling the Undead...



Review:

I sell the Dead is a bit of a strange beast, a mix of classic Hammer Horror atmosphere with some decidedly quirky humour and the odd moment of zombie action. Not to mention vampires and the corpse of an extra-terestial...

Dominic Monaghan (Charlie from Lost) plays Arthur Blake as a man resigned to his fate, even though he knows that he and Grimes were framed (a trail of dead body parts led the police straight to their door) and gamely tells Father Duffy about his life of stealing corpses for a sinister doctor who needed cadavers for his experiments. The early scenes are quite quaint and amusing, especially when as a young lad he steals a body from a Wake. Things get interesting though when they hear of a body buried at a cross-roads.

The introduction of the supernatural is what lifts the story. This is played completely straight although manages to be farcical at the same time. Blake and Grimes take the concept of vampires and zombies in their stride and find there is a lot more money to be made.

Larry Fessenden reminds me a bit of Harry Enfield and some of the scenes between Grimes and Blake do come across like a sketch from his tv show. However the movie manages to convey an old-school gothic horror atmosphere – full of dark cobbled alleyways and fog-covered moors.

The special effects are well-handled for the most part. Only a knife to the forehead effect looks like it was unfinished. The zombie and vampire make-up are particularly well done – especially the vampire, who is their first encounter with the Undead.

If I had one complaint, it's that we don't get to spend enough time with the Murphy gang, a truly evil group of ghouls who are experts at dealing with the Undead (as compared to our two amateurs). The woman in the mask in particular warrants more time for sure.

Verdict:

An off-kilter comedy with a gallows humour, I Sell the Dead is a very entertaining movie with some very good performances. The atmosphere is well-maintained throughout although some scenes look like they are set on a stage rather than in a film.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)