Monday, 3 December 2012

THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE

1974, Jorge Grau, 93 mins.

Zombies bring chaos to the North of England.



A smashingly effective zombie movie which is distinguished not only by an intelligent screenplay and strong characterisations but also by atmospheric location filming in Manchester, the Peak District and the Lake District – although the Manchester Morgue sadly doesn’t make an appearance. It’s slower paced that some genre films and takes more time to establish characters which gives strong opportunities for a good cast amongst which Arthur Kennedy really shines as an extremely right-wing policeman less concerned with the living dead than the long-haired hero who keeps getting in  the way. Director Grau’s insistence on an ecological subtext is, at the very least, distinctive with much emphasis on various kinds of pollution. The horror takes a while to get going but once the zombies are on the loose, Gianetto De Rossi’s make-up effects come into their own to utterly stunning effect.

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