Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Now if you are a horror fan or a zombie fan, this film definately fits the bill. This takes place in the rural parts of England, mostly outside of Manchester. The premise is based around a newly introduced couple, one heading to visit her sister and the other a salesman in antiquities who mistakenly meet when the woman puts the salesman's motorcycle in shop after hitting it at a gas station. The two, taking trips to the outskirts of Manchester, head out together to their destinations, soon find that all is not well in the rural farm lands of Manchester. Odd attacks that lead to the deaths of folks have occurred and the leads are eventually placed in situations of life and death unaware of who is the murderer since it appears the murderer is mistaken for someone that is already dead. The lead male, however, soon concludes that an expirmental and environmentally friendly agricultural tractor using magnetic and radio waves to kill the insect pests of crops may in some way be causing the recently dead to rise from the grave.

A cat and mouse game begins between the local police chief, played by the splendid character actor Arthur Kennedy (Lawrence of Arabia), and the salesman who continues his rants about living dead, irresponsible government science, and having been at the wrong place at the wrong time during the deaths of constables. This leads to a number of scenes of suspense, horror, and unfortunate calamity. With the word of only the salesman, the police scoff at him and his rants and begin to believe with a great amount of circumstantial evidence that maybe he is the guilty one. When the small number of zombies do attack around the epicenter of the agricultural machine, they leave no one alive to validate his facts and soon the salesman finds himself wanted by the police.

This movie is a classic for the genre. The screenplay takes a great deal of care making the zombie epicenter a very localized occurrence. This makes the film feel much more realistic (for a subject that is supernatural). Having a lone survivor of a morgue attack at a cemetary or a hospital have no one backing their stories with the only evidence being recently autopsied dead bodies appearing defiled by the witness and doctors or morticians killed is ingenious. This is no apocalyptic film. This is pure horror, localized and limited to a small section of a small village.

The movie does have some flaws, though minor in detail. Some of the dialogue is dated (Arthur Kennedy's police chief rant about hippies was classic). The gratuitous B-movie blood and boobs crowd seem to get an unexplained full frontal nude woman in a wig run across the streets of Manchester for no apparent reason at the beginning of the film. I actually still don't know what the point of that was especially when the director could have gotten some non-gratuitious nudity in the film later for such a crowd. There were a few contrivances that could have been tightened up. And a tacked on ending was not needed and should have been dropped completely from the film; in the documentary on disk 2, the lead actor even says this stating the film could have been ended a minute earlier at a more brilliant conclusion.

The DVD has many extras and is definately a nice package. For the film, and its genre, it most certainly is rated 5 out of 5 stars.

The main characters George and Edna meet each other through a very minor traffic accident. They make a deal to help each other out by traveling together to their destinations. They then find themselves facing the law when they become suspects in a murder due to a zombie attack. From there things begin to take off.

I really have to admit that true horror films like this spoil me. It's the reason why I'm so picky about my horror. And it's easy for me to brush off these mindless "fun" gorefest that just makes the brain soggy by the second. Night of the Living Dead and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie should be the blueprint for anyone trying to put together an outstanding zombie film.

The film is very slow getting started. It utilizes its atmosphere setting the tone for the grim encounters with the undead. The creepiness brings out the absolute best in the horror scenes. The build up to most of the zombie encounters are very well done.

The film also does a very good job with its believeable subplots. This adds to the overall story being told and they do come together by the end. I also loved the detailed gore scenes. When I look for a zombie film, I want to see some zombie terror and Corpses certainly delivers on that end. The scenes aren't overdone which is a plus as well.

This is a zombie film that is very high on my favorite list, number two to be exact. And one of my favorite horror films ever. I highly recommend this to those who enjoy well thought out horror. Don't come into this expecting anything fast paced. You will leave disappointed.