Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

- Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti
"You're all the same the lot of you, with your long hair and faggot clothes.", 24 May 2006

And to think, I've avoided this movie for years. I love horror movies, but I'm not the biggest zombie fan in the world. But Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is different. It's intelligent, dark, witty, and creepy – and that's a hard combination to achieve. I've read a number of reviews that complain about the acting and I don't get it. I thought that Cristina Galbo, Ray Lovelock, and Arthur Kennedy were excellent in their roles. No one was going to win an award for this movie, but they're certainly not as bad as others have indicated. I also appreciate the fact that the film features what I'll call scenes of "controlled gore". There certainly are a few disturbing images, but Director Jorge Grau never lets the gore go over-the-top into quasi-parody and that's a good thing. My only complaint would be with the final scene. It's just so unnecessary. Let the movie end on a dark note. There's nothing wrong with that.

8/10