The mortuary of the living dead
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The mortuary of the living dead |
| Original title | Not si deve profanare il sonno dei morti |
| Country of production | Italy , Spain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1974 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK confiscated nationwide |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jorge Grau |
| script |
Alessandro Continenza Marcello Coscia Juan Cobos Miguel Rubio |
| production | Edmondo Amati |
| music | Giuliano Sorgini |
| camera | Francisco Sempere |
| cut |
Domingo García Vincenzo Tomassi |
| occupation | |
| |
The mortuary of the living dead (original title: Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti ) is an Italian - Spanish horror film directed by Jorge Grau from 1974. A later performance title was Invasion of the Zombies .
action
The London art dealer George, a free spirit and hippie , drives over the weekend to his new country house in idyllic Windermere to escape the hectic city life and above all the persistent pollution. On the way, his motorcycle is accidentally damaged by the attractive Edna at a gas station and he is initially prevented from continuing his journey. The person who caused the accident, who is currently on the way to her drug-addicted sister Katie and her husband Martin, is forced to take him for a while in her small car in order to later drop him off at a neighboring village where George has an appointment with a craftsman.
The two eventually end up in a region where a commission from the British Department of Agriculture is currently carrying out an experiment with a new type of machine that uses radioactive radiation to control pests and affects the animals' nervous system . What nobody suspects at first is that the “miracle weapon” will raise all the dead in a nearby morgue and turn them into walking corpses.
During a brief stopover, George gets out of the car to ask for directions, while Edna is left alone and is attacked out of the blue by the recently deceased tramp Guthrie, but is not further injured. When George rushes to the aid of his shocked companion, he unconsciously chases away the non-sedentary without really believing in her "story". Rather, he considers them simple-minded. This changes when the community of convenience reaches the Madison's property at night and encounters a panicked Katie, who had previously had a violent argument with her husband, a landscape photographer. Shortly before they arrive, the vagabond Guthrie kills the brave fighting Martin, who is defeated, brutally beaten and torn to pieces, while the panicked Katie manages to escape. The murderer disappears without a trace.
The arch-conservative provincial police inspector who was summoned prejudice Katie, who he classifies as unpredictable due to her heroin addiction and has been admitted to hospital, and also suspects the long-haired George, who in his opinion simply must have something to do with the inexplicable murder. In order to prove his innocence, George researches the mysterious murder case together with Edna, examines Guthrie's empty coffin in the underground morgue of a nearby cemetery and soon believes in the existence of the undead emanating from the machine , who are murdering around the area. At the same moment Edna and George are attacked in the subterranean crypt by the pale zombie Guthrie, who, with the support of two other dead who had previously been brought to life, starts the hunt for the duo.
Since the stubborn inspector believes the innocent motorcyclist is a suspect, he has his people shadow him. One of his police officers, Craig, follows the duo to the remote cemetery area, saves the two of them in dire need from the onslaught of the creatures and then escapes with them into the cemetery chapel, where the group initially barricades themselves. To request help or reinforcement, however, Craig leaves the protective refuge, is caught, killed and mangled by the bloodthirsty zombies. When the three undead finally attack Edna and George in the chapel, George ignites the monsters that quickly catch fire and uses the opportunity with Edna to escape. Then the two separate. When the inspector visits the scene that evening, he clearly establishes that the two fugitive survivors are the real killers.
In the meantime, George succeeds in sabotaging the new pest control machine and thus preventing the experiments for the time being, the effect of which, however, was previously increased to the maximum range of five miles. As a result, more bloodthirsty dead are awakening. To avoid an impending inferno, George plans to burn the contaminated corpse of the murdered Martin Madison, who is in the area of influence of the machine. However, he is found by the angry inspector, who previously took the said corpse to the hospital for an autopsy , and believes neither in the undead nor in his pledges of innocence. In fact, he is so angry that he abuses George during an interrogation. His innocent victim takes the first opportunity and escapes from police custody in the direction of the city hospital, where Martin's corpse is also the confused and injured Edna.
The hospital is meanwhile being controlled by an increasing number of zombies. a. manages to eliminate a large number of patients and the drug addict Katie and turn them into mutated undead. A group of zombies around Katie and Martin then attack the stationary Edna in the intensive care unit, "infect" her when the storming in and rushing to help George suddenly appears. However, the hippie realizes that he is late and liquidates Edna in a previously kindled fire, but is in turn struck down with a revolver by the angry inspector and killed.
After the inspector was able to clear up the supposed mysterious deaths, he is in the focus of the public and the press, which helps him to achieve a certain degree of awareness. At the end of the film, the aging investigator drives in his company car, past modern insect killers, to his hotel, where he is awaited and strangled by the resurrected George.
Awards
- 1974: Winner in the category “Best Actress”: Cristina Galbó
- 1974: Prize winners in the “Best Special Effects” category: Luciano Byrd and Antonio Balandin
- 1974: CEC Medal for Jorge Grau
Reviews
“A disgusting mixture of horror elements, cannibalism, criticism of belief in progress and the police; content and form without any quality. "
“This Spanish-Italian co-production is really not bad at all. Sure, even as a blind person you can tell that the great role model is ' The Night of the Living Dead ' from 1968 by George A. Romero , but the whole thing is nicely staged, is exciting and in parts also quite bloody. [...] nice, dark and very filthy undead fun. "
Web links
- Let Sleeping Corpses Lie in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Mortuary of the Living Dead in the online movie database
- Comparison of the cut versions Bavaria unchecked - Astro unchecked by morgue of the living dead at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Mortuary of the Living Dead. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ cf. http://www.haikosfilmlexikon.de/link/index.php?ID=2327