Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

This under-seen Spanish zombie film is well-worth digging up.

Directed by: Jorge Grau

Cinematography by: Francisco Sempere

Country: Spain/Italy

Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi/Mystery/Thriller

Post-Night of the Living Dead (1968), but pre-Dawn of the Dead (1978), Spanish director Jorge Grau’s cult hit, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (aka The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue), was a markedly early addition to the zombie film sub-genre (it really took off in the 1980s). Before the tropes of the genre had been cemented, the living dead in this hybrid sci-fi horror crime-thriller are still shambling and bloodthirsty, but they aren’t as mindless as most zombies we see on screen.

Grau’s zombies retain a certain cunning, often using tools and teamwork to get at their victims, and seem to have a supernatural ability to raise the dead themselves. While George A. Romero often used his zombie films to confront socio-political issues (e.g., race, consumerism, dogmatic militarism), Grau’s film takes an environmentalist stance; in Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, an experimental machine that uses sonic radiation as a pesticide has adverse effects when it begins raising the dead. Broodingly atmospheric and under-seen, it’s a hidden gem worth digging up. *blatant winky face*

Distributed by: Anchor Bay Entertainment / Hallmark Releasing / Blue Underground / Synapse Films