…This film was released as ‘Dont look out the Window’ in the US…and im still not entirely sure why…The only reasoning I have is that it somehow got swept up into the ‘Dont’ craze that bought us ‘Dont answer the phone’, ‘Dont go in the house’, ‘Dont go into the woods (alone!)’ and Edgar Wrights parody ‘Dont!’

Anyway, confusing titling aside, I think the more universally known title of ‘The Living dead at the Manchester morgue’ is probably about as good a summary of the film as its going to get. I was recommended this film by Seth over on the ‘Hellbound Horror’ youtube channel last year. Synapse films had a sale, it was kind of meant to be. Had it not been for stuff going on in my personal life, i’d have probably caught this a LOT sooner. and now having seen this one, I kind of wish I had!

The plot follows George and Edna, George is an art dealer who’s about to have an extended weekend getaway. The plan is simple, he’s travelling up to Lake Windemere to sell an item to a client, then continuing on to a cottage where he’s going to meet with some friends who are simultaineously renovating the place, and getting some much needed R&R.

Things get a bit squiffy when George pulls in to top up the gas on his motorcycle and ends up being rear shunted by a lady named Edna, the bikes badly damaged and cant be repaired till Monday at the earliest, leaving George without transport for the weekend. Without flinching, he basically manhandles the keys to Ednas Mini cooper from her tells her she’ll be obliging him a trip to Windemere in exchange for damaging his bike, and that he’ll be driving. To which Edna, kind of baffled, relents and gets in with him.

The pair go careering off down winding country lanes getting into several near misses, before Edna realises that they cant go directly to Windemere because she needs to go to South end before sundown to meet with her sister, and if she misses the link up, it could be disasterous. George kicks off big time, but when he sees how important it is to Edna, he relents.

But problems plague the trip and the pair get lost, arriving at a farm in the middle of nowhere, George goes to get directions, and tells Edna to wait for him. and its here two things happen. George meets a farmer working with the agricultural department on a top secret experimental ‘radiation’ alternative to pesticides. and Edna is attacked by a man with blood red eyes, whos soaking wet. When Edna gets to George to tell him about the attack, the mans gone. and they shrug it off as ‘women…am I right lads’…Oh! I forgot to mention, George is a MASSIVE ass for about 2/3rds of this film…one of the only issues I have with this thing honestly.

and, I cant really go much further than that, as what follows is a tale of mystery, twists and turns and plot intreagues that’ll see George and Edna WAY in over there heads dealing with scientists, the police and the reanimated corpses of the long deceased!

And honestly, my advice to you is go into this one knowing as little as possible, the more you know, the less impact this film will have. Its good! REALLY good! like…given this is a zombie movie that predates Dawn and Day of the dead, and is only 6 years on from ‘Night of the living dead’ its actually kind of incredibly how fully formed this is as a zombie film. Not to mention that it clearly influenced a whole SHED load of productions ranging from ‘Halloween 3’ through to ‘Zombi’, ‘The Thing’ to the remake of ‘Invasion of the body Snatchers’

Its a damn near perfect slow burn suspense horror film, with my only gripes really being script driven, and thats that the first act is maybe just a *Tiny* bit too slow for its own good, it picks up pace quick and by the 2nd act its all systems go, but theres maybe just a little bit *too* much idling around in the back roads of Derbyshire in the opening…and the decision to make George one of the most unlikeable characters i’ve seen since Robin Askwyths turn in ‘Horror Hospital’. They do ultimately redeem him a bit in the back half of the film, but for the first 30 minutes or so, he’s arrogant, rude, blunt, unpleasent, domaneering, vaguely sexist, and aggressive. if they hadnt mellowed him out, the film would have been a wash for me honestly…

But! outside of that its aces across the board, the scripts suspensful, slow burn, the characters are all well written and multi-layered, the act structuring is pretty solid, the plot is engaging and interesting with twists I genuinely didnt see coming. and an ending thats satisfying and a bit unexpected.

The direction and cine are both amazing with gorgeous location work of the peak district, married up to some solid set work from Rome. its a rich and sumptuous looking film that really comes into its own in HD. its not afraid to experiment, theres hearty amounts of gore and some VERY interesting and boundary pushing kills for 1974. the whole film feels about 5 years ahead of its time honestly. only beaten by the edit for the film which is clearly carefully considered and arranged. Its about as good as a film from the early 70s can look on a production level honeslty, it puts a fair few studio grade pictures to shame

The performances are solid too with great turns from the main cast, and a solid bedrock in the supporting cast too, I dont think theres a bad turn here honestly…and the soundtrack is SO eerie and otherworldly. its unique honestly, punctuates the film perfectly and isnt overbearing against the other elements of the production.

Honestly? My only regret is I was making some notes on this film while watching it for the first time, which meant I had to keep pausing and playing and replaying scenes to get the information I needed. It made what was probably one of the best films i’ve seen this year feel a bit juddery. Which is on me of course. All I can say is, if you havent seen this one, go watch it as soon as you can, and I really cant wait to give this one a respin sometime soon!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-living-dead-at-manchester-morgue/