Glass Eye Pictures is a New York-based company that has produced some quality horror films recently. They are one of the only companies that knows how to make both serious and comic horror films. Their latest indie feature is a horror comedy, I SELL THE DEAD, a film that has the style of CREEPSHOW, the feel of a Hammer film and a comedy style similar to the Monty Python movies.
I SELL THE DEAD is about the body-snatching, grave-robbing adventures of Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan) and Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden). The duo starts off small, robbing bodies from – and making very little money selling them to – Dr. Vernon Quint (Angus Scrimm), who is obsessed with fresh corpses. After years of robbing graves together, the duo comes across the grave of a woman with garlic around her neck and a stake in her heart. After removing the stake, they find themselves fighting a vampire. After putting the stake back into her heart, they realize they have stumbled onto something of occult origin and they soon start to gain popularity by finding and unearthing unusual corpses to sell. However, a rival gang of grave robbers is trying to steal these unusual corpses from Arthur and Willie. Wanting to get back at the rival gang, Art and Willie learn that a ship has come ashore on a small island off the coast, with some odd and unusual corpses on board. When they get to the ship, however, the rival gang is there and a bloodbath ensues, leaving Willie and Arthur to fight their way off the island. Arthur tells the story throughout the movie to Father Duffy (Ron Perlman), who has a fascination with the grave robbers’ history together.
Writer/Director Glenn McQuaid really catches the spirit of the old Hammer films while presenting a layout that has the comic book feel of the CREEPSHOW films. The script is very character-driven but also has a balanced story full of great shocking horror with comedy reminiscent of the Monty Python films, and has the appeal of EVIL DEAD. Some points in the story are slow; scenes crammed with dialogue that probably could have been shortened during the editing process, but with a running time of only eighty-five minutes, I can understand why the scenes remain.
The film has some faces very familiar to the genre. Dominic Monaghan, of LORD OF THE RINGS and the television series LOST, is fantastic as Arthur Blake; and Ron Perlman, of HELLBOY fame, is great in his small role as Father Duffy, however, the best performance in this film comes from Larry Fessenden as Willie Grimes. Fessenden is perfect for the part, and really gives it his all. Most horror fans probably do not know that Fessenden is actually the producer of the film and is the mastermind of the Glass Eye Pictures label$. He also has directed a lot of other films, such as THE LAST WINTER and WENDIGO. The rest of the cast are good in their parts, as well. I also cannot forget to mention Angus Scrimm as the nasty Dr. Quint. He is best known as the scary tall man in the PHANTASM films, but in this one, he is not only scary, but one hell of a mean bastard.
The film has decent production values. While some of it looks as if it takes place on a theatrical stage, I think that is the look director Glenn McQuaid intended to pay homage to the classic Hammer films of the 1950s and ’60s. The set design and the makeup effects are top-notch, especially the look of the zombies and vampires. For a film with such a small budget, the effects are better than many seen in big-budget features.
I SELL THE DEAD is a film that horror fans who have an appreciation for the classic HAMMER films and comic books will love. It is not a film for the everyday teenage horror fan that lives off the cliché Hollywood format. This is real Horror Comedy at its best. It is a film that packs all the punches and delivers the goods. It is entertaining; it is funny and at times a bit scary. Well worth checking out.
– Horror Bob
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- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
