George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in 1968 changed the way horror approached zombies, and Dawn of the Dead’s success in Europe in 1978 inspired a wake of copycats hoping to achieve similar success. In between was Jorge Grau’s The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, released in Spain on November 28, 1974. Years ahead of Dawn, therefore free to forge its own path, Grau borrowed Romero’s concept of the living dead and bold social commentary through a zombie lens to craft one of horror’s greatest zombie films of all time.
The film centers around George (Ray Lovelock) and Edna (Christina Galbo), a couple of city hippies that meet when Edna backs into George’s motorcycle at a petrol station. She’s on her way to visit her troubled sister, while he’s on his way to visit friends. It so happens that the area is undergoing a new experimental pest control method in the form of ultrasonic radiation, and it intersects with our protagonists when it wakes the dead and causes a wave of grisly murders.
Distrustful of hippies, the local police believe the culprits to be the new pair in town, and the onus is on George and Edna to clear their names.
In other words, this plays out like a murder mystery of sorts with a target set on the counter-culture movement. While the audience is aware of the real undead offenders, and Edna and George have a significant clue, the prejudices of the police leave them entirely in the dark. Edna’s sister is a drug addict, and George and Edna are assumed to be Satan worshippers by the police. The leading pair arrive in town at the earliest stage of the living dead rising, so these zombies are few and far between for a good portion of the narrative. The police don’t encounter the undead and the few that do never live to tell the tale. Between confirmation bias and the fact that the bodies were starting to pile up after Edna and George’s arrival, well, it makes sense. Especially when you factor in fear of youth and counter culture that was prevalent of this time, post-Manson murders.
Whereas Romero’s seminal film made a statement on race, Grau wove in an allegory on youth and counter-culture versus authority, playing with relevant social fears of its time.
Manchester Morgue is a Euro-horror film, though, so it does get pretty grisly for many of the film’s characters. Legendary makeup effects artist and frequent Lucio Fulci collaborator Gianetto De Rossi (The Beyond, Zombie, High Tension) handled the splattery gore effects, and his work ensured that this film eventually landed a spot on the Video Nasties list. Namely, it fell under Section 2’s non-prosecuted films. Which is to say, that while De Rossie cut loose with the viscera just a few years later with Zombie, Manchester Morgue is no slouch in the gore department. Especially in the third act.
This Spanish-Italian co-production saw international release under a dozen or so different titles. Titles like Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue, Zombi 3, Do Not Speak Ill of the Dead and most commonly Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. Stateside, it was released in 1975 under the title Don’t Open the Window and paired with The Last House on the Left as a drive-in double feature. It was this bizarre pairing and promotion that inspired director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) to make his Don’t trailer in 2007’s Grindhouse.
Synapse Films unveiled a gorgeous 4K restoration print this summer, which screened across the country in the festival circuit. There’s no date yet, but that 4K restoration will make its way to Blu-ray soon. The Blue Underground print of the film is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, too. Considering the film is celebrating its 45th anniversary, almost one full year after Grau’s passing, there’s no better time than now to check out this fantastic cult Euro-horror film if you haven’t yet.
Jorge Grau took only the barest characteristics of Night of the Living Dead to craft something wholly different, a lush, gorgeous horror film full of atmosphere and gore but with a lot on its mind. Stuck between Night of the Living Dead and the splatterific Italian zombie films of the ‘80s, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue is a bit of an odd outlier. That’s also what makes it one of the best zombie films of all time.
