I SELL THE DEAD

I SELL THE DEAD (2008)
US
Directed by Glenn Mcquaid

CAST:
Dominic Monaghan - Arthur Blake
Larry Fessenden - Willie Grimes
Ron Perlman - Father Duffy

PLOT:
     A grave robber reflects on his life of crime.

 REVIEW:
     This movie was another one that I heard about that was playing on festival circuits but was never able to get hold of or go and see. So once I got a copy of it, I had plans to watch it right away. Yet here it is a year later and I finally got around to watching it with JeNee (it was her pick for a movie).

      Dominic Monaghan has to be giving credit more than anyone else in the movie cause he's the audiences connection to the film and he does a admirably good job at it. Not to mention him describing sandwiches is one of the best scenes in the film. While the flash back scenes are the true story and are fun to watch, as it's Monaghan and Larry Fessenden's characters making one mistake after another as grave robbers, it's his scenes with Ron Perlman that truly made his character become more fleshed out.  But it is Larry Fessenden who draws the most attention when he's on screen. His look is perfect for his role as the senior grave digger Willie Grimes. But to really see the fun he has, wait until the end of the movie. Not going to say what it is, but it is classic! Not much more can be said of Ron Perlman as he does what he does best. That is to say he's just awesome!

     The look of the film is truly amazing as you can tell it barely had a budget, but what the filmmakers pulled off, just goes to show how a little ingenuity can go a long way. From old country roads to cemeteries that seem huge, each set piece looks like it belongs in a big budget movie. The plot while it seems disjointed when put all together, as it does jump around a lot, it's that way due to the original script for  the movie was as an anthology type of movie. Due to this the movie feels like a couple of episodes of Amazing Stories put together with couple of Tales From The Crypt for good measure. Not that this is a bad thing, but it does make the film lose focus in parts. Or you could say that it slows the movie down more than it should be, mostly in the interview scenes. I'm not going to go into the different scenarios that happen as that's where most of the fun in the movie is, but I will say the third mini-story is just a "what the" type story that it puts levity in the movie that wasn't needed, but yet it just adds to the film.

      The only way to describe this movie is that it is a homage to the horror films of Hammer and EC Comics. It has the atmosphere of those classic films down to a science. It has the look of those old films as well, lots of fog from fog machines, backgrounds that aren't really there unless it's of the countryside or a actual location shot. Even the gallows humor is there that was present during those old movies. While it isn't the most original movie ever made, it is fun and a quick way to spend an hour and a half. The only problem I had is that I waited so long to actually watch the movie. All in all I don't have anything I can really complain about in the movie as it doesn't try to be more than it is, but what it does do it does surprisingly well!

BEST DEATH:
     Flying knife from out of nowhere.

BEST LINE:
      Sandwich.

FUN FACTS:
     A graphic novel of the film was released by Image Comics in 2009.

     Scareflix has plans a sequel.

     Look for a cameo from Angus Scrimm, the Tall Man from the Phantasm movies in the role of Dr. Vernon Quint.