I Sell the Dead (2008)

Director:

Glenn McQuaid

Writer:

Glenn McQuaid (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

Never Trust A Corpse

Plot:

A grave robber reflects on his life of crime.

Plot Keywords:

Grave | Grave Robber | Guillotine | Corpse | Threatened With Knife

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Dominic Monaghan	...	Arthur Blake
Ron Perlman	...	Father Duffy
Larry Fessenden	...	Willie Grimes
Angus Scrimm	...	Dr. Vernon Quint
John Speredakos	...	Cornelius Murphy
Eileen Colgan	...	Maisey O'Connell
Brenda Cooney	...	Fanny Bryers
Daniel Manche	...	Young Arthur Blake
Joel Garland	...	Ronnie
James Godwin	...	Mark 1
Alisdair Stewart	...	Bulger
Heather Robb	...	Myrtle Murphy
Aidan Redmond	...	Jack Flood
Heather Bullock	...	Valentine Kelly
Patrick Bucklew	...	Creature #2

Runtime:

USA:85 min | Argentina:85 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Australia:MA (2009)

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Company:

Glass Eye Pix

Trivia:

A graphic novel of the film has been released, with Glenn McQuaid writing and illustrations by Brahm Revel (October, 2009).

Movie Connections:

References Frankenstein (1931)

Watch This Movie! It's Fun, Exciting, and Unbelievably Original.

I sell the dead revolves around convicted grave robber Arthur Blake. Blake's friend and fellow grave robber Willie Grimes has just been executed and Blake is going to follow suit the next morning. While he sits in his cell awaiting his execution a priest named Father Duffy comes in and asks him if he will tell all he has seen as a grave robber. He then proceeds to give Father Duffy a quasi biography of his more interesting exploits.

The plot pretty much consists of several incidents only tied together by chronology. This prevents the viewer from ever getting bored but it also makes the events less significant as you could easily add or remove a lot of scenes without noticing it much. Though flawed, I thought overall this method added to the fun loving nature of the film and kept it very entertaining. Most of the various stories are good, specifically the alien, the Murphy's and the vampire, but others weren't so great.

The acting isn't amazing but I didn't find it bad at any point. Dominic Monaghan had a good performance as he managed to be serious when it mattered and also play very well into the comedic parts of the film.

The characters were not extremely in-depth, but they were all interesting. I also enjoyed how a number of the villains were done in a over-the-top almost comic book manner. The part with the back story of the Murphy's and their gang is priceless.

So overall, I Sell the Dead very successfully combines horror, comedy and sci-fi into a mish mash of fun and excitement. It is one of the more interesting and original movies I have seen in a while, and it's unfortunate that independent films like this don't get more recognition.