"I Sell the Dead"

Movie Reviewed Today: I Sell the Dead

Genre: Independent / Horror / Comedy

Starring: Dominic Monaghan
Larry Fessenden
Angus Scrimm (Credited 3rd but really only has ~30 seconds of screentime)
Ron Perlman

Director: Glenn McQuaid

Faced with his impending execution by guillotine for murder, a grave robber (Arthur Blake - Monaghan) tells tales of his life of crime to a priest (Father Duffy - Perlman) in 1800's England. He describes how he got into the business by following Willie Grimes (Fessenden), who had been executed at the beginning of the film, and multiple misadventures that the two had.

This movie is almost like an anthology...sort of, but more like a frame story with separate sections. The overlying story includes Arthur Blake telling tales to the priest. The stories are almost entirely exclusive of each other, so in reality one could probably skip one or two and still get the major idea (not that I would recommend that). Arthur goes into detail about how he started stealing corpses as a child, but eventually discovered that the REAL money was in trafficking the UNdead.

There are serious moments, but most of it is done in a comedic way that is somewhat of a "grim sitcom" style. Many moments were quite goofy, even if they were dealing with graverobbing and the undead. Without spoiling anything, Arthur and Willie encounter many different..."kinds" of corpses, some of which are quite hilarious. I wouldn't say most of the film is "laugh out loud" funny, but it still has that light tone that will easily hold your interest.

Dominic did a great job, though it took me a little while to shake off his old role of Charlie on LOST. Likewise, Ron Perlman had a pretty convincing Irish accent, and though I never heard of Larry Fessenden before this movie, he had a great "grubby poor english criminal" character. Like I noted in the header, Angus Scrimm is credited third, but he was only present very briefly, though he is quite awesome as the old corrupt doctor.

For an indie film the special effects are pretty awesome. There were some moments were there was an obvious green screen, particularly of the panoramic english countryside at night shots, but for the most part the settings are pretty convincing. There isn't much gore for a movie about stealing corpses, but when there is it is done right.

The ending felt extremely rushed. It seemed like the climax and resolution all happened within the last 60-90 seconds. Also, I can't tell if they were leaving it open for a sequel or if the final message was "and they ran off to have more misadventures forever :D "

While it did take me a little while to get into it, and I do feel conflicted about the ending, it was still a pretty fun film. It is also fairly short and sweet, so it has definite replay value and never drags.

Final Score - 7/10