I Sell the Dead (2008)

What makes it different from others?

Fresh and Exciting

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

While awaiting the guillotine, a man recounts the story of him and his partner's quest to dig up the bodies of the dead to deliver to a doctor for medical study, and how one such encounter lead to them encountering the dead walking the Earth.On the whole this one was an enjoyable if flawed effort. The biggest effort holding this one back is that hardly anything at all happens in here, as the action scenes here are so infrequent that it really stumbles around with its pacing. Concentrating on how they're going about grave-robbing as successfully as they are for as long as this one does really affects this one at rather large segments of time without offering a lot of interesting scenes here, and that also manages to expose other flaws here. by forgoing the horror action, there's other scenes here that need to take up that time which comes in the form of several lame subplots that don't impart much action on the action, as the involvement of the girlfriend serves nothing here with their relationship not really providing the obstacle it's supposed to be for them to keep their business secret. There's never anything about her discovering them and the scenes weren't all that integral to what's going on for the pace, while the constant scenes interrupting the plot going back to the jail cell aren't all that well-done either as it goes back to simply see what's already been given in the plot so there just eat up time needlessly. As well, the comedy here is a little goofy and not up to many individual's tastes here with the sound and music gags for many not really being funny which does come up as a potential problem. Overall, all of these combine together into long stretches of problematic scenes here that hold it down yet still offers some rather fun times here when it was doing something that these here are fun enough. The main fun comes from the second half as that's where the zombie action is mostly centered around, as it mostly starts with the eerie journey to the island with the night-time setting and heavy fog masking the source of the growls coming off incredibly atmosphere before the chaos and panic once they find the box containing the captive zombie and how he gets loose providing some stellar action in the escapes and encounters as well as giving off some solid gore. Likewise, despite not really offering a lot of action the opening does have some stellar atmospheric shots of the two out and about grave-robbing which is full of creepy and rather chilling scenes throughout here. Along with the creepy make-up, these here make up the films' best parts here with these hold it up, though as a zombie film this is lowered due to their lack of screen-time.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

"I Sell the Dead" is great fun, a rather clever blend of comedy and horror inspired by the exploits of grave robbers Burke and Hare. Styled like a comic book, it throws some priceless twists into what could have been a more typical body snatching plot, taking elements from other sub genres and making this a neat macabre mix of ideas. The acting is delicious, with our two leads Dominic Monaghan and Larry Fessenden sharing a super chemistry. This has all of the genuine atmosphere one could expect from this kind of period piece while also being genuinely funny. It establishes an irresistible irreverent tone almost right from the start. The filmmakers, led by editor / writer / director Glenn McQuaid, are clearly enjoying themselves, so the viewer is likewise sure to have a good time.Monaghan of the "Lord of the Rings" franchise plays Arthur, a young man who takes up the business of grave robbing after making the acquaintance of amiable no-count Willy (Fessenden, a filmmaker himself ("Wendigo") who also acts in other peoples' films), a man who lives up to the last name "Grimes". They find their business booming, despite competition from an outfit known as the "House of Murphy", and come across an odd variety of "dead" bodies. The story is told in flashback, and is book ended by scenes of Arthur, now facing the guillotine, recounting his exploits to curious priest Father Duffy (Ron Perlman, amusing as usual).The solid cast also includes Angus "The Tall Man" Scrimm as the nefarious Dr. Quint, lovely Brenda Cooney as ambitious Fanny Briers, and John Speredakos as the twisted Cornelius Murphy. However, the proceedings are dominated by the bickering and bantering between Monaghan and Fessenden. Genre fans will be entertained by McQuaids' sense of style and funny set pieces, and may howl with laughter when the denouement takes place.All in all, this is an agreeable way to spend 85 minutes.Eight out of 10.

In this dark, 18th century comedy, Dominic Monaghan stars as a grave robber and accused murderer, who by his own admission, is not a great guy. The plot of this film is absolutely brilliant and they could have done so much with it, but quickly it turned from the improbably to the ridiculously stupid. In the beginning, Arthur Blake (Monaghan), sits down with a priest to tell his story and give a voice his last words. Blake starts to tell his story about how at a young age, his mother forced him into this line of work. That part of the movie is great, and if they would have continued along those lines, this film would have been amazing, unfortunately, Blake grows up, and that's when things start getting weird. First, they find a zombie, a twist in the story I suspected might be coming. It was pretty lame, but was done in a humorous way, which made it a little easier to swallow. From that point on, the film gets ridiculous, as the pair has run-ins with rival gangs of grave robbers and even aliens. What started out as a very imaginative film turned into a big confusing mess. The story just goes off in so many different directions and gets so far away from the original plot, that it quickly becomes almost unwatchable. Monaghan is terrific and continues to be an extremely underrated actor. We all know him from Lost and Lord of The Rings, but only as an ancillary character, but in I Sell The Dead, Monaghan shows that he is far too good to spend his career as a sidekick. I loved the idea and I really wanted to like this film, but the truth is I didn't. After the first half-hour, there really isn't anything worth watching.

'I Sell The Dead' has an interesting concept, a fine cast and is made with style. However, it is mainly let down by the writing. The script is inconsistent and lacking in focus. Plenty of intriguing ideas are presented but not much is done with them. The story seems to jump from one idea to another without a clear focus or direction. While the story is lacking in development, the pacing felt slow.'I Sell The Dead' is more of a comedy than a horror flick. The characters are quite amusing but some of the situational humour felt out of place and overdone (for example, the sequence with the alien). Glenn McQuaid also succeeds in creating a tense atmosphere with an air of humour. It looks like it's mocking horror flicks but there's also something enchanting in the way it looks.The cast is impressive. Larry Fessenden, Brenda Cooney and Dominic Monaghan are quite good but Ron Perlman and Angus Scrimm are simply awesome.'I Sell The Dead' does get better as it gets funnier towards the ending. Overall, I didn't mind it for a one-time watch. It's a refreshing film that manages to draw some laughs but could have been a better film.