User reviews

I confess, I only watched this because I enjoy Ron Perlman, but I stayed with it because it is a hoot! It is neither excessively gory nor bloody, but it keeps its horror creds kinda side-wise, and kept me chuckling throughout. I find it hard to categorize this odd flick, but if you have the 90 or so minutes, give it a try - it is fun! The story line allows you to expect a bigger payoff than you get, but the actual story more than makes up for it. First you meet the apparent villain and his church appointed accuser. It rapidly becomes apparent that the real issues are not mundane but seriously supernatural!Vampires, zombies, grave robbers. The world is not as simple as you might wish. Oh MY - laugh and enjoy - it is worth the visit!

"I Sell the Dead" is a horror comedy about a duo of sympathetic grave-robbers.Grimes(Larry Fessenden)and Blake(Dominic Monaghan)rob graves and sell the corpses in Victorian England.Things change when they unearth a body that refuses to stay dead."I Sell the Dead" is narrated by Blake who is waiting in prison for the date with Mrs.Guillotine.The monk played by Ron Perlman listens to his last confession.Pretty funny low-budget horror comedy with Gothic atmosphere and few lovely twists.The characters are entertaining and the film oozes of the E.C. Comics vibe.I am not a fan of horror comedies,but this one kept me quite entertained.6 grave-robbers out of 10.

This movie totally surprised me; I was expecting your run-of-the-mill zombie apocalypse, with the usual who's-gonna-get-killed-first gamble, but I was wrong: It is about the lives and times of two grave robbers in the mid 1800s England. It is horror in a blasé way, and a comedy by circumstance more than by design.

It is by no way a summer blockbuster; There are no spectacular explosion and CGI, nor there is any romancing "for the female crowd"; It is an old-fashion, hand-made movie with lots of love.

This love is apparent in the actors' play, which is a testimony to their great direction: The two main characters have a synergy that works very well (they look as if they played together for ages) and every other actor in the movie are characterized and unique, even the background and silent ones. The music score, robust and in the right tone, adds to the grim ambiance.

It may not have a spectacular development or a intricate storyline, but it is easy listening due to the anecdotal way it is told and the smooth camera work. I still have pleasure re-watching it, even more-so with a couple of brews under the belt.

7 out of 10: Not a true classic in the cinematographic sense, but certainly worth a try.

A priest is having the main character review his life of body snatching by telling various, otherwise unconnected, stories about his life of crime. This reminded me a LOT of some of the Hammer films where a group of unconnected stories are told by different people who just happen to be thrown together. Although the production quality of this film was light years ahead of the old Hammer movies, the "unconnected" feeling of the stories was the same.

I actually watched this because I've been a Ron Perlman fan since "Quest for Fire", but Ron basically had just a walk on part (he's the priest). This was Dominic and Larry's film, and it looks like they had a lot of fun making it. Not exactly a riveting movie, but good for a lazy Saturday viewing if you have popcorn handy.

I Sell the Dead is a big, sloppy horror comedy that refuses to take itself too seriously. This has advantages and drawbacks. The 85 minutes of the film breeze by and the film is full of bits sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes gory, occasionally all three at once, but the individual bits are much better than the sum of the film's parts.

The story, such as it is, follows professional grave robber Arthur Blake (played by Dominic Monaghan). Arthur's partner-in-crime Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden) has just had his head chopped off for murder and Arthur has one night left before his own head is forfeit for the same crime. Arthur insists that he is innocent of murder, but there are plenty of other crimes that he is willing to confess to when bribed with Irish Whisky by a Catholic priest (played by Ron Perlman).

Since the movie is a series of grave-robbing anecdotes confessed by Arthur, it becomes a sort of horror anthology - a series of disjointed tales, all linked by a similar cast (Arthur and Willie) and a similar theme (grave robbing). Like most horror anthologies, there is no consistent mythology, because all mythologies are true and happening simultaneously even when they contradict one another.

It probably didn't help that I saw this film the same night as Trick 'r Treat, a horror anthology that avoids all of the traps that I Sell The Dead falls into. In fact, Trick 'r Treat, designed as an anthology, tells a more unified, consistent story than I Sell The Dead which is intended to be a united narrative.

The other problem with the film (and I recognize that this is insane nit-picking) is the way the film plays fast and loose with history. Grimes is killed with a Guillotine. We might be able to stretch a point and say that he is killed by a Scottish Maiden, a precursor to the French Guillotine, but the Scottish Maiden was abandoned in 1709 and this film is set a good hundred years later since Burke and Hare are mentioned and they were executed for murder in 1829. Grave robbing as an industry became obsolete with the passage of the Anatomy Act (1832) so the film must take place before then.

I know that bringing this up is the ultimate in historical nerdiness and we are clearly dealing with a universe where all sorts of dead, undead and legendary dead are possible, but the easiest way to anchor a fantasy, to convince the audience to suspend their disbelief is to use something real and authentic to bounce the fantasy off of. And it's not like the history of grave robbers or body snatchers or resurrectionists (call it what you like) is a boring story.

The most frustrating thing is that writer.director Glenn McQuaid clearly does know the history, especially the good bits. As an example, when Grimes first takes on Arthur as his apprentice he correctly explains to Arthur that as resurrectionists, they don't steal the clothes from the dead, because stealing corpses is a misdemeanor, punishable by a small fine, while stealing clothes is a felony, punishable by deportation or possibly even death. So you would expect Wille and Arthur to strip the corpse at this point (and for the rest of the film) but of course they don't. You could accuse the director of ignoring his writer's script, but not when the writer and the director are the same person.

My point isn't that there should have been a lot of buck-naked corpses in the film, my point is that if you are going to bring up this quirk in the law and make it clear that Willie and Arthur will follow the law no matter how silly it is, than you do have to pursue that thought to its logical conclusion, even if that means that Willie and Arthur wind up chasing a zombie through a graveyard trying to rip his or her clothes off and stuffing them back in the empty coffin, so that they don't get deported for stealing the walking corpse's clothes, otherwise don't bring up the matter at all.

Historical nerdiness aside, I Sell The Dead is worth a rental as a slight but funny horror film that could have been much more.

Great cast, great idea and stylish.... but it was missing something. It was neat to look at, but I never really connected to it.

There were a whole lot of good ideas, but not enough was done with them. The movie would have been better if it were longer to expand on the ideas or more focused. Most of Arthur's apprenticeship could have been cut for instance.

The horror wasn't particularly scary and the humor snicker worthy at best. Combined with the slow pacing, it's just too many strikes against the movie. It's a shame, because this movie has the cast and ingredients to be a genuine cult classic.

I saw this movie as part of the Midnite Madness at Sitges. Set in 18th century England, the plot covers the life of Arthur Blake from his first outing as an apprentice grave robber to his final confession on the eve of his execution.

The plot moves along via a series of misadventures involving Arthur and his partner encountering various unsavory characters and bizarre situations.

The first thing that strikes you about this movie is how accurately they managed to capture the look of the Hammer period horrors, the atmosphere is set with lots of fog laden graveyards, rowdy tavern scenes and excellent set/costume design.

For a movie titled I Sell the Dead, I was expecting the emphasis to be mostly on horror – don't get me wrong there are some jumpy moments and gore, but the tone is very much comedic, driven by the situations the characters get themselves into and their dialog. The closest comparison to the scenes between the two leads (Larry Fessenden and Dominic Monaghan) is the character interaction seen in the classic English comedies Only Fools and Horses, the Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise.

The acting is strong and the casting of very familiar faces in Ron Perlman and Angus Scrimm lift the movie above many of the others on view in Sitges.

Overall the movie offers something very different to the current crop of mainstream horror and will leave a smile on your face.

Grave robber Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan) is sentenced to death, and spends his final hours telling his macabre tales to an interested priest (Ron Perlman).

This film showed up as a Netflix suggestion a few times, but I knew nothing about it and generally try to avoid newer horror films. (I stress "generally try" because I still see far more than the average person.) Then, it was deemed worthy of being shown at the monthly House of Horrors showcase in Oshkosh -- I would now be forced to view it.

What a pleasant surprise! The film probably would have already been good just on casting alone (Angus Scrimm, Ron Perlman and Larry Fessenden are strong genre icons), both the writing and direction are excellent, and the art direction (or whoever designed the sets) is beyond great. This is a horror film that no one saw, but probably deserved to be a big screen hit. It has plenty of cult and re-watch potential.

I loved the blend of horror and humor. Although primarily a horror film, with the mixture of undead and grave robbing (which fit together seamlessly here), it has just the right level of self-aware humor that makes it charming and lovable. Certain scenes are shown in a way that should not be possible to take seriously, and yet they attempt it, giving it a humor that may not be "laugh out loud", but is definitely "what the heck".

Recommended for all horror fans, or even those who do not necessarily enjoy horror but have a quirky sense of humor.

What's this? Another recent title? It'd be ridiculous for your fellow ghoul not to keep current with today's releases. I'll try to keep this one brief because I'm still unsure of my opinion in terms of the outcome.

I Sell the Dead is about a man by the name of Arthur Blake (played by Dominic Monaghan, commonly recognizable as Charlie from Lost and also a hobbit in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) who confesses his grave robbing crimes to a priest named Father Duffy (your neighborhood friendly Ron Pearlman). Set in the Victorian era, Blake goes into detail concerning the exploits of his misadventures with his partner Willie. They soon come into contact with a rival grave-plundering gang led by the vicious corpsegrinder Cornelius Murphy.

Several twists and turns are contained within peppered by obvious comedic elements. Unfortunately, I've seen better attempts at black comedy on BET. As I mentioned earlier, rating this film is not an easy task. Part of me thoroughly enjoyed the artistic approach and silly premise. On the other hand, I had a difficult time interpreting the pace. Several scenes felt disjointed and out-of-place, leaving me to ponder whether or not it was intentional. The acting is solid, of course. If you enjoy the mixture of comedy and horror (which, to be honest, I'm touchy about) then I would recommend checking this one out. Shut your brain off and enjoy the show...just don't expect anything groundbreaking.

This one is an easy-going story. It's a tale, told first hand, of two friends in England who make their, ahem, living, by Grave-Robbing.

As it is with British-type humor, the funny is in the dialogue and the setting without the usual blunt-nosed set-up that Hollywood sets you up for. Laid back, because the humor is the type that makes you smile afterward as opposed to guffawing out loud -- but funny just the same.

And here and there, throughout, the touches of the Macabre are incidental set pieces that are just 'A funny thing happened on the way to the Graveyard the other night. . .' rather than the central horror of the movie. All in all, very well done, and ALL the characters are engaging and likable.

Give this one a try if you and your friends are in the mood for some light horror with a side of funny. Pick this one for a slow Saturday Night with some good beer & chips.

'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.

Nothing worse than an unfunny comedy, that's always been my opinion, and unfortunately I SELL THE DEAD is such a beast. It's an American film masquerading as a British one, but of course the broad strokes of US humour are a far cry from the more subtle and cynical ones of a truly British production. Thus the film sits oddly, looking more like a little homemade movie than a proper film.

This is a blackly comic twist on graverobbing, although the low budget just isn't up to the task of making the period setting remotely believable. Graverobbing comedies are surprisingly popular - there was BURKE & HARE in the 1970s, alongside the more recent version with Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis - but they're hard to get right. I SELL THE DEAD goes for the over the top approach, throwing the undead and even aliens into the mix, and the result is nothing more than a mess.

It takes a special kind of actor to bring a lacklustre script to life, and the weak Dominic Monaghan certainly isn't the guy. Larry Fessenden is better as the stoic partner, but he doesn't breathe much life into the movie. Ron Perlman appears for all of five minutes, although it was fun to see an almost unrecogniably aged Angus Scrimm in a cameo appearance. In the end, though, I SELL THE DEAD is all about the jokes and for this viewer they fell flat throughout.

I expected a lot more. The atmosphere was nice, the acting OK, the story gruesome, but it felt kind of empty in the end. The comedy was mostly parodical, the horror was avoided completely, the disgusting scenes were almost decent and the plot was predictable and linear.

I was looking forward to Pearlman's performance, but he had a marginal role. Dominic Monaghan had most of the fun, portraying the unlikely cowardly grave robber, but with a good heart.

Bottom line: it felt like a Tales from the Crypt episode, only unnecessarily long. Were they to keep down the unfunny comedy and stuck to more horror, maybe it would have made more sense. From where I am sitting, it was a decent effort, but ultimately a failed movie.

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 grave robbing 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

The story has been told in other movies too. But the way it is handled here (with the humor) seems far superior to other movies (even a recent one, made by Landis). The story is more or less told in a reverse way, which makes you wonder a few things (or maybe you will guess where it is heading quite early on).

The acting is really great and even the small role by Mr. Pearlman is just great. You couldn't imagine anyone else playing that role. He really is on par with Dominic M., who just is great in this one. There is life after "LotR" and "Lost" after all. And he is one of the guys who can say he made the most of it (not to mention his engagement with the wonderful Evangeline Lilly)!

I went to see Glenn McQuaid's "I Sell The Dead" in it's North American premiere at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Seeing as this is the second showing worldwide I didn't quite know what to expect of this film, especially having not seen the short film that inspired this big screen adaptation.

I'll start off with a slightly more elaborate plot synopsis, without giving away any spoilers.

This movie is about Arthur Blake, how he became a grave robber and the interesting and supernatural discoveries that both he and his mentor discovered.

The costume and set design in this film were excellent. I was amazed to hear that the entire film was shot in and around New York. The costumes were very accurate to the time, really bringing you as a viewer into the mindset of the time. This movie works just as well as a period-piece as it does a horror-comedy.

The interaction between the two leads was very fluid. They played off each others acting with ease. The dialogue between the two was very well written, with Glenn adding his comedic touch even in tense situations.

The story is very encompassing and the ball gets rolling from the very start. I'd compare it to a visual page turner, always wondering just what will happen next. The characters themselves are all very vivid and unique adding different emotional layers to the film itself.

All in all, I recommend this film for anyone in the mood for some dark humour, with a bit of horror mixed in.

9/10

"I Sell the Dead" starts out as a refreshing and respectful low-budget B-movie homage to period piece horror. The plot is inspired by the notorious and factual Scottish grave robbers and murderers Burk and Hare, the settings look authentic and the make-up effects are traditionally old-fashioned. A still relatively young corpse snatcher (played by Dominique Monagham; - one of the Hobbits from "Lord of the Rings") sits in a dungeon cell, awaiting his execution via the guillotine, and narrates the story of his "career" to a curious monk (Ron Perlman). The first half hour is quite good, and covers how he - as a young lad - got pulled into the business by his sneering companion Willy (Larry Fassenden) and how they dug up as fresh as possible corpses to sell to the sinister physician Dr. Quint (Agnus Scrimm; - the Tall Man from "Phantasm"). I'm actually listing all the actors' names to illustrate what an impressive cast this obscure little flick managed to bring together.

Regrettably, however, it doesn't remain good. It doesn't even remain entertaining. The script suddenly goes bonkers, turning into zombie splatter and dealing with wars between rivaling body snatcher gangs. Strangely enough, the more absurd and gorier the film becomes, the more boring it also gets. The humor and parody aspects that worked very effectively at the start only come across as weak and pathetic during the final act of the film and, because of the zombies, the special effects also turn into lame CGI. Pity.

This movie turned out to be well worth the watch.

One of the hobbits from Lord of the Rings Trilogy, teams up with the legendary Ron Perlman, to bring us a humorous Gothic tell of two grave robbers who sell bodies they dig up to mad scientist types. Sounds like a strange business to be in, but apparently their are a few movies about this particular subject set during the Victoria era of Britain, where this may have been a common way for the medical profession to get corpses to study, which makes the story even more Erie than it already is.

I did not have any expectations when I watched the film, but I ended up being well entertained by the whole thing. It's a fun movie to see.