Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti, or the more common titles of Let Sleeping Corpses Lie & The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue among others, starts with George (Ray Lovelock) closing his antiques shop in London for the weekend & setting off on his motorbike for the peace, clean air & tranquillity of Windermere. On his way he stops for petrol & a half asleep woman named Edna (Christina Galbo as Christine Galbo) accidentally backs her mini into his bike (bloody women drivers!). Since George now has no transport he invites himself along with Edna who is travelling to a small village called Southgate to visit her drug addict of a sister named Katie (Jeannine Mestre) which means George is going there as well. George & Edna become lost & stop at a farm to ask directions, George finds the owner with two men from the 'Agricultural Department Experimental Section' testing a new device which emits ultra-sonic radiation which destroys insects & parasites. Meanwhile back at the mini Edna is attacked by a tramp named Guthrie (Fernando Hilbeck) but manages to escape, Goerge calms her down & says he probably meant no harm & they continue their journey. At Katie's house her Husband Martin (Jose Lifante as Jose Ruiz Lifante) is attacked & killed by Guthrie just as George & Edna arrive, the police lead by a no nonsense Sergeant (Arthur Kennedy) are called & think that the three are in it together. While in a shop Edna asks about Guthrie & the shop keeper shows them a photo in the local paper, the strange thing is the picture is of Guthrie's corpse that had recently been found in a river. Edna is positive that it was Guthrie that attacked her & killed Martin, George decides that the only way to rid Edna of her ridiculous fantasies is to take her to see Guthrie's body at the local cemetery but they are shocked & horrified at what they actually discover...
This Spanish production was filmed on location in England & studio's in Spain & Italy by a mixed Italian & Spanish crew & it's perhaps surprising that Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti turned out as well as it did. Directed by Jorge Grau I thought this was a pretty good zombie film. The script by Juan Cobos, Sandro Continenza, Marcello Coscia & Miguel Rubio is a little slow in parts & takes it's time to get going & their lack of the local geography is painfully obvious at times especially to an Englishman like myself, listen if you break down in the Lakedistrict in England you definitely do not have to get spares delivered from Glasgow in Scotland (even in the early 70's)! Forget about hordes of flesh eating zombies wandering the English countryside because it doesn't happen, there are only six zombies throughout, they are of the George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) school of zombies & shuffle along slowly looking for tasty human intestines to eat & it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti was planned as a quick European cash-in on Romero's film. I'm guessing they were trying to make a horror film which has a message as Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti piles on the ecological catastrophe symbolism throughout from the opening shots of a dirty polluted London complete with smoking industrial chimney stacks & dead birds lying on the side of the road to the contamination of the countryside & the use of unnatural pesticides & radiation, for the most part it isn't too distracting & works in the films favour generally speaking as it gives it just that bit more depth & meaning than usual. The character of the Sergeant verges on hilarious at times with some of the things he comes out with like "button up man your wearing a uniform not a pair of pyjamas" or the classic much quoted lines "you're all the same the lot of you with your long hair & faggot clothes" & "I wish the dead could come back to life you bastard, so then I could kill you again." The funky dialogue doesn't stop there either for example the farmer tells George "it runs like a charm laddy, it's killed every bloody insect round here except for you" while trying to defend his machine. The whole film is packed with lines like these & all the better for it I say, great stuff. The film possesses a good atmosphere & there are some really good sequences in this, Edna & George being trapped in a churches crypt surrounded by zombies is one that springs to mind. Luckily Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti & it's script doesn't forget about the stuff we really want to see, zombies & gore! This contains some cool early gore scenes including evisceration & intestine eating, graphic shots of burning corpses, an axe in someone's head, stabbings, an unfortunate receptionist (Isobel Mastres) having her breast torn off & some surprisingly good looking zombies. Technically the film is basic, almost crude at times but it's professional enough & helps to give it that unmistakable Euro-horror look & feel. The music, photography, special effects, direction & overall production values are solid throughout. On the down side the climax didn't sit well with me as it sort of went against what the film had previously put in place just to accommodate a twist ending which in my opinion wasn't needed anyway & a lot of the characters are a little stereotypical & stupid. I liked Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti a lot & recommend it to all Euro horror fans, zombie fans & anyone interested in the horror genre in general, just be prepared to put the effort in & you should be rewarded with a fine film. Good solid early 70's zombie-filled entertainment!
This Spanish production was filmed on location in England & studio's in Spain & Italy by a mixed Italian & Spanish crew & it's perhaps surprising that Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti turned out as well as it did. Directed by Jorge Grau I thought this was a pretty good zombie film. The script by Juan Cobos, Sandro Continenza, Marcello Coscia & Miguel Rubio is a little slow in parts & takes it's time to get going & their lack of the local geography is painfully obvious at times especially to an Englishman like myself, listen if you break down in the Lakedistrict in England you definitely do not have to get spares delivered from Glasgow in Scotland (even in the early 70's)! Forget about hordes of flesh eating zombies wandering the English countryside because it doesn't happen, there are only six zombies throughout, they are of the George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) school of zombies & shuffle along slowly looking for tasty human intestines to eat & it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti was planned as a quick European cash-in on Romero's film. I'm guessing they were trying to make a horror film which has a message as Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti piles on the ecological catastrophe symbolism throughout from the opening shots of a dirty polluted London complete with smoking industrial chimney stacks & dead birds lying on the side of the road to the contamination of the countryside & the use of unnatural pesticides & radiation, for the most part it isn't too distracting & works in the films favour generally speaking as it gives it just that bit more depth & meaning than usual. The character of the Sergeant verges on hilarious at times with some of the things he comes out with like "button up man your wearing a uniform not a pair of pyjamas" or the classic much quoted lines "you're all the same the lot of you with your long hair & faggot clothes" & "I wish the dead could come back to life you bastard, so then I could kill you again." The funky dialogue doesn't stop there either for example the farmer tells George "it runs like a charm laddy, it's killed every bloody insect round here except for you" while trying to defend his machine. The whole film is packed with lines like these & all the better for it I say, great stuff. The film possesses a good atmosphere & there are some really good sequences in this, Edna & George being trapped in a churches crypt surrounded by zombies is one that springs to mind. Luckily Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti & it's script doesn't forget about the stuff we really want to see, zombies & gore! This contains some cool early gore scenes including evisceration & intestine eating, graphic shots of burning corpses, an axe in someone's head, stabbings, an unfortunate receptionist (Isobel Mastres) having her breast torn off & some surprisingly good looking zombies. Technically the film is basic, almost crude at times but it's professional enough & helps to give it that unmistakable Euro-horror look & feel. The music, photography, special effects, direction & overall production values are solid throughout. On the down side the climax didn't sit well with me as it sort of went against what the film had previously put in place just to accommodate a twist ending which in my opinion wasn't needed anyway & a lot of the characters are a little stereotypical & stupid. I liked Non si Deve Profanare il Sonno dei Morti a lot & recommend it to all Euro horror fans, zombie fans & anyone interested in the horror genre in general, just be prepared to put the effort in & you should be rewarded with a fine film. Good solid early 70's zombie-filled entertainment!