I Sell the Dead

Newbie filmmaker Glenn McQuaid strikes a deliberate "Twilight Zone" chord with animation-shifting chapter breaks to separate sections of a 19th century story set in foggy Ireland where two grave robbers, Arthur Blake and Willie Grimes (played by Dominic Monaghan and Larry Fessenden), ply their gruesome trade. After Willie's decapitating punishment for his crimes, the incarcerated Arthur is questioned by Father Duffy (played by Ron Perlman), who uses whiskey to loosen Arthur's lips about his less savory experiences with the dead and undead under Willie's tutelage. Vampire and alien corpses disrupt the gothic atmosphere that serves as a good-hearted homage to the Hammer films of the '50s and '60s. The episodic storytelling is jaggedly cut and pasted together, but there's infections fun to be had in the salty humor and slapstick horror that McQuaid and his expressive actors slather on with knowing winks. Many pints of beer and blood flow freely in this old school horror reverie.
Not Rated. 85 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)