One of the best zombie shockers of the 1970s, this Spanish-Italian coproduction (also known as The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue and Don't Open the Window, among other titles) is a real international affair. Inspired by George Romero's genre-shattering American hit Night of the Living Dead, it was shot in England by a Spanish director with a largely British cast, and supplemented by Spanish zombies and American character actor Arthur Kennedy as a bitter Irish police detective (with only a hint of a brogue). He's investigating a sudden rash of violent murders (the work of Satanists, he's convinced) and closes in on a pair of newcomers to the sleepy Northern England town, longhaired antique dealer Ray Lovelock and his nervous traveling companion Christine Galbó. Only they know the real culprits: newly deceased corpses, revived by agricultural experiments in ultrasonic radiation that are also turning newborns into vicious little monsters. Director Jorge Grau delivers all the stumbling zombies and gory flesh feasts you could hope for in a 1974 movie, but more importantly he creates the rare zombie thriller that manages to be both scary and smartly done. Some of the twists are a bit more far-fetched than others (why does dabbing blood on the eyes of long-dead cadavers magically bring them to life, and how would a zombie even know to try?), but it's a minor quibble in the face of the startling blood frenzy and Grau's satisfying dark dramatic twists.

The DVD also features an introduction and a 20-minute interview with Grau ("I hope you will suffer profoundly," he jokes in the opening), as well as a gallery of posters and stills, TV ads, and radio spots. --Sean Axmaker

asin: 630597229X binding: DVD list price: $19.98 USD amazon price: $19.98 other availability:

Posted by Vladimir Sat, 01/26/2008 - 22:04

 

Vampires in Afghanistan?

October 29, 2007 (Salem-News.com / Tim King) -- During my two months on assignment in the Afghanistan combat theater last winter, I covered all kinds of military operations for Salem-News.com and Oregon's KPTV FOX-12. While I was there I spent time on forward combat bases, I went on infantry foot patrols, flew in helicopters, and witnessed levels of disparity that were hard to imagine.

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Lesbian 'vampire' fights to stay put on farm

March 31, 2007 (Kevin Meade / Sunday Tasmanian) - Tracey Wigginton, a lesbian "vampire" serving life for murder, is fighting a decision by Queensland Corrective Services to move her from a prison farm to the higher-security Brisbane women's prison.

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Frustration

I am torn

exquisite as the wings of a butterfly and more

eloquent and poignant then the activists blood, poured out on the streets of his cause

with frightening clarity I see to the core

stop the ride, silence the cries, give me pause

pandemonium has spawned

there is no more nor no less than what we can hold

trapped by our imagination, sold

by our soul to this higher power

the devil is lying in wait

behind the gate

there is no final hour

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To Live

To live, to die, to rise again

Like a corpse with a Christ Compex: born again with immortal blood, setting loose upon the world a killer, a thief of life

Keeping the coffin builders busy

Am I beyond redemption? Beyond forgiveness?

Yes, I am, for I love what I do. Drinking from the Scarlet river, holding the power of life and death

I want more, always more.

An occational twinge of guilt, quickly lost in the heat of the kill.

Repress the urge to jump to the hightest point and shout with all my might

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Why do women love vampires?

"He met my eyes with his penetrating gaze. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. The temperature in the room spiked into the tropical range. My heart pounded in my chest like a ritual drum, and my knees threatened to buckle. I'd never seen such a gorgeous male. My logical mind engaged in a futile attempt to regain my attention...

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