A Monstrous Corpse (1981) Poster

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6/10
Korean remake
Leofwine_draca16 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A MONSTROUS CORPSE (1980, original title Goeshi) is a film I hadn't even heard about before yesterday, but it's just been added to Youtube so I checked it out last night. It's a South Korean remake of THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE (!), sticking very closely to the original but relocating the situation to rural Korea. A couple travelling through the countryside stumble upon reanimated corpses rising from the dead as a result of an experimental pest-control experiment, and it all kicks off from there...

A lot of us know the Spanish classic already (and if you don't I implore you to get hold of it, as it really is that good), so how does this remake hold up? Inevitably being Asian it's a very different beast; for example, gone is Arthur Kennedy's bigoted cop, replaced by a rather more amiable chap doing his job (due to the political situation at the time there could be no criticism of right-wing characters). There's also no gore either, the zombies prefering to break the necks of their victims instead. The good news is that it's still atmospheric, and the zombies themselves are creepy creations. It's not going to hold a candle to the Spanish film but it's a nice attempt and a lot better than many of the various American horror remakes of the past couple of decades.
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6/10
How did this happen?
BandSAboutMovies9 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I've really been getting into the Unsung Horrors podcast and was overjoyed to discover a remake remix rip-off movie that I never knew about. Even better, it's based on one of my favorite movies: The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue AKA No Profanar el Sueño de los Muertos (Don't Disturb the Sleep of the Dead), Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, The Living Dead, Breakfast at Manchester Morgue and Don't Open the Window.

Kang Myeong - the George Meaning of this movie - gets a ride from Soo-ji - Edna Simmonds - on his way to a seminar on the environment while she's traveling to check up on her sister Jyun-ji. - Katie - and her husband Yeong-tae Jeong - Martin - only to learn that he's dead.

Well, not for long.

One of Kang Myeong's American teachers is now working at a supersonic transmitter that is removing insects in a more humane way, but it's also animating the nerves of the newly dead. We learn this when the town drunk - who has been dead for several days - attacks Soo-Ji.

What's different here is that nearly everyone has had their sharp edges smoothed off. Kang Myerong is never as mean to Soo-Ji as Geroge was to Edna, but then again, he isn't as gorgeous as Ray Lovelock. But otherwise - up until three-quarters of the way through this movie - this is the same movie that you know and love under so many titles. It's also missing the gore and when a movie is known for just how upsetting its moments of violence are, that's a pretty big loss.

The other thing you might miss is that the cops come around a lot faster and the head officer is in no way as much of a real cop as Arthur Kennedy was.

Yet what makes up for this is just how weird it is that we have an alternative reality version of this movie and that the zombies are basically all painted silver, which is again in contrast to the very realistic dead bodies that populated Jorge Grau's horror masterpiece. It attempts to make up for this with shocking photos of actual birth defects, as the movie goes further than its inspiration by stating that the machine is turning new babies into monsters.

Another title for this South Korean zombie xerox is Strange Dead Bodies, which is a fabulous alternative and one that would get me into the theater (or, you know, in front of my TV).
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8/10
Korean "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie"
HumanoidOfFlesh28 August 2010
"Strange Dead Bodies" is a Korean first zombie flick heavily influenced by Jorge Grau's fantastic "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie".Su-ji picks up hitchhiking Kang Myung on the road.She wants to see her brother-in-law.Unfortunately our duo finds Su-ji's brother-in-law dead.In the meantime some lab scientists are performing experiments with a radio transmitter,which unleashes living dead.When Su-ji and Kang Myung arrive to an old and abandoned home they are attacked by a group of radio wave zombies.I wanted to see "Strange Dead Bodies" for many years and finally it happened."Strange Dead Bodies" is obviously not as gory as "Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue",but the visuals are nice and the acting is decent.If you dig ultra-obscure zombie flicks "Goeshi" is a must-see.8 out of 10.
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9/10
An enjoyable enough genre outing
kannibalcorpsegrinder13 November 2021
Upon arriving in South Korea, a woman looking to find her sister and a stranger who accompanies her find the area overrun by dead bodies revived from a local experiment being conducted in the area involving ultrasonic wave transmissions being tested on insects to protect the crops and try to stop them.

Frankly, there's quite a lot to like with this one. Among the film's more likable features is the familiar and engaging storyline. The same setup is featured here, involving the use of a special radio transmitter intending to protect crops and vegetables from voracious insects. Instead, it's discovered that the signals from the broadcasts are reviving the dead from nearby cemeteries and turning them loose in a bloodsoaked rampage. Granted, this isn't an original premise, but it still comes off serviceable enough here. Things are kept fast and fresh with little downtime as the two come together and head off into the countryside within the first few minutes of the film. As well, the general setup with the characters is the same with the same demeanor and attitude with the same setup of the disgruntled officer investigating the crimes which are quite familiar yet integrated rather nicely. Granted several encounters in the countryside surroundings before even approaching the half-hour mark, there's plenty of string work here to get the creatures going and move the film along with this rather likable setup. Following this enjoyable setup, the film manages to include a lot of likable zombie action and encounters. Initially focused on the confrontations with bizarre figures in the middle of the woods but being unaware of their true nature, the first attacks focusing on the two girls each coming across strange bodies wandering through the forest who are identified as deceased individuals by the locals. With the incidents drawing the attention of the police due to the vicinity of the reports and attacks, the intensity becomes enhanced considerably as the action features more zombies coming to life and attacking requiring far more to like involving their escape. From the encounter at the cemetery where the creatures first emerge or the fantastic finale at the hospital that features a lot of fun zombie action in the race to contain and they escape the rapidly escalating situation, it's quite exciting and generates some wholly likable qualities that hold the film up overall. This one does have some flaws though. The main issue is the apparent familiarity derived from the setup by being so familiar in the first place. The taking of the same setup involving the couple coming together in the countryside to visit a relative, coming across the transmitter conducting tests on insect repellant on local crops, and being inundated with zombies as a result is all taken directly from the other film entirely. The secondary subplot with the detective investigating the crimes and suspecting the couple in the middle of everything rather than looking at the indisputable evidence that the living dead are responsible instead, resulting in nearly-obsessive levels of tracking them down to dispense justice comes directly from the inspiration film. This can cause the film to feel rather familiar and unsurprising at times. The other factor with this one is the lack of overt blood and gore, cutting away from the kills without showing anything and relying only on strangling with bare hands when it's kept on-screen which kinda distracts from the impressive zombie make-up that gives them a unique look. While not too distracting, these issues do crop up for this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.
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