Corpse Eaters (1974)
Directed by Donald R. Passmore/Klaus Vetter
Encore Entertainment, Inc. VHS
THE FILM
Feeling a lot like an EC comic, Corpse Eaters joined me one Saturday afternoon direct from the Canadian land of Canada! We spent a very entertaining hour together (almost soothing in a way) and then I watched it again. Deep breaths afterwards…I was working hard to absorb a rather weird film, with synths all over it & some fun gore & some great odd-looking people. (I couldn't stop looking at them!)
Two couples decide to spend Friday the 13th Night at a graveyard...in Canada! With beer! Rain makes them rush into a mausoleum where they end up reenacting some sort of ritual that brings hungry corpses to life! Oh, the Hyperbole! Three of them get away but one is in real rough shape. Well, that's the plot and it is great. It's one of those rare films where you reach a certain spot and think "Hmmm...this should end soon" and then it ends. More films should be whatever length this film was.*
Now, my plot leaves out the really-real greatness of the film: the funeral home framing portions. But, then I become conflicted...the scenes with the mortician and the drinking Funeral Home guy are fantastic. They frame the main corpse eating perfectly...and I don't really want to tell you anymore about it. Hey, I knew nothing when I went into it! (And, I've been to Canada!) Suffice it to say, it is a fairly straightforward story told in an off-kilter, rather cool fashion, with just enough grunge and scares to make the trip well worth it. The pre-Halloween 70s were so great. Can I get a round of "Closer To The Heart" over here? Or maybe something from Max Webster's first album?
I love the strange simplicity/non-simplicity of the film. It roots around different areas to try and finds its Strange Spot and it succeeds. (Perfect film for an immediate Second Viewing.) I haven't ever not loved a movie with a horror buzzer and/or an image of some sort to warn me away from the "Intense" parts. But, I really didn't want to mention that part. I wanted you to be surprised. It slipped out...hopefully, you won't remember that I just said it.
Sleazy, gory and a little sloppy, startling obscurity has kept you from seeing this. Tenacity must push you onward, until the two of you meet over Friendship & Beers.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Look, I'll be honest. I don't know where this is from. For all I know, a giant moose pressed this in his DVD-R factory in Ottawa and flung it over a rainbow to my living room...so judging the quality seems superfluous. However, I shall say that it looked and sounded swell. A little too dark here and there but that's why God gave me an imagination. The synths always sounded good.
EXTRAS
Well, there is a guy pretending to throw up whenever something gory happens. (Forget you read that.)
FINAL THOUGHTS
I love anthology films. This is not one. It seems to me like they shot a framing device and then only one of the stories, which just happened to relate to the framing device. As such, Corpse Eaters always feels a little odd, like we've wandered into the wrong room of a massage parlor but still find ourselves amused and willing to open another door.
*Odd. I wrote the following two bits for the review but they don't fit anywhere. I like them, though. So, hey, make your own review! Start with these nuggets.
"...When watching the credits is as much fun as watching the film, you've got the whole package...."
— Dan Budnik, 09.08.11 |
|
