Day Six went by in a blur at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Fest, and we caught some great films today. To start things off, we’ve got the review of Glenn McQuaid’s I Sell the Dead, which we’ve covered a bit on the site before. We finally got to catch it at the festival this week, so find out what we thought below!

I Sell the Dead
Dir: Glenn McQuaid
Cast: Dominic Monaghan, Larry Fessenden, Angus Scrimm, Ron Perlman
Remaining LAFF Showtimes: Friday, Jun 26th 10:00pm at the Majestic Crest
Logline: In 18th century England, Arthur Blake is a day away from the blade of the guillotine. Charged with a lifetime of grave robbing, Blake confesses his past crimes, but his stories quickly turn from standard cadaver thefts for science to peculiar things that go bump in the night. Juggling a mad doctor, a nefarious rival gang, a beautiful but ambitious apprentice, and a scary spectrum of creatures, Blake and his partner Willie Grimes somehow always lived to tell the tale… that is, until the pesky death sentence was served.
Review: Writer-director Glenn McQuaid makes one hell of a feature debut with I Sell the Dead, which is both an earnest love letter to geek genre fans and a fantastic horror-comedy. Told in flashback by a death-sentenced Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan), the story recounts the life and times of grave-robbing team Blake and his mentor-turned-partner Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden). Blake reveals how he came into his current sorry lot, from hoodwinking normal corpses out from under saucy morticians, to fighting over the trafficking rights of the undead with the notorious House of Murphy gang. McQuaid imbues his film with a combination of classic horror and irreverent humor, filling his gallery of things that go bump in the night with vampires, zombies, and aliens alike.
Set in a fog-drenched, dreary Irish land, I Sell the Dead is an off-beat, uproariously funny romp that twists the conventional monster genres into a delightful farce by dropping them in with two dim-witted but good-hearted grave robbers. The film rides on the performances of Monaghan and Fessenden, and the pair bring a great chemistry to their relationship. It’s a real treat to watch them play off each other, confronting each new creepy ghoul and goblin with stupefied terror and clueless charm. McQuaid delivers on all levels with the pantheon of geek iconography. One of the film’s most successful devices is that neither Blake nor Grimes ever really know what they’re up against, whereas the audience is fully aware of the dangers they face – so when the body-snatching duo run up against, say, a garlic-wreathed and staked vampire corpse, it’s with a sick glee that we watch them work out its weakness. Grimes and Blake amuse themselves with how the repeated stabbing and removing of a wooden stake into the creature’s heart will bring it from benign to bloodthirsty, and we can’t help but laugh along. It’s a brilliant technique to play with the audience’s comparitively well-educated background in monster slaying, watching the hapless couple stumble through each hairy encounter.
The film does have a few weaknesses. The pace gets a little uneven at times, which creates an episodic feel to the narrative that does take away some of the momentum. Part of this is the editing, which isn’t quite as sharp as it could be. It’s nit-picky, for sure, and though the film is already brisk with its 85-minute runtime, it does feel like some of the scenes could’ve been tightened to help keep the comedic punch. I think that the film could’ve benefitted from more test screenings, to help the filmmakers identify where the gasps or laughs were slowing down and then make the appropriate tweaks.
But all in all, I Sell the Dead is completely enjoyable time at the theater. There’s an unbridled sense of fun infused into every scene, and you can really feel the enthusiasm which McQuaid and co. brought to their work. Special mention must be made of Jeff Grace’s score, which is just perfect. This is a great film not just for fans of the horror genre, but for any audience that has a sense of humor. It never takes itself too seriously and is an utter pleasure to watch (especially with a packed house). It’s a special little film with a big, slightly mad heart, and is definitely one you won’t want to miss.
Verdict: Catch

Tags: 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival, Angus Scrimm, Dominic Monaghan, Glenn McQuaid, I Sell the Dead, LAFF, Larry Fessenden, Review, Ron Perlman