I Sell the Dead

Some people will be happy enough with seeing Angus Scrimm or Dominic Monaghan, but I’m disappointed because I watched a below-par horror comedy that, effective atmosphere notwithstanding, was unable to entertain me. As a proud patriot, there was only one thing I liked: the sight of Prague Castle in the background somewhere after the thirtieth minute. Other than that, there was nothing of interest, perhaps only the strange regularity of my desire to turn the film off. (30/08/2009)

A horror which in purely screenplay terms has no weaknesses. Excellent actors. Atmosphere mostly powerful (when not spoiled by superfluousness like the contents of the “child’s" coffin). First-class music. But it fails in one fundamental respect. It’s not in the least funny. Which is a problem mainly because it’s trying much harder to be a comedy than a horror (a genre that suits this picture much more). (14/10/2009)

I too have a subject for a movie - the story of the humor rip-offs who took this well-cast and skilfully made "horror comedy" and managed to steal almost everything funny from its script. Otherwise, I can't explain why I only laughed a couple of times (finding the vampire, stomping on the toy and the chicken), even though my diaphragm was on alert. The film is inoffensively average, but I liked Burke and Hare, which is two years younger and better (and they were stealing the ordinary dead, not the living, which are easier to make money from). (22/08/2014)