Sad post-Christmas news today, as we've learned via Blue Underground that Spanish filmmaker Jorge Grau has passed away at the age of 88. The filmmaker was most known by horror fans for having directed The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie).
The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue revolves around a town in which the dead have come back to life. The cause of such resurrections is revealed to be a pesticidal farming machine that utilizes radiation and ultrasonic waves to kill insects.
The classic zombie film won Grau the CEC Medal at the Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival back in 1974. He also won Best Director at the Cinema Writers Circle Awards that same year.
"This is one of my fav zombie films of them all; a genuinely chilling UK set horror," director Edgar Wright wrote of Manchester Morgue. "I have the Spanish poster (No Profanar El Sueño De Los Muertos) on my wall at home. RIP to the great Jorge Grau."
Other films by Grau include The Legend of Blood Castle, Violent Blood Bath, Noche de verano, A Love Story, Canticle, and Story of a Girl Alone.
Our deepest sympathies for Grau's family and friends.
