I Sell The Dead stars Dominic Monaghan as Arthur Blake, an 18th Century British graverobber. He’s been arrested for his crimes and is now locked up in prison awaiting his judgement, but before he faces the guillotine a priest (played by Ron Perlman) comes to talk to him. In the guise of confessing his sins Arthur brings us all back to when he was taught all about his morbid vocation by his cockney mentor/partner Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden) with whom he provided bodies for the local mad doctor, played by one Angus Scrimm.

I really don’t have to go on, do I? All the genre fans have already just run and bought tickets after reading that.

But it somehow gets better! Not only does this graverobbing duo have to deal with pissed-off relatives and competing body snatchers, they also live in a world populated by ghouls, vampires and zombies… among other things. This all makes their work a helluva lot more dangerous, but also a lot more profitable. After all, what scientist wouldn’t want to have their own Bub to perform tests on? Of course, things soon spiral out of control and our duo goes for one big job too many.
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With a sub-million dollar budget, frames of comic book art and a cast full of character actors, the creators of “I Sell the Dead” seem to be gunning for a “cult classic” tag. This may very well happen thanks to the film’s stellar cinematography and actors’ enthusiastic performances.

The film centers around the misadventures of professional body snatchers Willis Grimes (B-movie producer/actor Larry Fessenden) and Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan), who begin to steal supernatural bodies at the behest of a sinister doctor (Angus Scrimm, best known as the Tall Man from “Phantasm”). Grimes is executed for his crimes in the opening of the movie and Blake has only hours before suffering the same fate, although he’s forced to undergo a pre-execution interview with a coarse-talking priest (Ron Perlman).

Director Glenn McQuaid adapted the idea from his short “The Resurrection Apprentice,” which showed at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival. The short was included in one of many vignettes culled from Blake’s colorful tales that he regales the priest. In fact, much of the movie is shown by flashback—and sometimes flashbacks within those flashbacks. Because of this, the story can feel little anecdotal, but the ghoulishly fantastic scenarios the hapless duo fall into keep the film fun.
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