''The Corpse Eaters'' is a Canadian, English-language 1974 horror

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

produced and set in Happy Valley, Sudbury,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Plot

The film begins at a funeral home where the mutilated body of a young man is being prepared. From there, the film shifts to the young man, his sister, and their companions on a wild picnic. They decide on a whim to spend the night in a graveyard where they perform a

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spe ...

raising the dead. The majority of the action is conveyed through flashbacks and

nightmare A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety or great sadness. The dream may contain situations of d ...

sequences.

Production and exhibition

According to

Caelum Vatnsdal Caelum Vatnsdal (born 1970) is a Canadian writer and filmmaker.Randall King ''Winnipeg Free Press'', November 24, 2012. He is most noted for his books ''They Came From Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema'' (2004), a comprehensive study of C ...

’s book, ''They Came from Within'', and ''The Corpse Eaters'' was produced in 1973 by a teenaged Zazelenchuk with a meager budget of $36,000 culled from the proceeds of his drive-in located in Sudbury. Because his first and only feature film had such a small budget, Zazelenchuk couldn’t afford his ideal star,

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later Jo ...

. Instead, Zazelenchuk brought local theatre performers and high school friends together to make what some consider Canada’s first

gore film A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of wikt:gore, gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the h ...

. Zazelenchuk financed, wrote, and produced the film. He is also credited with the special makeup effects. He left the direction to Donald R. Passmore, who was soon replaced with Klaus Vetter, who also served as the film's cinematographer. On August 16, 1974, at the 69 Drive-In, ''The Corpse Eaters'' premiered in Sudbury. A successful local run followed before Zazalenchuk was offered $5,000 for distribution rights from distributor Howard Mahler under his banner Howard Mahler Films. The distributor, however, did not inform Zazelenchuk that he was purchasing the film without any intent on releasing it. It was used as a tax write-off and declared as a loss. The film was never released theatrically elsewhere. The film faded into obscurity for years until Encore Home Video rediscovered it in 1993 and released it on DVD several years later, claiming to have transferred their copy from the only known surviving print. This version runs 57 minutes and is considered incomplete, making it a partially

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

. However, the original negatives still exist and are held at Library and Archives Canada (LAC).

Availability

The original negatives, 35mm prints, and other source materials are held at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). As of 2020, the film is still under copyright, with the rights being held by Don Zazelenchuk. The copyright, however, should expire no later than 2024 (50 years from 1974), which would make it fall into the public domain and allow it to be freely accessible for duplication. A 35mm print is also available at the

Kinsey Institute The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction (often shortened to The Kinsey Institute) is a research institute at Indiana University. Established in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1947 as a nonprofit, the institute merged with Indi ...

of Indiana University.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corpse Eaters, The 1974 films 1974 horror films 1974 independent films Canadian independent films Canadian zombie films English-language Canadian films Films shot in Greater Sudbury Films set in Northern Ontario Canadian splatter films Lost Canadian films 1970s English-language films 1970s Canadian films