Mortuary (1983)

Fantastic!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Mortuary (1983) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A woman and her boyfriend think that there's something strange going on at a local mortuary and she believes it might be linked to the mysterious death of her father. Before long they discover that the mortuary owner (Christopher George) and her mother (Lynda Day George) are holding seances there and might know more than they are saying.If you walked into a horror film in 1983 then you were more than likely getting into a slasher picture. The slashers were all the craze during this period and it was rare to see a film that didn't try to push the gore factor. MORTUARY is a film that isn't the most popular thing today and it's probably because there's not too much gore and violence. Instead of that stuff this film tries to deliver suspense and drama and it's actually a lot better made than you'd expect.What I enjoyed about this film is the fact that it really did try to build up an atmosphere and scare the viewer. The film takes it's time telling its story and the mystery aspect of it was pretty good. Even better are the scenes where the killer, dressed in black and wearing a white mask, stalks the young girl. There's a sequence where he chases her around her house and it's very well-directed and it manages to have a great jump scene. The film also benefits from not going the gore route, although there are a few bloody murders scattered throughout.The film also benefits from some nice performances including Mary Beth McDonough and David Wysocki. They played the lead kids doing the investigating and they at least keep you entertained and hold your attention. Bill Paxton is also very good here in a supporting role as the weird nerd who works at the mortuary. I've always been a fan of Christopher George and he too is good here. This would turn out to be his final film as he suffered a fatal heart attack before this picture was released.MORTUARY has some flaws including the pacing and I'd argue that the ending doesn't work as well as it should have. Still, on the whole I thought the film was quite entertaining and especially when compared to what most horror films were doing at the time.

I like cheese. I buy cheese. I eat cheese. I watch cheese. But when the cheese gets moldy I throw it out and start fresh. To me, this film is nothing more than old moldy cheese to throw out with the rest of the trash. It's grindhouse trash - that's all this film is to me. I was hoping this was going to be an okay Gothic styled film from the title and the film's poster but it isn't. If you are a fan of grindhouse then you might like this film, if not then I will suggest to you to stay far away from this one.I like some of the cheap cheesy horror films - but this one is far away from my style or should I say type of cheese.1/10

This largely unheralded artifact from the Golden Age of splatter is admittedly more enjoyable because of the aesthetic it shares with the classic films surrounding it than because of the movie itself. However, thanks to some nice atmospheric touches and a well-realized climax, Mortuary ends up being a safely above average offering well worth seeking out for '80s horror enthusiasts.Granted, the story is a bit disjointed, and a sizable chunk of the film is spent following an ultimately insignificant subplot concerning the owner of the titular funeral home and the strange ritualistic séances he conducts in the basement. The real driving force of the tale is a college girl named Christie who is haunted by images of her father's murder, which she suspects may be tied in with a phantasmal killer who is stalking her (gee, you think?).The homicidal specter in question is a dark-robed figure whose face is painted up like he's auditioning to be the bass player in a Scandinavian black metal band, and who has the seemingly supernatural ability to appear just about anywhere at will. Figuring out who the killer is isn't difficult, especially since we are treated to close-ups of his pasty visage less than halfway through the film. For some reason, Christie has a tougher time connecting the dots, and despite seeing him face to face and hearing him speak at length during one encounter, the best she can come up with is, "his eyes looked familiar".It's probably inaccurate to call Mortuary a "slasher" film or a "splatter" movie, since it has a notably lean body count and only a few scenes of bloodletting. However, the sequences it does contain are well-orchestrated, and one in particular, in which the obviously aroused killer graphically stabs his victim dozens of times while shuddering with orgasmic glee, still packs a vicious punch even by today's standards.The pace is definitely on the slow side, and things don't really get cooking until the third act, but the film maintains a steady level of suspense throughout while the mystery is being unraveled. The tension is augmented immeasurably by an excellent musical score, which is among the best you'll hear in the film cycle of the era.The standard cast of unknowns is bolstered by the always welcome presences of Christopher and Lynda Day George, and a manic performance by a very young Bill Paxton lends the film additional curiosity value. Amongst the newbies, the acting is generally serviceable, although in one awkwardly performed scene depicting Christie's reaction to a flashback nightmare, Mary McDonough's facial expressions, writhing, and demeanor look less like disturbance and more like the throes of sexual ecstasy. It certainly doesn't help that she's moaning, "Daddy... daddy... daddy..." over and over again, either.The horror elements are nicely balanced with a few nuggets of delightfully droll black humor, my favorite being a scene in which Christopher George is giving a sales pitch to an aged married couple shopping for funeral accessories. When George steps away, the couple has a moment to appraise the casket he's selected for them, during which the thoughtful wife expresses her reservations to her husband: "honey, I just don't think you'd be comfortable in this".Of course, the film has its requisite share of unintentional silliness, and the melodramatic preening of the killer is guaranteed to make you snicker a time or two. Predictably, an extended scene inside a roller rink with its accompanying disco jam hasn't aged well, either. Oddly, this same disco derby scene includes three friends of our leading couple, who seem groomed to be perfect fuel for a larger body count, yet are so ultimately insignificant in the film that we're left wondering why they were introduced at all.Though it's a pretty bumpy road getting there, the giddily ghoulish finale is worth the wait. You'll find similar twists in a few other outings of Mortuary's vintage, but the way it's handled here serves as a satisfying pay-off for the methodical set-up that precedes it.Mortuary isn't mandatory viewing by any means, but the fantastic score, a likable hero and heroine, and a nifty final chapter combine to give the film enough positive attributes to warrant 85-minutes of your life. Those who treasure this period of horror's history aren't likely to regret taking a look.

Our care and dignity is important to someone.Christy's(Mary McDonough) father is smacked over the noggin with a baseball bat and she hasn't recovered from the death occurred by the blows. She sleepwalks and has nightmares about her father. Meanwhile Christy's mom, Eve Parsons(Lynda Day George) is performing a séance with the town's mortician, Hank Andrews(Christopher George) in the hopes of communicating with her dead husband. Meanwhile, Christy's boyfriend, Greg(David Wallace), seeks answers regarding his missing friend Josh(..who we saw murdered near the beginning while Greg was absent)and worries that it is somehow tied to a séance he was watching from within a secret room of the mortician's warehouse. Hank's son, Paul(Bill Paxton)works with him attending to the bodies prior to the funeral and is a little "off" because of the loss of his mother who attempted to commit suicide. We soon come to understand that the murdered Parson man was in fact linked to Paul and his mom, a psychiatric doctor who wanted to commit her so she couldn't harm herself further.Heavy breathing. Heart beats on the soundtrack. Lunatic, in need of psychiatric help, responsible for the film's limited body count, whose goal is to keep his obsession forever looking the same, through embalming. Plenty of 80's characteristics on display here, lacking enough gratuitous elements to really classify as a winner, I figure, in the hearts of slasher faithful..not a lot of nudity and the violent sequences really fail to deliver the goods. The killer's chief instrument of choice is a trocar used for embalming, with his costume a black cape and white mask. The psycho's identity is rather easy to discover(..the film goes out of it's way to tell us). The best thing about Mortuary is the fantastic poster art. Attractive mainly for the casting of Bill Paxton as unstable and goofy mortician's son in love with Christy, with support from Christopher George and wife Lynda Day George in minor roles as parents concerned for their kids(CG as the mortician, Lynda Day as Christy's mom). You do get an amusing "performance" for a new "family", set to Mozart as a wedding ceremony is being prepared, as those dead at the hands of the killer are gathered together to be "participants" of his supposed betrothal..it's all so morbid. We come to realize that someone considered "unhealthy" rises to seek revenge for the murder of her boy..it's a closing frame that punctuates the idea of a passage of psychosis from mother to son, and is only fitting that our couple not just walk away unscathed.RIP, CG.