31 Nights of Halloween Horror - The Mortuary Collection

The Mortuary Collection
108 mins.
Dir. Ryan Spindell
2019/USA


The horror anthology, probably the most difficult sub-genre to tackle.  Few are great, some are good, most are forgettable.  The Mortuary Collection falls somewhere in the middle.  This is no Creepshow, but an ok new flick to watch this Halloween.

Like most anthologies, the wrap around story can sometimes be the most interesting part.  This definitely holds true to this movie and they spend more time than usual building upon it.  The wraparound here obviously takes place in an old creep mortuary run by Clancy Brown, who steals the show in every scene he is in.  There is a help wanted sign out front, and a young girl applies.  As he gives her a tour of the house he shares some stories with her.  The first is a short tale, teaching you to mind your own business.  The second is a kind of tables-turned be careful what you wish for, which I felt was the weakest of the four.  The third was a nice descent into madness and in a change of events, the fourth and probably best tale is told by the girl to the mortician.


None of the stories are necessarily bad, but none are scary either.  They are all played out with a dark sense of humor.  The final story is actually based on a short film the director/write/producer made in 2015 called The Baby Sitter Murders, which is indeed an homage to Halloween with a twist.  Each story is oddly placed in time. It could be modern times, but there are old appliances, TVs, radios, ovens, lots of dark wood in houses that really give each story a surreal quality.  Clancy Brown does a fantastic job as the mortician and if they ever decide to do a remake of Phantasm, I am nominating him as the Tall Man, he would do Angus Scrimm proud.

Want a fun new movie to watch this Halloween, the Mortuary Collection fits the bill.  Just don't go expecting anything you haven't seen before.  You almost have to be somewhat forgiving going into an anthology, EC Comics wrote the book on these, literally and it seems everyone has been following suit since.  Probably better than the Creepshow TV show has been, but still not as good as the film is a fair way to sum this collection up.  Worth a watch just for Clancy Brown in the wrap around segment.



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