When the dead break free all hell breaks loose
Directed by Tobe Hooper and starring Denise Crosby as Leslie Doyle, Dan Byrd as Jonathan Doyle, Stephanie Patton as Jamie Doyle, Greg Travis as Eliot Cook, Alexandra Adi as Liz and Rocky Marquette as Grady. Also stars Bug Hall as Cal, Courtney Peldon as Tina, Tarah Paige as Sara, Michael Shamus Wiles as Sheriff Howell and Price Carson as Bobby Fowler.
Thought I’d review this one as I’m a lifelong fan of Tobe Hooper. He’s the guy who directed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Salem’s Lot (1979), The Funhouse (1981), Poltergeist (1982) and Toolbox Murders (2004).
Leslie Doyle and her family move into a decrepit funeral home where Leslie will work as a mortician. The funeral home even has a spooky old graveyard instead of a front yard; now that’s what I call a fresh start! Jonathan gets a job in a diner and meets some of the local teens, not all of whom are friendly. He hears a creepy story about the previous owners of the mortuary, the Fowlers, from Liz and Grady, local teens he befriends. Three other teens, Cal, Tina and Sara, partying in the graveyard, run into some trouble in one of the tombs. Leslie’s daughter Jamie claims Bobby Fowler is in her closet! A strange fungus-like substance is spreading throughout the house that reanimates the dead and takes over the living.
Mortuary is just a bit of fun really, looks great mostly and has some nice effects. There’s plenty going on visually although the plot is kinda haphazard and ultimately doesn’t really serve any purpose other than as a stage for the visuals to exist on; it isn’t very involving, just something to pass the time. There’s some fairly dodgy CGI too which you’ll have to see past for maximum enjoyment unfortunately. I enjoyed it for what it is. I liked the whole evil fungus thing and none of the characters annoyed me, they did good; I found it reasonably entertaining, certainly watchable.
