Customer Reviews

Mortuary Academy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this film since I am a former mortician, and I'm always dying for funny funeral home comedies. Brothers Sam Grimm (Christopher Atkins)& Max Grimm (Perry Lang), inherit a combination mortuary & mortuary school from their recently deceased uncle which is worth millions. Only catch is, they have to graduate from the school before they can collect on their inheritance, and there's many an obstacle on their way to graduation. The film pokes fiendish fun at the funeral industry, touching on all the major touchy subjects, i.e. necrophilia, price gouging, bad embalming, and ambulance chasing, etc. I dont want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but a highlight of the film involves Wolfman Jack, and the band Radio Werewolf singing "1960 Cadillac Hearse", which is a killer song! It also features the comedic team of Paul Bartel (playing Paul Truscott) & Mary Woronov (playing Mary Purcell), whom you might remember from the hilarious films, "Rock & Roll High School", and "Eating Raoul" as Mortuary School employees. If you like morbid comedy, I think you'll like this flick.

I am partial to this dark, dry comedy, fashioned somewhat as Eating Raoul Part Two" meets the classic 60's pic "The Loved Ones." Considering it's ocassionally tasteless gags, the film received excellent reviews on it's screening at the 89 Cannes Film Festival. With the death of many of it's stars -- Cesar Romero, Wolfman Jack, Paul Bartel, and several supporting actors, there is a certain air of surreal aloofness to the characters. I actually have a cameo in the movie as an ambulance attendent during an accident scene. I developed the storyline and screenplay from my growing up the son of a mortician and living over a funeral home. I Co-Produced the movie and perform a song in the opening credits as a mock Beachboys rock band. And I agree totally with Hearse Queen's recent review of our little cult flic as well as her comments on that great Radio Werewolf tune. Gather a few of your insane friends, a cold six-pack, turn off the lights, and laugh your butt off. Chip Miller, Filmmaker

Two brothers discover they are the sole beneficiaries of their late uncle. They are to inherit a mortuary and school valued at several million dollars. The only catch is that they have to graduate from the mortuary academy in order to claim the inheritance. The current academy administration is not too thrilled with the situation. If the boys fail to pass the administration will retain control of the estate.

Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov represent the administration while a cast of colorful characters makes up the rest of the student body. The brothers are polar opposites in personality. One is willing to go with the flow while the other hates the idea and wants to be a real doctor (although no medical school will have him). The brothers and the administration face off and the other characters form their alliances until silly plots and complications bring the whole thing to a satisfying conclusion.

Bartel and Woronov are excellent. The movie is silly, only slightly dark at times, and just about what you would expect from such a comedy film. An unexpected plu is that Wolfman Jack plays a substantial role as the agent for a music group called Radio Werewolf. This is the sort of film I might have seen at a summer drive-in when it first came out. In other words it is silly, fun, and won't strain the brain too much while throwing in a fair bit of originality. Check it out.

MORTUARY ACADEMY is another wacky movie starring the irrepressible duo of Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov (ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, EATING RAOUL). This time, the peculiar pair are running the ACADEMY of the title, while Bartel attempts a love affair w/ an over-ripe cadaver! Meanwhile, two students are enrolled in order to meet the requirements of their dead uncle's will. If they pass, then they inherit the ACADEMY. Of course, Bartel and Woronov do whatever they can to stop this from happening. MA is a humorous look at the funereal arts, w/ heavy doses of goofy dialogue and zany characters. If you enjoy deceased, robotic-ally resurrected rock bands, and aren't offended by the lighter side of necrophilia, then this movie will set in like rigor-mortise (I mean that in a good way)!...

The movie is morbid in a stupid - funny way.
Overall I liked it and it adds to my horror movie collection.

Chris Ondo

A spectacularly silly movie by Paul Bartell and Mary Woronov, the crown couple of the b movie. Just wonderful!

I ofen picture the Christopher Atkins of today sitting at his local Starbucks, watching all the young professionals pass him by unrecognized.
He must wonder at his fallen star. He had limited talent, but he was engaging and energetic and was capable of serious work. He just made the wrong choices early on. Or was guided in the wrong direction by his handlers. We'll never know. But we will bear witness to the choices that tanked his career beyond repair. This is one of them. I would rather spend ninety minutes sitting through a root canal than have to watch this drivel over again. And that's not to say there wasn't ample talent here. This included the likes of Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov, a couple of cult actors from the seventies and eighties, responsible for the wonderfully mordant Eating Raoul, totally wasted here. The script stinks. The acting stinks. Nothing works. If you want to see this concept work, go get The Loved One from 1965 and see genius trump trash.
Or better still go visit your dentist, just DON'T SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED CASH ON THIS TRIPE!!!