Customer Reviews

Tobe Hooper's Mortuary

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I picked this movie up quick on a Friday nite,(in a hurry, big mistake) a Tobe Hooper flick with
a little horror to it, right from the start I could tell this one was
going to be a struggle. I love B movie horror flicks, I love tacky, low
budget but I just wasn't very impressed with anything from "Mortuary", from the house(mortuary), the characters, the black spreading growth, the diner, the graveyard, the police, the pit, the dead
and worst the living, they all were rotten. God, I hope I didn't give
anything a way to spoil. I've seen most of this
in one movie or another, they just threw it all together. Cheap, lame and not recommended.

This is an intensely boring story of a possessed mortuary, and a family that take over its operation. The initial scenes are the best, as the old owner hands over the keys while slowly pointing out the hidden flaws of the old house he has just sold them. There is no more of this over the top sick humor though, just mundane teens getting killed for being sexually active [a timeless subtext of horror].

More than a few scenes seemed designed to remind of audiences of Poltgeist, an 80s classic. People dont remember that film was also Hooper, and his best work, since Spielberg took all the credit for it back in 84 as producer.

Tobe Hooper directed Tx Chainsaw Massacre, the original, using a then clever device: make it look like a documentary/real life events. It is hilarious that people thought the new Chainsaw was based on real events, simply bc the 70s version was a bit deceptive.

Wow, this film just does not seem worthy of the director when looking at his early and middle works.

I've always loved Tobe Hooper, and I've stuck with him through highs and lows. The guy's a schlock B movie director and actually seems proud of that fact. He never seemed to have aspirations like Raimi and Jackson of hitting the big time, he seems happy doing what he does. I think Tobe got screwed somewhat though. When your first film is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you've set the bar pretty high, and everyone's gonna expect all of your films from there on out to be just as good if not better than that. Hooper's had to live with this curse for years. Hell, you ever seen a coverbox for a Hooper film that didn't say, "From the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre"? It's got be tough considering all his films since then have been B exploitation flicks. Chainsaw was too, but people and critics seemed to only accept it one time around. Sure, he did hit the big time with Poltergeist, but I don't really count that coz that has Speilberg written all over it. The film would have been totally different if only Hooper had done it. Many schlocky films later we arrive at Mortuary. The problem with Mortuary isn't that it's a bad film coz it isn't, but because it's too much a product of the times. What I mean by that is that we live in a time when there are about eight billion direct to video horror films on the video store shelves. At least two seem to come out each week. Back in Hooper's heyday this wasn't so. Basically I'm saying that if Hooper's name wasn't on this film, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this film and one of those countless others on the shelf. Sad, but true. Hooper seems to have gotten lost in an enormous pile of movies influenced by his own. It also seems as if Hooper has been forever banished to the direct to video arena. The last theatrical release we saw from him was The Mangler over ten years ago. Theatrical space now is reserved for really high quality entertainment like XXX: State Of Union and Phat Girlz. If Mortuary had been released in the 80s, it would definitely have some staying power, but I'm afraid it'll get lost in the shuffle within a year or so. Like I said, Mortuary isn't a bad film(it is if you get off on Citizen Kane or Bringing Down The House), in fact I might just purchase it coz I like Hooper and would like to own all of his films. The idea of the film is an interesting one. It's like a mix of Lovecraft's Colour Out Of Space(the green viney stuff making the soil bad, not to mention the creature in the well which is pretty Lovecraftian), Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness(the contagium spread by puking into mouths), and of course Night Of The Living Dead. It's got a bunch of Hooper's trademark oddball characters, most amusing being a stuttering sheriff and comedian Greg Travis as a sleazy city official who is constantly laughing. Mortuary isn't a big comeback film for Hooper. It might even disappoint many of his fans, but Tobe's still going full speed ahead after all these years. At least the B horror world will always have Tobe.

This movie is a lot of fun to watch when you go in with a certain mindset. I noticed many other reviewers were disappointed in the quality of the special effects, etc. This is a low budget horror movie, without the slick Hollywood touches of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I think they did this whole movie for a budget of what a cheap car costs. But if you keep that in mind and keep an open attitude, you'll find many delicious details.

The main villain isn't what you'd expect after reading the box and looking at the director's other films. There's a monster behind the scenes and that is what is really creepy (no I won't say more because I don't want to wreck the surprise when you watch it for yourself). The acting isn't the best in places, but it's not that bad either. The script is pretty good: funny, realistic, and flowing. But the best part about this whole film is the twist ending which had me jumping. I was pleasantly surprised that I was, well, surprised. Not often do I get caught off guard by a horror film, but this one managed that.

So keep an open mind and realize that this does not and will not look like a Hollywood release. It looks direct to DVD, but for a direct to DVD type movie, this one is pretty good.

Recommended.

I got this DVD for $5 and still feel ripped off. This movie and many like it these days are just not scary.

Sometimes with very bad films, they are so bad they are funny, which is worth the time to watch just for that. Not so here.

The problem is that the storyline is so far out that there is no feeling that this could ever happen to anyone. The gratuitous gore and muck only solidify this opinion.

Whatever happened to less is more?

The acting is fine if you discount the ridiculous laughing man and the silly sheriff, but the best acting in history could not overcome this storyline.

I often wonder with very bad movies what the people who do the final editing and review think about before they release something like this. Can they actually believe it is good? More likely they are stuck and have to get whatever money they can out of it. Too bad for us.

The chapter list for Mortuary includes the following: Graveyard Babies, Happy Mortician, Disgruntled Drivers, and Hearty Soup. That led me to start the movie in a MST3K mood. I'm pleased to say I was completely misled by this low-budget horror gem.

After the family patriarch dies, single-mother with horrid haircut moves her children cross-country to a creepy, dilapidated house situated on a prime piece of real estate between a backed up sewer repository and a morgue. Location, location, location. The house comes complete with all the real estate essentials: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, church organ, flickering kitchen lights, stairs that creek on every step, bad CGI, sink water that has equal parts hydrogen and feces. You know, the standard stuff. But it's all good because she's the new mortician. But can she handle the strange occurrences at the graveyard? Will the mystery of local legend/mutant Bobby Fowler be uncovered?

Overall this is pretty good direct-to-DVD horror fare. The cast performs admirably. The female leads fulfill their primary role in horror: be hot. None over or under act, which isn't normally par for the course in second rate horror. The budget is clearly miniscule, so the CGI is acceptably subpar. Well-executed gore is a suitable replacement anyway. And the gore is plentiful. Nasty, too. Mix zombies together with Poltergeist and you've got a good idea about this movie. Pretty good stuff if you ask me. Even the score is a decent blend violin and piano reminiscent of early Friday the 13th aura.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Goonies meets Star Wars meets Indiana Jones ending - trust me, not as good as it sounds - but the positive outweighs the negative and horror fans will be pleased.

Jason Elin

This film is a throwback to 80's horror comedies, but the actors play it so straight you have to think.....are they serious? This thought only last for a millisecond as you watch the characters walk into every horror cliché ever used in these films.

The FX are cool and have that 80's look to them, but the film does run out of steam halfway through. Overall I was entertained and I would recommend this one to my horror buddies for a few laughs. I caught this on cable, so I know nothing about the DVD quality or it's features.

Took me over 4 hours to find this movie. I saw it on the Sci-Fi channel in February, and completely forgot the title. After about a four hour search I found it, and just ordered it. Can't wait until it gets here.

Hello B fans, this is us, Sid the Elf, how are you? It's a doube dip this week. We tackled Steven Segal in Pistol Whippedearly in the week which naturally took a few days to recover from as the man is north of 400 lbs. Now we're back to review Mortuary. This film was directed by Tobe Hooper of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame, which was probably the only reason it ever made a theatrical release. This one smacked of straight to dvd. Those of you who know Sid's reviews know that this is not a problem. In fact, there was a lot to like about Mortuary. We felt like the film had all the elements of being a certified 5 star B, but fell short.

The plot of the film revolves around the Doyle family which includes Mom(Leslie) and her two kids, Jonathan and Jamie. The mother, in her infinite wisdom decides to become a mortitian. Of course! Isn't that the job of choice for every single mother with an 8 year old girl? So, Mom buys a completely dilapidated house in California. This place could be a real beauty though, with the embalming room for a basement and a graveyard in front. Sounds like a dream right? How could these people not know there was going to be trouble? Then Jonathan gets a job at the local diner where he learns the story of Bobby Fowler, who used to live in Jonathan's new house and some say still does. In a nutshell, Bobby was the great grandson of Zeb Fowler, who started the mortuary. Bobby was a disfigured freak when he was born so his parents covered his face with a burial shroud and locked him in his room with bars on his windows and everything. Good times all around. Legend has it that Bobby killed his parents and still lives in his old house. Before we move on, let's get something out of the way: Mortuary had two HUGE parallels to The Final Sacrifice, the trancendant Mystery Science Theatre 3000 movie. By the way, look for a review of The Final Sacrifice from Sid as part of MST 3000 season 9 in a few weeks. First, the Zeb Fowler character. That sounds an awful lot like..."Hey kid, I'm Rowsdower, Zap Rowsdower." And, if you don't think Jonathan doesn't strike an eerie resembelance to the legendary Troy McGreggor, Sid doesn't know what to tell you.

At this point we're about 40 minutes into the movie and it finally starts to get really cool. That's Sid's problem with the film, they concentrated way too much on the family setteling into the new house and blah blah blah. The only thing this accomplished was you got attached to the little girl, Jamie. This is essential in a horror movie, to have someone you absolutely do not want to be harmed. She was it, anyone else would have been fine. Not her, not her. Anyway, here you have the awesome scene where the townies(1 goofy guy and 2 smoking hot chicks) go into a crypt to have a quasi-threesome. Great scene because it was totally unexpected. So, they get attacked by this wierd vine-like stuff and it turns them into zombies. Meanwhile, Mom is embalming a corpse, and she gets attacked by it and also turns into a zombie. Yep, a real zombie movie. Pretty cool idea to revive the concept. So now the zombies are after Jonathan and his friends, one of whom gets a zombie hand through the chest. Sweet.

Now, the crew is trying to get away from the zombies, including the mom. They eventually hit the epicenter of the evil activity that has been plauging the house for centuries. It's like a well filled with evil. The zombies are trying to feed Jamie to it. Not cool. They have to find a way to prevent this. They finally do. You ready for what the solution was? Rock salt. Yeah, just pour rock salt into the well of pure evil. That should do it. But, whatever, you knew they were going to get away. So, they're walking away, finally through with the ordeal. Jonathan is skipping along merrily doing his Troy "Rowsdower!" routine. And the groung opens up and something grabbs him! And that's it, the movie ends.

Was this to leave the door open for a sequel, or to just give it a cool ending? Sid hopes it's option B. This movie was definitely decent. It even had one or two scary moments. Like when the bodies attacked Mom, that was nice. If it's Sid, he's saying the flick is worth checking out if you're an avid horror fan. However, it wasn't good enough to make a sequel. All in all, a tough movie to rate. Sid says when in doubt, 3 hot chicks in the movie = 3 stars.

This film is pretty decent. The story is a bit dry,the acting is some what there, but, there is some pretty good jump out of your seat thrill at times. I would recommend this only to those who are into zombie movies and that are looking for something different..then this film might be for you. However, a word of advice, rent this movie first to see if you like it, then buy.