"Mortuary" is a basically adequate slasher, with strong echoes of "Happy Birthday to Me" at times, that gets by thanks to some of its acting. Mary Beth McDonough of 'The Waltons' stars as Christie, a college age young woman who lost her father to an "accident" in the family pool. Other characters occasionally bite the dust as Christie gets terrorized by a cloaked and white faced figure who follows her around. Eventually, all is made clear at the mortuary run by a Mr. Andrews (the late, always solid Christopher George in what was sadly his final film role).
Now, it's far from hard to figure out whodunit, especially after a red herring has been dealt with, but making this work as a murder mystery may never have been paramount for director Howard Avedis, who wrote and produced the film with his actress wife Marlene Schmidt (who plays the mother of male lead David Wallace, whom you might remember from the Canadian horror favourite "Humongous"). Avedis, a veteran in exploitation, had also been behind such films as "The Teacher" and "The Fifth Floor", and spices up his film with a bit of sex and nudity (although almost certainly not enough to satisfy some tastes); use of graphic violence is very minimal.
McDonough is definitely appealing in the central role and her character is the sort for whom you *do* want to root. George's lovely wife Lynda Day George has one of the other major roles as Christie's mother, whom we have our doubts about. And, as often in some of these low budget offerings, there is one breakout star, and that's the always extravagant Bill Paxton, who's a total hoot as the pathetic Paul, a classical music lover who also loves Christie.
One extended sequence stands out as poor Christie, who's a sleepwalker, gets stalked and spooked. One element that is also quite effective is the music score by John Cacavas, as it's very sinister throughout. There isn't too much, overall, that's especially noteworthy about the film, other than some of its principal actors, but it's not bad at all, either, and may fit the bill for die hard genre lovers. The U.S. trailer features a sequence with actor Michael Berryman that, needless to say, didn't make the final cut of the film.
Six out of 10.
Now, it's far from hard to figure out whodunit, especially after a red herring has been dealt with, but making this work as a murder mystery may never have been paramount for director Howard Avedis, who wrote and produced the film with his actress wife Marlene Schmidt (who plays the mother of male lead David Wallace, whom you might remember from the Canadian horror favourite "Humongous"). Avedis, a veteran in exploitation, had also been behind such films as "The Teacher" and "The Fifth Floor", and spices up his film with a bit of sex and nudity (although almost certainly not enough to satisfy some tastes); use of graphic violence is very minimal.
McDonough is definitely appealing in the central role and her character is the sort for whom you *do* want to root. George's lovely wife Lynda Day George has one of the other major roles as Christie's mother, whom we have our doubts about. And, as often in some of these low budget offerings, there is one breakout star, and that's the always extravagant Bill Paxton, who's a total hoot as the pathetic Paul, a classical music lover who also loves Christie.
One extended sequence stands out as poor Christie, who's a sleepwalker, gets stalked and spooked. One element that is also quite effective is the music score by John Cacavas, as it's very sinister throughout. There isn't too much, overall, that's especially noteworthy about the film, other than some of its principal actors, but it's not bad at all, either, and may fit the bill for die hard genre lovers. The U.S. trailer features a sequence with actor Michael Berryman that, needless to say, didn't make the final cut of the film.
Six out of 10.