Interesteg
What makes it different from others?
Diagonaldi
Very well executed
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Scotty Burke
It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Michael_Elliott
Mortuary (1983) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A woman and her boyfriend think that there's something strange going on at a local mortuary and she believes it might be linked to the mysterious death of her father. Before long they discover that the mortuary owner (Christopher George) and her mother (Lynda Day George) are holding seances there and might know more than they are saying.If you walked into a horror film in 1983 then you were more than likely getting into a slasher picture. The slashers were all the craze during this period and it was rare to see a film that didn't try to push the gore factor. MORTUARY is a film that isn't the most popular thing today and it's probably because there's not too much gore and violence. Instead of that stuff this film tries to deliver suspense and drama and it's actually a lot better made than you'd expect.What I enjoyed about this film is the fact that it really did try to build up an atmosphere and scare the viewer. The film takes it's time telling its story and the mystery aspect of it was pretty good. Even better are the scenes where the killer, dressed in black and wearing a white mask, stalks the young girl. There's a sequence where he chases her around her house and it's very well-directed and it manages to have a great jump scene. The film also benefits from not going the gore route, although there are a few bloody murders scattered throughout.The film also benefits from some nice performances including Mary Beth McDonough and David Wysocki. They played the lead kids doing the investigating and they at least keep you entertained and hold your attention. Bill Paxton is also very good here in a supporting role as the weird nerd who works at the mortuary. I've always been a fan of Christopher George and he too is good here. This would turn out to be his final film as he suffered a fatal heart attack before this picture was released.MORTUARY has some flaws including the pacing and I'd argue that the ending doesn't work as well as it should have. Still, on the whole I thought the film was quite entertaining and especially when compared to what most horror films were doing at the time.
Paul Magne Haakonsen
I don't think that I ever got around to watching this movie back in my younger years, even as an avid horror fan back then. I had a chance to sit down and watch it now late in 2016. I must admit that I didn't initially have any particularly high hopes for it, granted the fact that it was a 1983 slasher movie - as to what I understood from the synopsis. But having grown up with slasher movies, then I at least wanted to see what this movie was all about.Let's just say that I didn't even make it to the ending of the movie before I had given up out of sheer boredom. "Mortuary" was painfully slow-paced and lacked anything even remotely thrilling. And it's storyline was essentially as fulfilling as trying to giftwrap emptiness.For a slasher movie then "Mortuary" was anything but interesting or entertaining. It was, at best, a half-hearted attempt at a horror / slasher movie. Compared to movies such as "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" it was just an embarrassing movie to sit and bear witness to.The movie was lacking a proper storyline to lure in the audience and keep you nailed to the seat, and it was this that lead me to give up and move on to watch another movie.As for the acting, well I will say that people were doing adequate enough jobs with the limitations imposed on them in terms of a flawed storyline and lack of proper script. And it was fun, I will say that much, to see a very young Bill Paxton in a movie such as this."Mortuary" is not entertaining, and I can honestly say that I will not ever be returning to this movie in order to finish the last half of the movie. It just failed to entertain me on any level, and there is nothing worthwhile to be experienced here.If you enjoy a proper slasher movie, then there are more than plenty to pick from, especially if you have a thing for 1980's movies.
videorama-759-859391
I finally came around to see this horror, I remember seeing vividly on the video shelves, over thirty years ago. I remember one of the stills on the back of the cover, vividly, where our two hotties are making out, in all their nakedness. This film really starts off well, with you guessing what the hell is going on, on all cylinders basically, where soon you begin to add up all their dots, especially with Bill Paxton's lovestruck, psychopathic character, and again this take notice actor, makes a meal of his role. For the last thirty minutes, it's all so apparent here (where it's no surprise, Paxton is the psycho) we totally know where the rest of the films going, with just a waiting process, not good for a thriller/suspense/horror. Mortuary is a major disappointment to me, especially in the gore department. I really expected this film to much more gorier, like a few other 80's shockers. The story has beautiful Mcdonough losing her father to a nutter (guess who?) with a baseball bat. Other strange happenings occur, her boyfriend's friend, strangely disappears, as she's having bad visions, as well as a stalker/nutter (guess who?) putting the scares on her at night, in some creepy cultish garb. We see at first hand, a little, how embalming works, and the sex scenes w're ere thankful for, as well as Mcdonough's beautiful presence. At some point, when trying to add up the dots, I really found this movie stupid, like the living hand sticking out of the casket, an strange occult scene, following, involving Mcdonough's mum (the hot Lydia day George who's supposedly having an affair with Paxton's father and owner of the mortuary (the late Christoper George, where him and Lydia previously starred in the ultra sicko chainsaw flick, Pieces. I did like the movie's score, but of course the best thing about this film, can be summed up in two words: Bill Paxton, who does relievedly make the last ten minutes, worth it, in what is just a grave-ly disappointing flick. Sorry about the pun.
Vomitron_G
While MORTUARY is no doubt likable fodder for 80's horror fans, it might better be avoided by more demanding horror viewers, due to the rather thin mystery (it holds up pretty well in the first half hour, but the red herring with the black masses/séances ends up going nowhere) and all too predictable plot development.Still, although rightfully forgotten by now, it does remain a (lesser known) fun and typical 80's horror effort. It is worth your time when this is the type of stuff you're looking for (obviously). Though rooted in the slasher sub-genre, it does venture into other territory by adding some layers and mystery to the plot (or at least, that's what the script tries to do).MORTUARY plays it with a fairly straight face, though gets a little unintentionally funny some times (watch out for a young Bill Paxton whom I have never seen acting like a fagg...ehrr, gay person this hard before - just look at him joyfully run across that cemetery... Hilarious scene!). And a little bit of hideously cheesy '80's music at times is inevitable too, of course.The few killings are enjoyable (and mostly involve mortician's tools) and the villain (or at least his disguise) vaguely resembles the illustrious Captain Howdy character from... THE EXORCIST (really, I kid you not). There's even one stalk & slash scene - ultimately leading to the death of mommy dearest - that's fairly suspenseful. And... after the killer is exposed (boy, that was easy to guess), and the climax has ended, we are treated to a wonderful Shock Ending, ending the movie with a marvelous frozen frame! To me, that alone was satisfying enough.