Obitorio

Mortuary (aka Embalmed) is one of a number of American horror movies made around this time that feature places involved in the funeral business, Phantasm, One Dark Night and Mausoleum being a few other examples. It was made during the Golden Age of the Slasher Movie but sadly the only thing golden on offer here is Bill Paxton's enjoyable performance, he plays the son of a funeral director and he likes listening to Mozart, skipping through graveyards and has an unhealthy obsession with a girl called Christie. She is played by Mary Beth McDonough and I found her performance fairly wooden. The movie also stars Christopher George (in his final film role) and his real life wife, the very attractive Lynda Day George. Although primarily a slasher movie the plot does throw in a cult led by C George which appears to be a mix of black magic and seances, pretty pointless but fun to watch, especially the wobbly, moving table! We get the usual, cliche thunderstorms at night and the identity of the killer is so obvious though he does look very creepy, there was not a great deal of gore on show (could be that the Hokushin VHS release that I watched was possibly cut) but we do get some nudity. I liked the creepy musical score, and having some Mozart for the end credits was cool. As a slasher fan I found it to be reasonably enjoyable but it is only a rather minor entry.

A movie with a mortuary, a cult group and Bill Paxon is always worth watching. In this early work Paxon plays a geek that works as an embalmer at the local morgue, he enjoys Mozart and enjoys Christie (his childhood crush) even more. If his morbid job wasn't enough, his father owns the mortuary and in his free time does cult meetings with dances and chantings. His mother committed suicide when Paul (Bill Paxon) was still a young boy and consequently he started seeing a shrink (Christie's father). That's when he first met Christie and as time goes by he becomes more and more detached of reality, wanting to marry her at any cost. Greg Stevens, Christie's boyfriend will have something to say about that.

I found the movie good, nothing extraordinary nor original, it's not extremely graphic but it has enough blood spilling. The acting is good, so is the score. It has some genuine scary moments and a reasonable plot. The horror fans are likely to enjoy it, as i said initially, this has all the condiments for a good horror movie.

The movie itself was really quirky and slow... but it's definitely worth the watch to see what a young Bill Paxton does with the material. The most nostalgic thing however about this old film (credits say 1981) is that there are a few scenes from a roller rink named Skating Plus. Just for giggles after the film I happened to google it to see if any old photos existed. Turns out the rink is still in business and is in Ventura. They have FB & IG as well. What is bizarre is that there is no mention of the rink in the credits even though a lot of footage was shot there. Really cool to see the dated lingo and outfits of the early 80s too. Definitely worth a watch.

MORTUARY is about murder and occult conspiracy at the titular establishment. Christie and her boyfriend, Greg (Mary McDonough and David Wallace) become involved with the gruesome goings-on while looking for their missing friend. Christie is also being stalked by a cloaked madman!

Christopher George and wife, Lynda Day George (DAY OF THE ANIMALS, PIECES) also star, as the cantankerous mortician and Christie's mum, respectively.

EXTRA POINTS FOR: A young Bill Paxton, on hand as the mortician's weird son, Paul! He's a blast!

WARNING! THIS FILM CONTAINS: #1- Bloody violence with a rather novel weapon! #2- That "thump! thump!" heartbeat sound whenever the killer appears! #3- Pseudo-supernatural cheeeze that has nothing to do with the movie! #4- Inappropriate, after-death / very much alive nudity! On the embalming table! #5- 1980's "preppy" fashions! #6- Near-death by flying tire! #7- Intense "roller boogie" / impromptu disco dancing sequences! #8- An absolutely off-the-rails finale! Annnd, so much more!

Watch immediately!...

Okay so this isn't the greatest film in the world. It's not even the greatest horror film, but fans of Bill Paxton have got to check out this movie. Paxton puts his all into making every one of his characters entertaining and this film is no different. Bill really goes overboard with this character and it's a good thing because otherwise the movie would be pretty boring. My friends and I had to rewind one scene several times we were laughing so hard at Paxton antics. The film does contain a fair amount of suspense but it is "the great" Bill Paxton that makes the movie worth while.