The Undertaker and His Pals

"The Undertaker and His Pals" is bizarre, but good for a giggle. It's a dark comedy -- I'm almost ashamed of myself for liking it, but do indeed like it despite myself because it's so off the wall. Yes, folks, cannibalism can be funny. "Mort" the Mortician goes to great lengths to preserve his business. The puns made me snicker despite myself.

My best friend and I stumbled across this while still in high school. It was at Blockbuster in the comedy section, and the title was so striking we felt obligated to rent it. After we got over the initial shock, we laughed out loud and ignored the gratuitous violence.

Nicely daft horror comedy with a nice dose of gore, straight from the middle of the sixties! Three motorcyclists seemingly select a victim at random, go to her house and stab her with knives before removing her legs. The victim's parents are then fleeced for cash by the local undertaker, but what connection does he have to the killings? And who are the two sinister guys at the local diner who have taken an interest in PI Harry Glass's assistant? It's up to Harry to get to the bottom of things, although in the end he doesn't do too much.

Full of gore (Hatchets through heads, a Fulci style chain whipping way before Don't Torture a Duckling, an acid bath)and bad humour (the 'meals' served at the diner, the Benny Hill style slapstick), plus buxom sixties babes, the Undertaker and His Pals is a prime slice of cheese served up with sly wink and is a treat for bad movie fans. The end credits say it all man.

There are so many posts about how horrible of a film this is, but honestly I'd rather watch this cheese-fest than any horror movie coming out today. Yeah, the jokes in this film are stupid. Even the violence is stupid. It's cheap! And that's what I liked about it. Look at the tag line! B Movies from the 1960's should not be taken too seriously and anyone who comments on how terrible this film is obviously did. If you watch this movie for scares, you're not going to get them. If you watch this movie as a fan of 1960's exploitation/horror, you'll probably enjoy it. Just pop it in with a smile on your face and you'll enjoy this so-called "hour of wasted time and life." LOL. Come on people, lighten up!

"Did you ever think when a hearse drives by, that some day you are going to die?" This is the first sentence in the lyrics of the theme song for this film. Subtle, isn't it? Hell no, it's not, and subtlety is probably the very last thing you should expect to see in this grotesquely absurd and downright demented gore-comedy. He isn't mentioned anywhere in the credits, but the crazed sense of humor, the excessive display of (poor & cheesy) gore, the music and the overall amateurish low-budget production values make this feel like a genuine Herschell Gordon-Lewis movie! Undoubtedly he, The Godfather of Gore, influenced many young filmmakers at that time and "The Undertaker and his Pals" is a fine example to prove this statement. It's a tasteless and simultaneously delicious story about the pact between the undertaker and two restaurant owners residing in the same town. They ride out together at night to barbarically slaughter young girls, and while the undertaker makes big money arranging the funeral service, the victims (or at least parts of them) end up on the special menus board of his pals the restaurant owners. The film is as simplistic as it is ingenious, and it's the ideal excuse for an hour of brainless and blood-soaked entertainment. The character of the greedy undertaker is the funniest of them all and, as usual, the investigating cop is too ignorant to figure out the situation. The gags themselves aren't hilarious, but the poor execution is. If H.G. Lewis didn't make this film himself, I'm sure he will have enjoyed watching it. And so did I.

What a weird little treat this one is. The cinematography is interesting at times. It starts off on a visually interesting note and held my interest the whole time. The acting is fine. There are some jokes and the thing moves along very fast, too fast to get bored.

Sure it's not Hitchcock, but for low-budget fun, this one makes the grade. The special effects are sometimes a little weak, but all in all they made a very consistent effort in this picture. Give me this over Con Air any day.

I did not at all regret seeing this, and that is pretty high praise as far as I'm concerned. It's a fun relic from 1967, if you like movies and have a sense of humor and the absurd, you'll probably see this as time well spent.