SHOCK celebrates underrated 1983 chiller MORTUARY.
As horror fans, an unlimited number of flicks are offered for our viewing pleasure some to be worshiped and discussed at length amongst our fellow enthusiasts for years following their initial release. Then there are even more that either slip from our consciousness altogether or are overlooked in our attempt to take in each and every film offered up to the horror audience.
MORTUARY is a film that, for most horror lovers, likely falls in the latter group.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNl0WoztoX0
Howard Avedis 1983 film has one of the best trailers for a horror film ever made. It opens with a melancholy shot of a full moon seen through the barren branches of old climbing trees. We pan through the bare branches past staring owls and our attention becomes centered on a man busily filling a grave with dirt. Genre fans will instantly recognize the iconic Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes, The Devils Rejects) as said gravedigger, exhaustively shoveling the cemetery soil. That all too familiar monotone voice-over begins with the haunting words of Before your funeral before you are buried…before you are covered with the last shovelful of dirt BE SURE YOU ARE REALLY DEAD! And on that note a hand bursts from the grave grabbing Berryman who is dragged into the ground screaming and attempting to claw his way out. We are then blasted with the title MORTUARY with the memorable tagline Where Nobody Rests in Peace. Its a trailer that not only captures your interest but commands that your curiosity as to what terrors the film it is promoting will unveil.
Unfortunately, it has next to nothing to do with the actual film in fact, Berryman is not even in it!
While MORTUARY may never be a title that instantly pops to mind when waxing nostalgic regarding horrors gone past, its influence on genre films that followed in its release is quite evident, possibly best seen through some of the late, great Wes Cravens offerings. Its hard to not have flashbacks of the original A Nightmare on Elm St. when viewing MORTUARY, especially in the scenes of Christie being stalked at home with the question of whether they are dreams or happening in reality. It instantly brings to mind the feeling of Tina being harassed in the night at her own home by a then new-comer Freddy Krueger, in the original Nightmare only one short year after MORTUARYs release. Not to mention that the killers appearance is also very similar to Screams Ghostface, and the films structure follows a similar narrative.
In all, MORTUARY is one of those films that serves that fantastic feeling when, as a genre fan, you think youve seen them all and then accidentally trip across it and enjoy it for both its strengths and its shortcomings, unsure if you saw it back in the day and, if you didnt, wondering how it slipped past you. This was somewhat my own experience with Avedis film, as for years Ive been haunted with the imagery of the film. I could distinctly remember as a kid, seeing a film that scared the hell out of me due to the killers creepiness. It was the scene where Christie is cowering under a window hiding from her white-faced stalker in the long black robe. He slowly passed the window, all wide-eyed and psycho looking, leaving the viewer unsure if he actually knew she was right there and would pop up unexpectedly to claim his kill or not. For years I searched titles trying to figure out what the film was with no luck, as it was so rarely mentioned or covered in the numerous books, magazines and forums I consistently devour.
And then unexpectedly, it was dropped in my lap to view.
Unsure of what I was popping in, I was ecstatic to discover IT WAS THE MOVIE!
After this rediscovery of a forgotten terror, it has since become a regular late night pop in of mine. Heres hoping others will rediscover it as well…
