The horror anthology is notoriously a hard nut to crack. Not only is the director/directors tasked with making a single cohesive narrative, which is hard enough as it is. They’re responsible for several stories, and in the best case scenario, at the end they all coalesce into a satisfying conclusion; while also dealing out some food for thought. Where they tend to falter, and most of the time they do, is consistency. The sad fact is, multiple directors will usually result in an unevenness from segment to segment in these films, because short form horror is definitely an acquired skillset. With this in mind I sat down to watch the The Mortuary Collection at a late night screening last year at Fantastic Fest, I recently revisited the film for its virtual screening this year at Fantasia, for this review.
The Feature length debut by Ryan Spindell (The Babysitter Murders) is an old school Amicus (Tales from the Crypt/Vault of Horror) style horror anthology, that transpires at the Raven’s End Mortuary. When a young woman (Caitlin Custer) applies for an open position at the funeral home, the creepy caretaker(Clancy Brown) entertains his new hire, recounting the tragic stories and sins of those unlucky enough to land on his embalming table. As the stories unfold the pair travel deeper and deeper into the depths of the ornate structure, unlocking the building’s secrets along the way. The film doesn’t waste any time, before it begins a meta deconstruction of this genre, as it takes its audience from tale to tale giving them a thought provoking mix of morality and the morose.
The film packs in five stories in its two hour runtime, this includes the wrap around segment. Even the weakest link here story-wise is surprisingly solid and it’s shortcomings are what inspire the meta breakdown of the genre by our hosts. Every story hits, and there’s a consistency from tale to tale in both style and narrative. It’s obvious there was a lot of thought put into constructing the stories and how they fit into the overall narrative framework and themes of the film. The stories also lean a bit on the more progressive side in their sensibilities, which I found to be a refreshing update on the formula. I have to partially attribute this to our spunky co-host Caitlin Custer who reveals her dark side while verbally tussling with Brown. This ultimately culminates in a fantastically dark twist at the end. While this is par for the course, I think Mortuary gets bonus points, because it goes particularly hard in its final moments.
The Mortuary Collection is a surprisingly polished production with some great practical effects and sparingly used CGI. This is usually employed to accent some particularly gruesome moments, when the film goes big with its gory set pieces. Most surprising is the film isn’t satisfied with what transpires in the walls of the mortuary, with plenty of nods to a bigger world just outside of our view. With this in mind I couldn’t shake the thought of this also functioning as a backdoor pilot. It’s an ambitious proposition no doubt, but I feel like Ryan Spindell could pull it off. The film just has a sureness to its voice that‘s a rare thing in horror these days, since you usually have someone cribbing from an icon rather than trying to establish their own brand.
The Mortuary Collection is a near flawless anthology, bringing to mind the likes of Creepshow or Vault of Horror. It’s smart, it’s scary, and it’s legitimately got something it’s trying to say. It’s not an easy balancing act to pull off here, but Spindell manages to do just that. This is also thanks to a cast that not only gets what he’s trying to accomplish here, but are more than game when the red stuff starts to fly. Watching the film a second time for this review, only highlighted the film’s strengths within its stories, that all work in their own way laying the groundwork for the films final moments, which of course leave the door wide open for another entry.
We can only hope…
