By Geno McGahee
You cannot go wrong with Bill Paxton. He can do anything…drama, comedy, action, horror…the guy is fantastic. He made us all believe that he actually cared for that old hag in TITANIC, and starred in one of my favorite movies of all time: A SIMPLE PLAN. So when I bought Mortuary, I was pleasantly surprised to find a very young Paxton in the role of Paul Andrews, son of mortuary owner Hank Andrews (Christopher George).
Most notable actors have roots in horror. I was always under the impression that Paxton’s true launch into film was his small role in TERMINATOR where he insulted a naked Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this film was made before the “Sperminator” stole Paxton’s clothing. It’s not a bad role at all for Paxton and although he has honed his craft and has improved, he still was very believable in this film, especially when you consider just how unbelievable the character is.
Well we begin with a poor guy sitting next to his in ground swimming pool, relaxing and enjoying the summer time. What a peaceful scene, but unfortunately the guy gets smashed over the head twice with a baseball bat. It was quite amusing how the bat sorta came out of nowhere and ruined that guy’s day. Well that guy was the father of Christie Parson (Mary Beth McDonough), and that death has had a horrible effect on her. First, it was ruled an accident, and the entire death was basically ignored, even by Eve Parson (Lynda Day George), the wife of the deceased.
You might recognize Lynda Day and Christopher George…especially Christopher. Well, they were both in the slasher flick PIECES and it was nice to see them return together. Christopher George was also in another one of my favorite slasher flicks: GRADUATION DAY, as the coach that gets shot by the police for absolutely no reason. Christopher is a great actor and has great delivery and in MORTUARY, they really did a good job exposing his talents to the world.
Greg (David Wallace) is a strange dude and goes with his friend to the warehouse where the mortuary keeps the caskets and some guns as well, for some reason. They witness an apparent Satanic ritual headed up by Hank Andrews, and while Greg is watching on, his buddy is killed by a demon-faced being in a cloak. It was a really neat scene.
Greg runs to the police and when Hank, a respected man in the community, is confronted by the claim, he laughs it off and so does the police department. There is also a connection between Eve and Hank, which is investigated by Greg and his girlfriend Christie. She wants to know if her mom is blowing Hank and she is also very curious to find out what they know about the death of her father. It’s the common thing to do. When my grandmother died, I blamed Satanists.
The way that Christopher George plays the role of Hank is amazing. I was extremely amused when he threatened to embalm Greg and then tells him that if he keeps “lying about him,” he would end up in a casket. It was great! So we have the makings of a great movie. We have a great villain, a Satanic cult, and two teens trying to uncover the truth behind the death of daddy Parson and the evil cult…and that’s when the film takes an unexpected turn.
I really was enjoying the cult angle, but the movie did a 180 and a new story emerged that was sort of disappointing. It became a little confused and the last 30 minutes of this film weren’t that good, but it was successfully carried by Paxton’s great acting and that made it enjoyable. The very ending was also pretty amusing.
MORTUARY is an amusing movie with a lot going for it. It slows down about half way in and leaves a few loose ends, but the good heavily outweighs the bad in this fun flick. I would recommend watching this if nothing else for the great acting of Christopher George and Bill Paxton.
Scared Stiff Rating: 6.5/10. Familiar faces and decent story make it worth a watch.