Mortuary (I) (2005)

A family moves to a small town in California where they plan on starting a new life while running a long-abandoned funeral home. The locals fear the place, which is suspected to be on haunted ground.

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

Jace Anderson, Adam Gierasch

Stars:

Dan Byrd, Denise Crosby, Rocky Marquette

Cast

Credited cast:
Dan Byrd	...	Jonathan Doyle
Denise Crosby	...	Leslie Doyle
Rocky Marquette	...	Grady
Stephanie Patton	...	Jamie Doyle
Alexandra Adi	...	Liz
Courtney Peldon	...	Tina
Bug Hall	...	Cal
Tarah Paige	...	Sara
Michael Shamus Wiles	...	Sheriff Howell
Adam Gierasch	...	Mr. Barstow
Price Carson	...	Bobby Fowler
Lee Garlington	...	Rita
Greg Travis	...	Eliot Cook
Christy Johnson	...	Dottie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joe Langer	...	Coroner

Storyline

The widow Leslie Doyle has just lost her husband and moves with her teenage son Jonathan and her young daughter Jamie to a mortuary in a small town in California that she has bought with the intention of starting a new business, practicing her knowledge as mortician. When they arrive, Leslie realizes that she was lured by the former owner, Elliot, and that the decrepit Fowler Brothers Funeral Home was completely abandoned and with problem with the septic sewer. While Leslie tries to improve and clean the place and start embalming corpses, Jonathan is informed about the legend of Bobby Fowler, the deformed son of the Fowlers. Meanwhile a weird substance attacks people, transforming them in zombies.

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Plot Keywords:

california | mortician | small town | funeral home | corpse | 

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Taglines:

When the dead break free all hell breaks loose

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence and gore, brief sexuality, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

La Fabrique de Films [fr] Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2005 (Australia)

Also Known As:

A Casa Mortuária

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Echo Bridge Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 90 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The quote carved on the vault's door, "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons even death may die", is from H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Nameless City". It is supposedly a couplet by Abdul Alhazarred, fictional author of the Necronomicon.

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Goofs

When Johnathan, Liz, and Jamie flee into the crypt, they pull the doors outward towards themselves. Yet they barricade these doors from the inside, using coffins. The zombies on the outside would just need to pull the doors outward to enter.

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Quotes

Rita: [after infected Cal vomits the fungus on her] So wrong!

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Connections

Referenced in Inside the Graveyard (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Welcome"
Written by Jeremy Haffner and Stephen Cohen
Performed by Oedipus
Courtesy of Swollen Foot Music

User Reviews

Campy Fun

I really think everyone is missing the point of this movie. Maybe it was the marketing, which made it seem like a true Tobe Hooper horror film. However, after having worked on this movie, I know that it was meant to be more of a parody of its own self, and not to be taken seriously. This is what the writers intended. Also, having worked with Tobe, I know that he always saw himself as a director of comedy, but he just fell into the horror genre. This movie should be characterized as a horror/comedy combo (horredy). It's meant to be more entertaining than scary, complete with cheesy dialog. If you re-watch the film with this in mind, you may have a different opinion of it.