I SAW THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT

The Mortuary Assistant, directed by Jeremiah (Slapface/Black Wake) Kipp and written by Tracee Beebee and Brian Clarke, is based on the video game of the same name, created by the latter for DreadXP. The adaptation held a limited, theatrical release in February and now thrives on Shudder for mass consumption. 

The frightful fable follows Rebecca Owens, played by Willa (Arrow/Straw Dogs 2011/Legion) Holland, a novice mortician under the tutelage of Paul (Boardwalk Empire/House of Cards) Spark's seasoned counterpart, Raymond Delver. The latter (who's at first a trifle standoffish and appears always by-the-book) claims that a demon controls the mortuary and can pluck, or make that, suck, from one's guilt, using corpses and mimicking monstrosities to abet the weird, nurturing process. 

The demonic manifestations could, in fact, be the result of chemical tainting within the building, but whether the cause is toxic, supernatural or behavioral, Owens' guilt-ridden past adds fuel to the fire, in that she's a recovering drug addict and susceptible to hallucinogenic prompts.  

It doesn't take long before our protagonist witnesses cadavers springing back to life, as well as encountering her father (John Adams)'s gnarly ghost and at one point, becoming distraught enough to attack a friend (Kenna Ferguson Frasier), with Delver always haunting the margins, which begs the question: Why has her mentor left her to this predicament? Is he a madman, a pawn or something else altogether?  

Portions of the movie echo Phantasm, The Evil Dead, Re-Animator, The Return of the Living Dead, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Dead and Buried, Mortuary (1982), Mortuary (2005), Carnival of Souls (1962), Jacob's Ladder, The Trip and Silent Hill 1 & 2. However, even with its numerous allusions, The Mortuary Assistant stands on its own, its uncluttered (character-sparce) structure reminiscent of a somber stage play, albeit one doused in top-of-the-line effects. 

Unfortunately, due to its lingering ambiguity, some may find The Mortuary Assistant hard to swallow. The vagueness may have have been stunted by giving Owens a more substantial background (the kind that we experience for Russell Crowe in Joshua Miller's The Exorcism), but even so, the movie's luring melancholia can't be denied. It's what most will remember beyond the tale's strange context and likely what will inspire more than a few to revisit it.