 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 2019 film the mortuary collection It is a shutter original and it's coming to shutter on Thursday October 15th So when I'm releasing this review it is before it hits shutter So for that reason it will be a no spoiler review now that said it plays both ways You know you could watch this having already watched the film and it'll mean a little extra to you You could watch this without having watched it and I'm not really gonna spoil anything Although I do talk about a few thematic type things in it, but it definitely won't ruin any the events of the film I'm just gonna tell you that now that said Where I am when I was coming into this film I'm recording this on October 2nd and I watched some horror films on October 1st cuz I'm like alright I'm gonna get in the mood. It's October. I'm excited because I'm always excited for October And I watched a few films and I was like I'm just not like feeling into the spirit yet After watching the mortuary collection Fixed all of that. It totally feels like October. It feels like Halloween It's just they create that atmosphere in such an amazing way And that's one of the big things about the film is it looks so good all the technical stuff is outstanding in this film The directing is outstanding the cinematography is outstanding the acting for the most part is so good The script writing is really good and the dialogue feels realistic in the film the music usage is Spot-on with this and if you've watched enough of my reviews, you know that I tend to jump on films that kind of use Music that's too grandiose that kind of detracts from what's going on now They go grandiose with the music in this but it ends up really working and doesn't take me out of the actual events of The film which which I found kind of odd for me personally, but it was a great thing and it kind of it oscillates between This this spectrum of being kind of like upbeat and fun music and then going all the way to like terrifying and dark music And it moves throughout and that's really nice because there is some fun to be had with this film in addition to the you know The scares now I would say this is one of these Shutter originals that you have to have to see do not miss this one and especially watch this in October It is totally worth it like I said it feels like Halloween It feels like October this time of year watch it in the dark as well. That'll just enhance things even more I didn't watch it in a dark, but now I really want to rewatch it in the dark Now this was written and directed by Ryan Spindel who really the only thing I found in his IMDB worth talking about is He'll have a episode He directs of 50 shades of fright coming up which I don't know what that's gonna be on but I've heard about this thing coming Um Clancy Brown is in this film and he is I there's a lot of things I like about this film But he is by far my favorite part of this film Clancy Brown is amazing if you're not familiar with him He's been in Carnival, which is my favorite role of his I love that show on HBO Totally underrated and a wonderful film and he's great in it He's also been in Highlander pet cemetery to Shawshank Redemption Starship troopers the burrowers John dies at the end Hellbenders and a movie that is also underrated and little known little evil that's on Netflix It's a Netflix original and it's a horror comedy and it's really well done One of the guys I think the director who did Tucker and Dale versus evil did that so I highly recommend that I'll do a review on it at some point but so anyway, so Clancy Brown in this plays the character of Montgomery dark and The kind of overall synopsis of this it's an anthology film and it has four stories And then the fifth story is kind of like the wraparound story that brings everything together And that's the story of Clancy Brown's character Montgomery dark now Montgomery dark runs a mortuary and a woman comes and kind of implies or asks him about a Help wanted sign that he has basically saying I'd I would like to work here So when that starts it up to kind of have an exchange of stories, you know She's kind of asking Montgomery dark for stories So that's where the anthology portion comes in and you get all these stories and it kind of progresses from there now That said the wraparound story with Montgomery dark and this woman Still has a point to it. It is a story of its own a lot of the times with anthology films That wraparound will just be really seem it like it has no consequence. It'll just be kind of for no point It'll like loosely tie things together, but this is not that this is actually a very important part of the overall film So trust me. It's worth it. There's a payoff in the end So Clancy Brown in this as Montgomery dark makes Feels a lot like Angus scrim in the role of the tall man in Phantasm in many many ways and he is phenomenal. I love this character I need more of this character after watching this film I was like I am like crossing my fingers for a mortuary collections part two or second volume or whatever you want to call it It's cool, and I love Clancy Brown in this. He just like shoes up the scenery He he steals every moment that he's in with this He's great So the way this actually starts a really cool camera work really cool music really engages you immediately It kind of shows this town that feels like Halloween basically There's a lot of fog throughout it and that carries throughout the entire film really which helps because it's a very cohesive environment and atmosphere that is There from the very beginning of the film and it sticks all the way through to the end And I think that's one of the reasons it's so perfect for watching on Halloween Is that it feels immersive and it never breaks from that and it's so Halloween. It's so October so Yeah But with the music that they have in the very beginning of this it makes it feel very grand very epic But it works. It works very well. Typically that type of music. I'm a little taken a back bite. I'm like, eh, but it's good Really works. So the intro in this date You end up seeing a bunch of things that kind of let you know that there are a lot of stories in this town That kind of opens it up to There's there's a plethora of stories Which ones are we gonna end up getting and if you go back after you finish the film and you think back or you actually go back You'll see that there were hints of all the stories that were actually told there are portions of it shown up front as There's kind of this Adventure through the town initially to get to the mortuary So that's a really cool interesting thing and it also kind of sets it up for there could be more of these films So yeah So I'm gonna give you some synopses of the individual stories that they tell very very brief obviously Cuz I don't want to give anything away and they're short. So there's I can't give a whole lot So the first story is about a woman who? Secludes herself in a bathroom. She's not a very good person You'll see why and then Something weird starts to happen in a bathroom and that's basically all I can say without spoiling anything because it's a very short one Now it's a little bit slow, especially for how short it is But it does keep your interest because there's kind of this mystery aspect of where are they going? What are they trying to get to with this film? What what's gonna happen? So there's good enough tension that really keeps you involved now in the end the story is kind of about karma And that's one of the things that I kind of want to talk about with all the stories is for the most part They're all very kind of basic morality Lessons in a sense. So it kind of takes it back to Traditional typical horror storytelling now that's Important to the actual film overall because he uses that to a degree to talk about storytelling in general And I'll talk a little bit more about that without spoilers Like at the end of this review, so I'll circle back to that one So the second story is basically about a guy at college a frat guy at college who has one thing on his mind You can probably you know guess what that one thing is and he has a party. He meets a girl Things don't go so great and that's where I'll leave it It leads with some decent comedy to it This is the one that probably has the most comedic aspect to it and it's good comedy It's well-written like I said with the writing the dialogue is realistically written with this so good on that Because of early events it kind it it's kind of easy to see where the film is actually going you really can guess where it's going Just like The first one. I don't think you can as much you might have some inklings the third story I think you could definitely guess where it's going the fourth story I was able to guess where it was going but the wraparound story I was not and that kind of changes a lot about the film in general so but anyway I'm still in the second story so you can really see where it's going. It's not a huge surprise some people may not though I don't know There's a short montage in this that's kind of like it feels like it doesn't really work I understand what they were trying to do, but it was very unnecessary This story feels a little bit long for what the content really is and that montage in particular really just didn't need to be there It didn't add anything So that should have been cut out The other thing is this film is actually an hour and 50 minutes basically So it's a little bit long for a horror film So certain things like that montage in the second story should have just been cut in my opinion, but not a big deal This is a story about being careful and also being respectful of others while using a social role reversal to kind of illustrate it and that's actually something that Comes up in this film quite a bit is the idea of kind of role reversal and what you expect versus what you end up Getting and looking at things from the flipped perspective in a way. So think about that while you're watching it There's something shown in in the the end of this Particular story that I did not think they would end up showing I was very shocked that they actually showed it But I like that they did because it was kind of funny to me and also Create like gruesome gory. So that was good payoff. I was not expecting that one All right, so story three this one's basically about a man who's in a marriage and his wife is kind of like in a catatonic state almost and he needs to take care of her and then Horror It's a progression. I won't go further than that So this one is definitely slow But one of the things is the nature of the actual story because of what it is you kind of can't avoid that It kind of needs to be told in a slow way because it makes the events and the tension and where everything goes feel more realistic and natural so Just know that you kind of have to stick with it But it's worth it It is definitely worth it and that is another one where you can probably see where it's going Most likely I did and it kind of felt in ways similar Especially at the end of it to a creep show episode The original shutter series creep show So you'll see what I mean when you watch it It does do a good job of creating some conflicting feelings with what's actually happening You understand what's going on from a few different perspectives now This is kind of that role reversal thing that I was talking about looking at things from a flip side And that works with the story because you feel conflicted There's a good gradual escalation of events like I was saying that's why it's kind of slow And this one kind of seems to be a meditation on Relationships and kind of the the tough situation of feeling trapped either physically trapped in a Situation or relationship, but also kind of emotionally and obligationally trapped And kind of what are your options at that point? It has a pretty cool visual sequence towards the end. I really did enjoy that It might seem like it's a little bit long, but it is so visually cool and appealing that Yeah, it's nice and it has an actual kind of emotional appeal during that visual Display so I did like it now this the fourth story actually kind of bleeds into the finale of the film and the wrap-around story, so it's a pretty important one There's a gruesome part of this that actually may make people cringe I will say that up front before I give you the kind of synopsis of it But basically the synopsis of this one is it is about a babysitter who is taking care of a kid and There's a news report that the mental someone has escaped from the mental asylum And that's as far as I will go with that and then you'll see what happens now Like I said, there's a part in this that's gruesome that may make people cringe I wasn't quite there, but I I could you know recognize that the music and Some of the slow motion that's actually used in this one actually does go a little bit too over the top I think that they tried to get a little too stylistic with this particular sequence of events in the story And it feels like a little much they kind of should have pulled this one back a bit But it doesn't kill the whole story. So that's fine The story seems kind of boring until the end which then carries over to the wraparound story. So That's kind of important in a way Throughout the film for you to feel with the first four stories that you kind of are like, okay You know these seem these feel kind of familiar. They're not super new or anything and then things, you know There's a point made about that and it plays into the overall aspect of what the film is going for So trust me, it's worth it So here are some And and ideas on this one. The entire film has a great aesthetic. It looks Phenomenal, it's dark, but it also looks very clean at the same time Directing and cinematography is great Like I said the acting is quite good for the most part Clancy Brown being the brightest spot and I want more of his character They create such an immersive atmosphere that they never end up leaving which I love The script is well done and the dialogue feels super natural Oh and going back to the the look of it. It kind of feels like a mixture between like a Tim Burton film and how Series of unfortunate events let me snick at series of unfortunate events if you fuse Tim Burton and that film together That's kind of the the visual aspect that it looks like which is very appealing for me personally I already talked about the music the film gets very meta. It gets very meta It comments on itself and its storytelling and uses that to lead the audience on a very intentional path while making points about storytelling in general and Audience expectations of that art form in present day So there is a much deeper point to this overall film Look out for that This is a film. I can see myself watching again and on Halloween like I recommended at the beginning It just really does have that feel now every Halloween. I before I go to bed I always watch trick-or-treat, which is another anthology film. That's really well put together So I think I might put The mortuary collection as a double feature with that film now put that one first because I like trick-or-treat even more I think trick-or-treat is a better film, but the mortuary collection May become a part of my regular October routine Maybe specifically my regular Halloween routine because I really do enjoy it now that said it is not perfection It is not perfect, but it is really good. It's a little bit too long There are a few kind of stylistic things that were a little over the top Some people may not like how straightforward some of it is but not all of it so don't worry, but Overall when you get to the very end of it I think it really pays off and like I said the biggest one of the biggest things with this is the atmosphere and Clancy Brown's Character his acting awesome. I need more of this. I need a second mortuary collection now That said I'm gonna go ahead and give you my overall rating out of five stars with half stars in play I'm gonna give it a very good four star rating I was between four and four and a half, but I think it's more on the four end If I was giving quarters, it would definitely be a 4.25 But four star rating this one should not be missed shame on you if you decide to pass on it You gotta see it and that said I want comments I want people and go ahead spoilers in the comments. Just know that spoilers in the comments people This is where we're gonna talk about it. I want to hear from you. What did you think of this film? It's okay if you didn't like it, you know, as excited as I am about it I I realized, you know, not every film is for everyone So you can go ahead and bash it if you want to if you didn't actually like it But I'm hoping to hear a lot of people giving the thumbs up on it. So It's still like it's pretty delightful. I enjoyed it and I look forward to showing it to people and recommending it So Ryan Spindel. Good job, buddy. Real good job, man Anyway, thanks for checking this out. Like I said comments Put likes on my videos if you can do but do me the big favor hit that subscribe button That is the biggest thing. That's your way to repay me if you liked any reviews that I do Because I'm not, you know, making money doing this or anything. I'm just I'm doing it out of the motivation of the subscribers So every time I get a new subscriber, it drives me even more and keeps me going basically keeps me energized So I'd appreciate that but if you are gonna do that Make sure you also hit the notification bell and that'll let you know whenever a new video goes up or when I'm live streaming or anything like that So regardless, thanks for taking your time to check this out and until next time keep it brutal