'The Mortuary Collection' Achieves Anthology Artistry
The Mortuary Collection is a pleasantly pulpy and Gothic ode to the creepy collections of olde. Premiering on Shudder on October 15th, The Mortuary Collection features mad mortician Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown) and Sam (Caitlin Fisher), a young vagrant looking to master the mortuary arts. Written, directed, and produced by Ryan Spindell, the film opens by giving us our first taste of the town of Raven’s End. Established in 1804 and decorated with a vast selection of missing children’s posters, Raven’s End will quickly force one to reminisce on their favorite unsettling settings of the past - from Arkham to Innsmouth. Something just seems wrong with the town from the initial shot. And if The Mortuary Collection is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.
“The world is not made of atoms, it is made of stories.”
I don’t know about the world, Montgomery, but horror anthologies are certainly made of stories. The stories and the tiny threads, those little nefarious nuggets sprinkled throughout the show to let us all know there’s a bigger picture in play here. Spindell plays the anthology chess game like a seasoned champion. The format is familiar, but the devil is in the details. If you’re at all like me, you’ll pick up more of the macabre morsels on your second viewing (and you will watch it twice!). The wrap-around narrative that binds these tales together is especially satisfying and leaves a lot of future potential up for grabs.
Clancy Brown as mortician Montgomery Dark
Clancy Brown delivers a performance worthy of the Crypt Keeper himself as our honorary host of horrors. Montgomery Dark is much more than the mortician of Raven’s End, he is the chronicler of stories. He stores the secrets of not only the manner in which people perish but why. Speaking of stories, these are the strength of The Mortuary Collection. Our first fright of the night, Medicine Cabinet, features a pickpocket (Christine Kilmer) who sticks her nose where it doesn’t belong. Although this tale is a bit shorter than the rest, there is a lot of subtle information gift wrapped in this single set.
Avoiding spoilers, of course, the second story is a yarn with a theme as old as time - better safe than sorry. Or, in this case, practice safe sex. In Unprotected, Jake the frat boy (Jacob Elordi) is in search of a “good time”, unfortunately for this bro, he finds it when approached by a mysterious co-ed (Ema Horvath) with similar intentions. In our third tale, Till Death, husband Wendall Owens (Barak Hardley) has grown tired of caring for his comatose companion Carol Peters (Sarah Hay). In an attempt to relieve her suffering, Wendall bites off more than he can chew. The final feature, the creepy callback, is the one that you’ve got to nail, and The Mortuary Collection knocks it out of the park. The Babysitter Murders stars our sinister sidekick Sam (Caitlin Custer) and concludes the storytelling session.
This anthology is an amalgamation of The Twilight Zone, Creepshow, and Tales from the Crypt. Blending the best elements of pulp horror and dark humor, The Mortuary Collection is a must watch this Halloween! Be sure to catch this one on Shudder on October 15th. For those that may need further convincing, see the full trailer below:
Read more within the Museum of Macabre Media on Monsters, Madness and Magic - Anthology Archeology: Deadtime Stories