'00s Trash?: Tobe Hooper's Mortuary (2005)

 After going through some personal upheaval, I might as well go back to trashy Horror.  This is Mortuary, a 2005 Film by the late Tobe Hooper.  Notably, this is the last Feature Film made by Hooper...in the United States.  He made one more Film in 2013 in the UAE, hence the qualifier.  So, with that in mind, it's not good that I got this on a cheap 4 Films on 1 Disc Set, is it?

The Plot involves a family moving to a new Town, but problems arise.  What evil lurks in the Cemetery?  Why are there only ever like 10 people in Town?  The Cast includes Star Trek TNG alum Denise Crosby and some other random Actors of little note (to me).

Can Hooper end his (US) Career on a high note?  Let's find out...

A family- led by Denise Crosby- moves after the Husband dies and a job opportunity arises.

That job?

Undertaker.

No, not that one.

Let the kids play with all of your tools though, lady.

Our Hero finds young love...well, it's half right.  Weirdly, the woman playing his love interest was actually 33, while he was legit 18.

Horror Films are meant to be a bit creepy, I guess.

Meeting with her and her friend, he's told the story about how the Mortuary (that's the name of the Movie!) was owned by a Family, who all died, save for one messed up Son.

Oh well, that won't pay off later.

Earlier, this guy and his two ladies were jerks to our Hero.  Now they decide to vandalize the Cemetery before going into a Crypt to have sex.

No, don't kill them.  I'll be soooo sad.

Things eventually escalate to the point where the Sheriff is attacked- in the same Crypt- and the recently-worked-on bodies spring to life when this magic-ish algae/vines infects them.

They corrupt Denise...

...so now she's mutated and evil.

Wait- this is the time this happened to her in the late-80s, not this Film.

It all comes to a head as our Heroes end up in the Crypt as they flee the Zombies, evil Denise, the Sheriff and...the guy they teased earlier.

Hey, that did pay off after all.

They manage to fend off the Zombies and escape Denise as the evil mold/algae/whatever kills off the aforementioned creepy guy.

In the aftermath, they take a moment to rest outside the House...only for the weird stuff to drag our Hero away and Evil Denise to take the Daughter away.  The *bleak* End.

A bleak Film that tries to get by on atmosphere.  If you look deeply at the Film, there's alot missing.  The Town is barely there and has almost no citizens.  How many Landmarks does it have?  It is just a tiny, empty shell.  The Plot is alright, but what is it really about?  Evil, zombie-making moss?  Yeah...alright then.  The Film needs a more obvious, talkative evil.  It needs a Mad Scientist, a Witch or something.  As it is, we get a silly, CGI creation that slowly builds up its forces.  That said, the climax of the Film is pretty good.  We get zombies.  We get Evil Denise.  We get the freaky guy.  The execution is, well, so-so.  The Budget issues rear their ugly head here as they run around the same few locations in darkly-lit sets.  I will say that the make-up on said Zombies is nice though.  Hooper does a good job here, even as some issues you get with most '00s Horror Films show up here.  He gets a good performance out of the Actors, so good on him.  I can't point out any obvious bits that show this to blatantly be a 'Tobe Hooper Film' per se though.  Mortuary has promise.  The Film could work with some tweaking here and there.  Pick a real Theme and don't get distracted by B-Plots.  It's been almost 20 years, so let's see if anyone is lining up to remake this.  In the meantime, here's some good advice for you.  If your friend says 'Hey, can I see a dead body,' just say 'No.'  I mean...duh, right?

Next up, I dig through this Disc for more content.  Will I get a hidden gem or just more of this?  Stay tuned...