5.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.2 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.4 |
The Doyle family moves to rural California to start a new life; perhaps a strange choice because their new life takes on the form of running the long abandoned Fowler Brothers Funeral Home. The locals fear the place, and there are whispers around town that the land the home lies on is haunted. The Doyle family will soon discover that something lurks beneath the soil — something that raises rotten corpses from their long forgotten graves and feeds on death itself.
Starring: Dan Byrd, Denise Crosby, Rocky Marquette, Stephanie Patton, Price CarsonHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 52% |
Mystery | 14% |
Video codec: MPEG-2
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: LPCM 2.0
English: DTS 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Director Tobe Hooper made a huge splash on the horror genre with the 1974 release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Over the next fifteen years, he found a varying degree of success with the “Salem’s Lot” miniseries, Poltergeist, Lifeforce and the ill-received follow-up to his crowning achievement, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. From that point forward, Hooper decended into obscurity, directing low-budget films and occasional episodes of various television shows. Whether his downward spiral was a result of his own desire to remain outside the hollywood spotlight, or a rejection by major studios following several failed ventures, the once-great director with seemingly limitless potential has now been reduced to directing shoddy, amateur films such as Mortuary.
I'm not sure I'd go and stick my head in a random door with three locks on it.
Presented in 1080p utilizing the MPEG-2 codec (at an average bitrate of 19Mbps), Mortuary is fairly underwhelming as a high-definition product. Typical of a low-bitrate MPEG-2 transfer, the level of fine-object detail is marginal at best, with a noticeable softening of textures (most prevalent in facial close-ups). Further hampering the visual quality is a generally drab color spectrum that appears heavily filtered in an effort to generate an overcast look. As a result, there's a bluish tint that dominates the daytime sequences and adds to the dreary feel of the production. Unfortunately, the situation doesn't improve significantly with black levels, which rarely sink to inky depths during low-light scenes, leaving contrast appearing less differentiated than I'd like. On a positive note, I never noticed the presence of digital artifacting, edge haloes, or other transfer related defects, but there's a significant amount of grain littering the backgrounds of almost every scene.
Containing a surprising number of audio tracks (all in the native language of English), Mortuary delivers a decent audio experience for a low-budget production, though I'm still disappointed by the lack of a lossless surround track to round out the selection. Having sampled each track throughout the course of the film, I finally arrived at the conclusion that the best surround mix is the DTS option. It's certainly not light-years beyond the proficiency of the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, but sounded slightly fuller to my ears. One of the driving forces behind the chills and thrills of a horror film is the establishment of a strong audio presence to set the mood. In that regard, I'd say Mortuary is a success, with spine-tingling music that slowly builds to a crescendo when the action kicks into gear. Sound effects are well-placed throughout the surround field to establish floor-board creaks and footsteps that creep in from all directions as if your standing within the scene. Dialogue is the only area of weakness in the overall balance of the track, since it's occasionally drowned out by the music or overly loud effects. Taken as a whole, I doubt many viewers will find much to complain about in the DTS audio track, though a lossless track would have been a welcomed addition in place of the other three inferior tracks.
Inside the Graveyard (480p [4:3], Dolby Digital 2.0, 53:40 min): This occasionally ominous featurette contains a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of Mortuary, interspersed with interviews of cast members, director Tobe Hooper, and several other key players on the film crew. It feels a bit contrived to imply the film was shot in a haunted house, but that seems to be the underlying theme everyone wants the viewer to accept as they discuss their experiences on the set of this horror "masterpiece". In all honesty, I'd only recommend this supplement if you absolutely love the film.
The only other extra included on the disc is a standard definition extended trailer that runs a whopping fourteen minutes in length (quite possibly the longest trailer I've ever seen).
If you couldn't tell by now, I'd recommend you steer clear of Mortuary and set your sights on the wealth of alternate horror selections currently available on Blu-ray. I have to believe Tobe Hooper still has potential as a director, but his continued lack of decent material might suggest he needs to sit down and actually write a horror film for his next directorial outting. After all, I'm sure he can't do worse than the plot of Mortuary.
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1978
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