The girl Sam comes to get a job at the funeral home, where the ceremony of remembrance of the deceased boy has just taken place. The eccentric undertaker Montgomery Dark assures that every deceased has an interesting story, and he collected them for years. Sam asks to tell her the worst, Dark chooses three – from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. But it looks like the girl is not so easy to scare.
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Traditionally, shortly before Halloween, some creepy bloody movie is released, consisting of several separate stories. Often they are connected by some common plot, and sometimes they simply present a horror almanac on a variety of topics.
“Funeral Tales” or “Morgue Collection” represent the first option. The film tells the story of an old man, Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown), who worked in a ceremonial house all his life. He organizes farewells for relatives, processes bodies, prepares them for embalming or cremation – in general, he is a guide of the dead to another world. For Montgomery, his work is more than just a profession. Over the years, he has become accustomed to a philosophical attitude towards death. The sight of a dead body does not scare him, but on the contrary attracts attention, because it is important for Mr. Dark to know the history of a person who once lived. After all, every story has its own moral.
After the next funeral service, his girlfriend Sam (Caitlin Caster) visits him and responds to the announcement that help is needed in the burial house. She obsessively makes it clear that she is interested in employment and expresses an active interest in everything that is within the walls of a rather scary building. At the same time, she asks Montgomery to tell him several scary stories in order to imbue the profession, so to speak. And Montgomery starts. First, for a start, he tells the story of a girl in the dressing room, then about a young guy who had the imprudence to meet a charming student, and finally he broadcasts about a married couple in which He loved Her until his last breath … Sam is delighted with the stories and decides to share his own story, after which even the well-worn Dark’s hair stands on end. All this develops against the background of a common storyline linking the beginning of the film and its end.
I can safely say that Funeral Tales is one of the best horror anthologies of the past few years. Ryan Spindell, best known for his work on Fear’s 50 States, has produced a gorgeous atmospheric horror film with a touch of youth comedy, drama, thriller, detective and black humor. At the same time, he “packed the film into a juicy Gothic-vintage picture, transferring the action to the 60-70s of the XX century. From the very first minutes it becomes clear that a lot in the film will depend on the content of the frame. And here, believe me, there is something to see. Despite the fact that most of the events take place far from the streets of the town where the hero of Clancy Brown lives, the director tried to fill the plans of the town as much as possible and for a few seconds “sketched” a lot of retro cars in them. Although, in principle, another would not even bother.
Each of the stories told by the characters of Brown and Caster develops in exactly the same vintage atmosphere of the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, standing out not only for the typical outfits, hairstyles and cars of that time, but also trends (the first manifestations of hippie movements and the promotion of sex with each other). each), as well as the canonical cultural manifestations of that time. In particular, in one of the stories there is a reference to slashers as a separate species in the world of cinema. Given the fact that he appeared just at the end of the 70s, and in history the viewer can see a clear hint of Carpenter’s “Halloween”, while watching it, you can simply get high, since the director shot not just another horror movie, but tried to do it stylishly and tastefully, picking the right plans, adding an original idea, seasoning it with an unexpected outcome and managing to find a fresh version of combining a horror movie and a black comedy.
The general storyline that connects the stories of the characters is also presented in a very favorable light, since throughout his film the director throws scraps of phrases to the viewer, which at the end are reunited into one big sentence. The theme of “Tooth Fairy”, a photo with a young Montgomery Dark, an employment contract – you pay attention to these nuances instantly, but they manage to be deposited in your head and that’s all, because the dialogue between Sam and Dark is very exciting and the presented philosophy of death from the hero of Clancy Brown interesting. She deserves to be heard. When those same scraps form a whole sentence, the whole picture becomes clear, but the idea. Presented by the director and associated with the undertaker and the help he needs, in the end it acquires the traits of fatality for the one who responds to the call.
The duet of the main characters in the person of Clancy Brown and Caitlyn Caster plays the main role and, to be honest, it was surprising for me that it was Brown who was taken for the main male role, and Caster, being a very unobtrusive actress, played great here and with her capabilities so little in demand!
The musical series of the film offers film and music fans an excellent selection of songs in the style of the 60s and 70s, as well as enchantingly exciting magical music, which Danny Elfman supposedly wrote for another Tim Burton project.
As a result, “Funeral Tales” is a good fresh horror film that will definitely not cause regret for the time spent. The picture pleasantly surprises on all fronts. The only thing is that it is very bloody and at the entrance to the cinema you may be asked if you are 18 years old (if you look young :). Therefore, this is definitely not recommended for children.
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles
English SDH, German SDH.
