THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT (2026)
Label: Acorn Media International
Region Code: A,B
Rating: Cert. 18
Duration: 91 Minutes 1 Second
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Jeremiah Kipp
Willa Holland, Paul Spark, John Adams, Keenan Ferguson, Mark Steiger
The Mortuary Assistant (2026) is a film adaptation of a 2022 video game, as I am not a gamer I am not familiar with the game, and have actually never even heard of it, so I do not know any of the lore or any of the mythology going into this, which is an assumption you should always have unless it was an Atari or Nintendo game, because I am an old head. The film follows Rebecca Owens (Willa Holland, Legion) who at the start of the film is being certified as a mortician by her somewhat creepily quiet boss Raymond Delver (Paul Sparks, The Bikeriders), the proprietor of the River Fields Mortuary. Having passed her certification with flying colors she is assigned the day shift, but gets a call the very first night from Raymond asking her to cover the graveyard shift, which she happily obliges. Arriving at the mortuary she prepares the first cadaver for an embalming, taking note of the peculiar instructions, which say to embalm and then cremate the body, which seems unusual, why bother to embed a cadaver you're going to immediately burn. Oh well, she's not the boss, and she dutifully carries out the instruction, but things at the creepily dark mortuary takes an unnerving turn when the lights begin to flicker, and wait a minute... did that other body to move on it's own? Her boss calls her a couple of time just to check that everything is okay, and she downplays the strange happenings.
The film establishes that Rebecca has a history of psychological trauma and addiction issues, we have seen her at her recovery group earning her one-year sobriety token, where her attentive sponsor Kelly (Keena Ferguson Frasier), tells her she is worried about her, noting that many people disappear or relapse after the first year. So when things get weird at the mortuary and an increasingly unnerved Rebecca begins to experience what seem like hallucinations of demonic presences around the mortuary, well, there's that chance she might not be well mentally.
It's when she awakens at her apartment with no memory of leaving the mortuary that her arrives and says that Rebecca called her earlier and asked her to meet her there, which she also has no memory of. After a horrific incident involving her sponsor and a wine corkscrew Rebecca frantically calls her boss and tells him what's happened, and he tells her she needs to get back the mortuary, that he will tell her what's happening when she gets there, but for her own and others safety she need to get back.
When she returns he starts to tell her about demonic entities that are out to possession human corpses, and how that her traumatic past and addiction has made her a target of the demonic entities who are looking to take over the corpses, and that to stop the possession she must embalm and cremate the corpses in a very specific way, using a mysterious liquid he calls "re-agent", and that the possessions are time-based, so speed is necassary. He also tells her that there are books she needs to read full of ancient runes, and she needs to get to his basement office to watch some videos that will how her how to use them. I'll be honest right now, I found the story and the possession-mechanics of what was happening all very confusing to me, a non-gamer. I feel like those familiar with the game will probably have a leg up and a deeper interest in it all, because I was just kind of caught up in as it's was happening, and frankly, I was a bit lost, grasping at ideas, but even then you feel that her boss is withholding some important information.
As lost as I sort of was about the possession-mechanics of it all, I ill say that the film delivers oodles of creepy atmosphere, dread-filled visuals and spooky sound design, there are some truly spine-chilling moments to be found here. For starters the mortuary is a terrific location with it's dark hallways and of course the morgue cadaver fridge full of dead bodies, it's just an inherently spooky setting and the production design looks terrific. Also the embalming sequences are super-ick, with the wiring of jaws, stuffing intestines back into wounds, and jabbing implements into corpses with grotesque sucking sounds is just disturbing, and when the demonic entity shows up, well, it's nightmare-fuel. So visually and aesthetically I was enjoying this, but the fact that the possession-mechanics of it all didn't ever coalesce satisfactorily for me certainly detracted from my enjoyment. I wouldn't give this a high recommend, but it's worth a watch, I would imagine especially so if you're a fan of the game. I liked vibes quite a bit, unfortunately it brought to mind better films like The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) and the supremely eerie Terrified (2017), but was incapable of reaching the eerie terror heights of either, but it's a solid enough week night watch, but y'know, save the better stuff for the weekend.
Audio/Video: The Mortuary Assistant gets a region A,B Blu-ray from Acorn Media International for it's UK release, presented in 1080p HD widescreen (2.39:1). This is a very dark film with lot of dimly lit interiors, corridors and rooms with lots of shadows. There is some compression issues in the darker scenes, by black crush and murky shadow detail.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. Dialogue and ambient room acoustics sound good, the score and some of the grisly sound design accompanying the visuals have a nice punch to them as well and there's lot of creepy whispering in the surrounds that is hair-raising.
The sole extra is a 6-min Behind-the-Scenes Featurette with the participation of director Jeremiah Kipp, executive producers Brian Clarke and Randy Sinquefield. production designer Chelsea Turner, actors John Adams, Paul Spark, Willa Holland, and SFX Make-up Coordinator Norman Cabrera. The single-disc release arrives in a keepcase with a single-sided wrap.
Special Features:
- Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (6:00)
Screenshots from the Acorn Media International Blu-ray:
