Search - Tobe Hooper's Mortuary on DVD

Graveyard Babies(All Got Rabies)

Stanley Runk | Camp North Pines | 04/17/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've always loved Tobe Hooper, and I've stuck with him through highs and lows. The guy's a schlock B movie director and actually seems proud of that fact. He never seemed to have aspirations like Raimi and Jackson of hitting the big time, he seems happy doing what he does. I think Tobe got screwed somewhat though. When your first film is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you've set the bar pretty high, and everyone's gonna expect all of your films from there on out to be just as good if not better than that. Hooper's had to live with this curse for years. Hell, you ever seen a coverbox for a Hooper film that didn't say, "From the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre"? It's got be tough considering all his films since then have been B exploitation flicks. Chainsaw was too, but people and critics seemed to only accept it one time around. Sure, he did hit the big time with Poltergeist, but I don't really count that coz that has Speilberg written all over it. The film would have been totally different if only Hooper had done it. Many schlocky films later we arrive at Mortuary. The problem with Mortuary isn't that it's a bad film coz it isn't, but because it's too much a product of the times. What I mean by that is that we live in a time when there are about eight billion direct to video horror films on the video store shelves. At least two seem to come out each week. Back in Hooper's heyday this wasn't so. Basically I'm saying that if Hooper's name wasn't on this film, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this film and one of those countless others on the shelf. Sad, but true. Hooper seems to have gotten lost in an enormous pile of movies influenced by his own. It also seems as if Hooper has been forever banished to the direct to video arena. The last theatrical release we saw from him was The Mangler over ten years ago. Theatrical space now is reserved for really high quality entertainment like XXX: State Of Union and Phat Girlz. If Mortuary had been released in the 80s, it would definitely have some staying power, but I'm afraid it'll get lost in the shuffle within a year or so. Like I said, Mortuary isn't a bad film(it is if you get off on Citizen Kane or Bringing Down The House), in fact I might just purchase it coz I like Hooper and would like to own all of his films. The idea of the film is an interesting one. It's like a mix of Lovecraft's Colour Out Of Space(the green viney stuff making the soil bad, not to mention the creature in the well which is pretty Lovecraftian), Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness(the contagium spread by puking into mouths), and of course Night Of The Living Dead. It's got a bunch of Hooper's trademark oddball characters, most amusing being a stuttering sheriff and comedian Greg Travis as a sleazy city official who is constantly laughing. Mortuary isn't a big comeback film for Hooper. It might even disappoint many of his fans, but Tobe's still going full speed ahead after all these years. At least the B horror world will always have Tobe."

Texas chainsaw slumber party

Reuben I. Thaker | Pennsylvania | 05/26/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is an intensely boring story of a possessed mortuary, and a family that take over its operation. The initial scenes are the best, as the old owner hands over the keys while slowly pointing out the hidden flaws of the old house he has just sold them. There is no more of this over the top sick humor though, just mundane teens getting killed for being sexually active [a timeless subtext of horror].

More than a few scenes seemed designed to remind of audiences of Poltgeist, an 80s classic. People dont remember that film was also Hooper, and his best work, since Spielberg took all the credit for it back in 84 as producer.

Tobe Hooper directed Tx Chainsaw Massacre, the original, using a then clever device: make it look like a documentary/real life events. It is hilarious that people thought the new Chainsaw was based on real events, simply bc the 70s version was a bit deceptive.

Wow, this film just does not seem worthy of the director when looking at his early and middle works."