From the 15th of October 2020, the Shudder original anthology horror movie The Mortuary Collection will be available for all Halloween-addicted eyeballs. Mother of Movies has become somewhat wary of these collections of horror films. Although some like Creepshow, Tales From the Darkside, and The Twilight Zone will always remain firm favorites, newcomers are regularly hit and miss. The Mortuary Collection is something a standout. With great casting, excellent stories, and a wraparound segment that would leave many other anthology horror movies envious, this series of short stories gets a big old thumbs up from me.

What Stories Are In The Mortuary Collection?

The film begins rather sluggishly with the introduction of a funeral director interviewing a young lady. Montgomery Dark is played by the film thoroughbred, Clancy Brown as a wonderfully over-the-top caretaker of a very large and ominous funeral home. Sam, the young and innocent-looking blonde suggests she is enquiring about a help wanted sign. Played by Caitlin Custer, she seems non-plussed about the scenery and the man at the helm of the dead. Of course, this leads to the telling of stories as a way for Montgomery to put the girl through her paces. Test her sensibilities and so on. And so the stories begin.

Instead of short bursts of unconnected tales, The Mortuary Collection chooses its stories wisely. It begins with a dud-scary story but states as much despite funeral director Dark’s mild embarrassment. He read this young girl all wrong but soon ups the ante. The wraparound segment is really well told and opens up the opportunity for a continuance for more from the mortuary collection and I’d be happy to hear them.

Monsters In the Medicine Cabinet

The opening anthology horror story might be mild but a monster who attacks people while inside the parlor room is still a solid turn of events. What instantly stands out is the costume. The colors and the crispness of each story take on the atmosphere of a vast old library or church. I liked it a lot. Everything has that “I’m at my nanna’s house, except no one serving tea, or being creepy vibe.” Plus, of course, it’s much cooler than my nanna’s house as well.

Better Safe Than Sorry

The first proper anthology horror story wastes no more time getting into the scheme of things. An unfortunate recounting to be watching on date night, this one begins in a school. A bunch of high schoolers is handing out prophylactics as a ploy to figure out which new freshman girls are keen to party. Partway through, I began to think about the movie Teeth and wondered where this perky story about teenage sex and boys looking to score was going to go. I won’t spoil the surprise but the finale really shows the series wants to amp up the spatter.

Trailer for The Mortuary Collection Anthology Series

Is The Mortuary Collection On Netflix?

The Mortuary Collection is an excellent series of anthology horror movies. The title is not currently streaming on Netflix. However, this grim tale of death is available to watch on the streaming platform Shudder as well as AMC+ in various regions like the USA and Australia.

Have You Checked On Logan?

The second tale involves a babysitter settling in for the night by cooking dinner. Her young charge is asleep upstairs. When the news announces a killer is on the loose, the parents frantically ring home to warn their carer to keep the doors locked and ensure their son is ok. While all the stories carry some predictability they also house plenty of plot twists. The special effects aren’t all that great overall for much of this film, but this segment does have a really cool scene where a television set is dropped on someone’s head and is shot from underneath with good results.

Who Said Romance Is Dead?

The final anthology segment is decidedly gruesome. It begins with two lovers getting married. At the alter Wendall’s wife Carol has some kind of fit and soon after lives on in a vegetative state. Wendall looks after his wife in a caring and loving manner but as time wears on the cracks in his positive thinking become more and more strained. A doctor doing a house call gives him the solution to his problems but in the execution of his moral dilemma, things go horribly wrong. This last chapter is quite the exercise in what could turn a reasonably nice person mad and again despite the special effects being somewhat on the flimsy side, the story held up its end of the bargain.

I give The Mortuary Collection

3.5 lessons learned through horror out of 5

Mother of Movies score

Watch Realm of Shadows 2024 or Hulu’s Into the Dark episodes next for more anthology horror.