The Mortuary Collection

Making an anthology horror film can be tricky; if there’s a weak link among the shorts, it can sink the whole thing. There’s also the issue of making the stories feel distinct, but also cohesive enough that the movie doesn’t wind up feeling like a hodgepodge. The Mortuary Collection, about a sinister undertaker telling stories of death to a young visitor, doesn’t fall into either of these traps, thankfully — but there’s also nothing about it that particularly stands out. It’s okay. The shorts are mostly Tales From the Crypt-esque affairs about people doing bad things and then getting their comeuppance in dark, twisty ways. The film saves the best short for last; this one also feels a little bit different, both stylistically and tonally (which actually does make sense in the context of the film). The rest of the stories are somewhat lifeless in comparison, but they’re all fine; they’re solidly made and well acted. The film didn’t move the needle for me all that much, but I can think of worse ways to spend 108 minutes.

**1/2 out of ****