Review of Funeral Home
As creep suspense movies go, this is one of the best. How could it go wrong,
when the movie is hot in a home that was once a funeral home? The story starts
out with a 16 year old girl who travels to her grandmother’s house; the former
funeral home. The grandmother’s husband, a mortician has disappeared and she
finds herself forced to turn her home into a bed and breakfast because of
financial problems. Not long after she arrives, Heather begins to see a boy from
nearby; who takes great pleasure in telling her all about the gossip and tales
of her grandmother’s home. At first, Heather doesn’t believe any of it but when
she begins to help her grandmother get the house ready she becomes concerned
when creepy things begin to happen. There are creepy voices down in the cellar
and then the door starts to open all by itself. Things get even worse after they
actually open their doors to guests. The guests begin to mysteriously disappear
and then some of them are actually found dead.
The film was directed by Canadian William Fruet. In case you’re not familiar
with him, he directed an excellent film called Death Weekend, which centers
around rape and revenge.
There are some Alfred Hitchcock overtones to this film, but it’s definitely not
a rehash of the same old thing. There are some rather startling surprises in
store for both the young widow and the viewers as the film proceeds, mainly
locked away in the cellar of the former funeral home.
Lesleh Donaldson plays the main role; you might remember her from films such as
Curtains and Happy Birthday to Me. The grandmother’s character is really creepy,
adding to the overall effect of this movie. This film was also billed as Cries
in the Night.