Funeral Home (1980) User Reviews

A fun updated version of Hitchcock's Psycho

[tla.baio · 6/10 · 23 March 2000]

William Fruet's film, Funeral Home, is for the most part Psycho with kids. The movie starts off with a teenager visiting her grandmother in a small town. Both plan to turn the house that the grandmother lives in (which was once the town's funeral home) into a summer house for passers by. Tenants soon show up and then quickly disappear. Soon the teenager and the town's new young deputy investigate the disappearances and discover that this coming and going of out-of-towners has been happening for some time. They finally discover the answer to the mystery in the film's scary ending.

The performances by both the older cast members and younger actors are very good. Watching the deputy character gather clues to build a case added alot of charm to the film as well. Although shot on a low budget, it is still very well produced and the action scenes are very well staged indeed. Horror fans should give this one a try next time they visit their video store. Happy Hunting!

You must never go down in the basement!

[mwilson1976 · 4/10 · 3 April 2020]

Also known as Cries In The Night, this little seen Canadian horror film directed by William Fruet arrived at the height of the slasher movie boom. It has a plot that may seem very familiar (especially if you've seen a certain Alfred Hitchcock film), but offers little to satisfy any perspective gorehounds sniffing around drawn in by the macabre set up. A teenage girl goes to stay with her grandmother at the small hotel she runs, which just so happened to once be a funeral parlour. When the guests start disappearing young Heather (Lesleh Donaldson) starts to investigate, and gets a nasty surprise when she looks in the basement. It's obscure but unspectacular stuff, and kind of disappeared from view after the initial home video boom of the early 80's before resurfacing on DVD years later much to the delight of completists.

Desperate Measures for Desperate Times

[BaronBl00d · 6/10 · 1 July 2006]

What do you do when your husband, the funeral director, runs out and is never seen again many years past, and leaves you with a big, old funeral home? Why turn it into a bed and breakfast of course! Funeral Home is one of those cheaply yet competently made horror film of the late seventies/early eighties that manages to evoke some real, honest chills while maintaining a somewhat serious facade. No small feat when you consider most of the horror derivative drivel produced during this era. Kay Hawtrey plays Mrs. Maude Chalmers who now runs a bed and breakfast and just received her granddaughter to help her make a go of it. Hawtrey gives one heck of a performance as a woman riddled with contradictions. Rumours abound that she was abandoned by her husband for another woman, but she doesn't believe any of that. She seems very normal except no one, absolutely no one, is allowed in the basement - where she can be heard often talking to someone. She plays the ever so sweet grandmother and charitable woman making flowers for the under-privileged. She plays the morally outraged innkeeper who disapproves of any behaviors she deems imprudent. She also has a more far-reaching range as the movie progresses to its revealing climax. But it is Hawtrey's performance that really makes this film work at any level - without it you would have nothing more than some slasher film without any merit. The rest of the acting is pretty good too with Barry Morse no less adding some more credibility as a house guest out to find some secret. As far as the story goes, it is nothing really inventive or hard to figure out to be sure, but the acting, lack of glossy production values, rural, almost Rockwellesque summer settings, and some competent directing all manage to create a fine little horror gem from Canada.

Atmospheric early '80's slasher flick

[lazarillo · 18 December 2007]

I'm sure I'm in a distinct minority, but I actually like '80's slasher movies more for their atmosphere than for their special effects (which seem to look more cheesy and primitive with each passing year). Unfortunately, the eerie atmosphere of the early slasher movies eventually got overwhelmed, first by out-of-control special effects, then by talentless "scream queens" and softcore sex, and finally by cornball comedy and self-conscious parody. That's why I kind of like this film, even if it's nobody's idea of a great slasher flick or a good horror film. It has no gore and no nudity, but it has a good early 80's slasher movie atmosphere.

A teenage girl (Lesleh Donaldsen) comes to stay with her grandma who operates a hotel that was once a funeral home. Her violent grandfather has supposedly disappeared, but grandma keeps talking to someone in the cellar. Meanwhile, various obnoxious guests check into the hotel, but don't check out, and the girl and her new boyfriend start to investigate. This movie is original in that instead of ripping off "Halloween" like almost all the other slasher movies, it rips off an even older classic horror/thriller. But, as they say,if you're gonna steal, you should at least steal from the best. The ending probably won't surprise you too much, but it not entirely ineffective. The actress playing the grandma is very good and effectively scary. Donaldsen was one of a group of young Canadians that were regulars in these kind of films (Canadian tax shelter production masquerading as middle American films). She wasn't as pretty as Lisa Langlois or Tracy Bregman and didn't fall out of her clothes at the drop of a pay-cheque like Joy Boushel, but she was very good at playing "the girl next door", and this was one of her better roles.

Don't expect any T and A or gore here, but see this if you ever get a hankering for the old atmospheric early 80's slasher films.

I want you out

[nogodnomasters · 2/10 · 12 September 2017]

Heather (Lesleh Donaldson) our nubile teen in pigtails, arrives at Grandma Chalmers' (Kay Hawtrey) converted "tourist home" outside of Elora, Ontario. It was once a funeral home, hence the title. Maude Chalmers does an early "Psycho" scene giving away the entire mystery making the addition of the goofy guy to create a mystery a bust. The characters were stereotypes. Acting was fair, but the script didn't give them a chance.

Perhaps my biggest objection was that the all black cat was named "Mittens" a named revered for cats with different colored paws, Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. Maude wouldn't allow it.

Cries In The Night

[a_baron · 3/10 · 24 March 2015]

Somehow, the alternative title "Funeral Home" sounds more apt than "Cries In The Night" as for the first half of this routine horror (so-called) film there is little action. True, there is the mystery of a dumped car and its owner, who disappeared before the opening credits, then there is the mystery of who or what grandma is talking to in the cellar, and there is a double murder, one which sees a man and his loud-mouthed mistress shunted over a cliff in their car into the local quarry, but this all very low key.

Then there is the rookie cop no one takes seriously, especially his superior, who prefers to leave missing persons investigations to his cousins in the big city. Finally, if you can sit through this all the way through to the finale, film buffs will recognise the influence and most likely the inspiration, a certain Hitchcock film. The best thing that can be said about "Funeral Home" is that its ending is not quite as predictable as that of the film in question.

Pedestrian Canadian Effort

[Jonny_Numb · 4/10 · 30 November 2007]

I'll give "Funeral Home" a little extra credit, since it was directed by William Fruet, who also gave us the decent revenge pic "Death Weekend." The plot has a young girl returning to her grandparents' home, the former funeral parlor now converted into a bed and breakfast by the grandmother; but who is grandma talking to in the basement every night, and who is bumping off the sinful heathens who stop and stay at the B&B? The typical genre stereotypes are present: Goofy Young Deputy, Mentally Challenged Gardener, Puritanical Parental Figure, and the Sweetly Innocent Girl. The plot itself echoes "Psycho" in more ways than one, but with a fraction of the budget and considerably less talent. The actors are fairly good for this type of low-rent affair, and there are a few cheesily-integrated, yet atmospherically effective flashback scenes, but "Funeral Home" is simply a forgettable affair.

A modest, but amusing little thriller.

[Nightman85 · 7/10 · 16 February 2006]

An effectively spooky low-budget thriller that takes more inspiration from Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) rather than Carpenter's Halloween (1978), as so many horror films from this era did.

A girl goes to help her grandmother with her new boarding house, a former funeral parlor, and begins to uncover sinister things as the guests start vanishing.

Solid direction uplifts this tight thriller, whose storyline is ultimately not very surprising. A few well-drawn characters do help to keep the story interesting. The rustic filming locations help to add to a chilling summer atmosphere and an air of mystery that works well to the films advantage. The re-occurring images of the black cat are a nice touch. The film is fairly subtle in its horrors, and probably comes off more compelling (and classy) because of it. In short, it's simple but good.

The cast is a strong point. Kay Hawtry is a stand-out as the grandmother, Lesleh Donaldson is fetching as our young female, and Dean Garbett is good as Donaldson's summer love.

All around, Funeral Home is a film that serves well as a thriller. It's not especially brilliant, but it does make for good entertainment.

*** out of ****

Wow, that ending was so surprising

[Aaron1375 · 2/10 · 12 October 2015]

I am kind of surprised to see the score of this film on the plus side of five. I found it to be completely boring as I had the ending pegged about ten minutes into this one. So once you have the twist ending figured out all there is left to do is watch the deaths and hope they are bloody, hope for some nudity or hope they pull a fast one and the ending is not exactly what you are expecting. Well, the deaths are few and far between with only one really good one near the end of the film. The main girl of the piece is cute, but looks too young to show any skin and she doesn't and the one guest at the inn who is having an affair is not someone you want to see naked and thankfully she does not. Then the ending comes and it is exactly what I was expecting. The only thing that was surprising was the end where the police officer basically explained what had happened in what almost seemed like a television show wrap up.

The story has a young lady going to her grandmother's place to help her set it up as a tourist house of some sort. Basically a bed and breakfast as for reasons unknown this town is some sort of attraction. Seriously, the only thing of note is a quarry where people go swimming. The inn used to be a funeral home and when we first see it I was thinking that the place was in worse shape than the one in Fulci's The Beyond. Guests actually start staying at the place and an obnoxious couple having an affair begin to get under the skin of both grandma and her helper outside. The young lady begins hearing voices from the cellar and people start disappearing while the local law enforcement with the exception of the newest addition seems to not care that people are disappearing.

The film was a complete bore to me, I can stand a bad horror, but I hate boring ones and this was very boring to me. I do not know what others saw in this one, but all I saw was a very poorly done and acted ripoff of Psycho. Like I said, that ending was completely telegraphed right from the get go. Without any surprise you may get from the ending you are left with nothing to enjoy about the film other than the one kill near the end. One kill in an hour and a half movie cannot save or elevate this one all that high. Almost seemed a movie Mystery Science Theater could have riffed as the end scene where the killer was attacking you could not tell where the killer was in relation to the where the girl was. Just bad and boring with an ending that is easily figured out the moment you hear voices in the cellar.

Pretty good slasher flick.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 11 November 2005]

After her husband passes away,a young widow decides to turn the old funeral home into a bed and breakfast.Unfortunately no one is prepared for the nightmare that is locked in the cellar.Canadian director William Fruet who made excellent rape-and-revenge film "Death Weekend" directed also this obscure slasher.Lesleh Donaldson more known from "Happy Birthday to Me" and "Curtains" is surprisingly decent and charming in the main role."Funeral Home",whilst obviously influenced by Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Psycho",offers some creepy surprises.The pace is rather slow and the body count is low,however the character of grandmother surely send shiver down my spine.All in all,"Funeral Home" is a surprisingly watchable slasher flick.Give it a look.7 out of 10.

Nearly awful

[arfdawg-1 · 2/10 · 28 May 2014]

To look at this movie, you'd think it was made in the middle 70s for no money. Instead, it's 1980 and a budget over a mil and a half. The money doesn't show in the production.

It's a rather crudely made movie from Canada that doesn't have many chills or thrills. In fact, just about none. It sucks

The Plot

An old funeral parlor now converted into a tourist home during certain periods such as the summer, develops a problem, when a escaped mental patient with a split personality moves in and proceeds to do away with those specific/certain guests or staff, he/she feels are nosy or immoral.

Funeral Home

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 5 September 2008]

Teenager Heather(Lesleh Donaldson) moves in with her devoutly religious grandmother Maude Chalmers(Kay Hawtrey in a terrific performance) who, along with her absent husband, once ran their place as a funeral home, now starting up a tourist bed'n'breakfast for visitors in town. Heather soon discovers her grandma chatting it up with someone in the cellar, or so she believes. Maude forbids her passionately to stay out of the cellar, and has it's door pad-locked. Heather begins dating a local, Rick(Dean Garbett)who informs her of sordid details regarding her grandfather which she initially rejects angrily, but, over time, begins to question her grandmother's story of what happened to him. Rick's brother, newly hired Deputy Joe(Alf Humphreys)has been investigating a rash of disappearances plaguing his small town, against his sheriff's(Robert Warner)wishes, and soon realizes that those missing connect to Maude's tourist locale. A customer of Maude's, Mr. Davis(Barry Morse), is also pursuing the disappearance of his wife, who was rumored to be the lover of the missing Mr. Chalmers, as he often reports to Joe on any information which might become available. When a visiting salesman and his mistress, using Maude's place as a refuge for their affair, wind up dead thanks to a mysterious truck driver who pushes their car over a cliff surrounding a watering hole, and Davis, whose snooping leads to a difficult confrontation with Mrs. Chalmers, suffers himself a grim fate, it's only a matter of time before the secret of the cellar becomes known.

Through the developing mystery of director William Fruet and writer Ida Nelson, the film gives us subtle hints over time as to who might be behind the murders/disappearances. Throughout, we get facts about the main character unseen, the missing husband, and bit by bit everything falls in place leading to quite a suspenseful conclusion as Heather and Rick find themselves in danger as the ax-wielding nutcase in the cellar rears his/her face for the first time. The ending might not be a major surprise to those familiar with Psycho as the twist is eerily similar in psychological content to Hitchcock's masterpiece. It's still a doozy and I wish I could define how neat it is regarding the performance of the cellar psychopath, but I wouldn't dare spoil how it unfolds. Kay Hawtry is the whole show and displays with her face and demeanor a wealth of various emotions, especially when anyone approaches the subject of her husband and the cellar. Besides the ending, her reaction to Morse's amateur sleuth is a definite highlight. Donaldson was a perfect protagonist, the teenager blossoming into a woman, displaying her as mature, conflicted(..because she loves her grandmother and worries about her, not at all responding well to the supposed gossip regarding her grandfather), and scared. Stephen E Miller is memorable as a lurking handyman peeping tom, rather dumb and creepy, often spying on people in the bushes around Mrs. Chalmers' place, or popping up on Heather as she snoops around trying to uncover mysteries that are bothering her concerning a history uncertain to her. The house at night and where it's located(..in the boonies surrounded by rural wilderness with country roads leading to a minor little town with people who have known each other forever)are used rather well. And, the black cat Heather is frightened of is of major importance to the plot..it's a clever plot-device who sees a great deal and will lead others to the film's secret. Great scene where a body is discovered by a local girl swimming underwater in the watering hole nearby Mrs. Chalmer's place.

Sooner than later, you WILL be meeting the undertaker!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 15 June 2006]

"Funeral Home" is very entertaining and traditionally morbid early 80's horror movie directed by the underrated William Fruet, who also made the top-notch revenge flick "House by the Lake" and the goofy slasher "Killer Party". Fruet obviously hadn't much of a budget available here, so he splendidly emphasizes the horrific atmosphere and makes full use of the eerie settings. A lot of great movies use a bed & a breakfast motel as horror location and the residence in this movie is actually a former mortuary turned into bed & breakfast, so creepiness is definitely guaranteed! Heather, a young girl with an unexplained phobia for black cats, travels to a remote little town to help her grandmother run the newly opened vacation resort. Her grandfather, the local undertaker for decades, mysteriously vanished a couple of years ago and the villagers still spread nasty rumors about him. During the night, Heather hears strange voices coming from the basement and, shortly after, the first guests begin to disappear. The plot offers almost no surprise elements or twists; also since it's clearly a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", and the amount of bloody make-up effects is kept to a minimum. Still the tone of the movie is constantly ominous and several sequences are downright creepy, notably the handful of flashbacks referring to the times Mr. Chalmers still ran the funeral home. The acting and music are also very good and the predictably grotesque climax is a lot of fun to watch. Creepy stuff, vintage 80's horror!

On the Bottom Five

[artpf · 1/10 · 12 October 2013]

A young woman arrives at her grandmother's house, which used to be a funeral home to help her turn the place into a bed-and-breakfast inn.

Who cares?

After they open, however, guests begin disappearing or turning up dead.

Wow! So original! Not!!!!

And SOOOO bad!

This has to be one of the worst ans most tedious movies I have ever seen. I can't even write a proper review because it is just sooo bad!

Acting is horrible. There is no story and no competent directing.

Stay away at all costs! It's awful.

Where was this one when I was a kid watching cable TV?

[horns-1 · 8 July 2003]

I just watched Funeral Home and keep wondering why I've never seen it before now. It's a 1980 horror flick that's a little above average for its budget. What I mean to say is that it fits right in there with the horror films during the time, the ones that had fairly decent acting and good enough scripts. Why didn't I ever see this on cable TV back in the day? I recognized actress Lesleh Donaldson playing Heather, remembered her from the films Happy Birthday to Me and Curtains. Now those two movies played on cable all the time back then. Also, recognized the one cop played by Alf Humphreys from My Bloody Valentine. Funeral Home is a decent horror movie, especially having been made in 1980. It does mirror Hitchcock's Psycho in certain plot aspects and in its build up, but it's still distinct enough, I think. There's not a lot of action, blood spraying everywhere, but it has a creepy atmosphere in which the setting is believable. Holds the attention. I really thought the ending was clever with the credits rolling and the movie still playing. Liked the dialogue at the end between the cop and the old woman. Funeral Home should be in every horror collector's arsenal.

A comedy?

[Maciste_Brother · 3/10 · 6 June 2007]

Just watched FUNERAL HOME on video and I have to say that it's not exactly what I thought it would be. It's sold as a horror film and it has all the elements of a horror film but it's not really a horror film. There's almost no gore. The body count is low. The murders are things like driving a car over a cliff and someone being hit with a shovel. People die but there's no suspense or terror. No sense of horror or shock. It sorta looks like a After School Special trying to be a horror film. But the thing that was surprising was the light tone of the whole thing. It felt more like a teen comedy than anything resembling horror. The characters are practically all goofy, certainly that old horny couple. And when I mean a comedy, I don't mean an "unintentional" comedy (even though some will unintentionally laugh at it) but an actual straight comedy about a kooky old woman who runs a B&B in a building which was once a funeral home. I mean, the young girl (a good actress) was actually terrified of a freaking black cat throughout the whole film. What's frightening about a cat?

No sex, no gore, low body count, stupid characters (Barry Morse is wasted) and pointless story = dull.

Honestly, there are better things to do with your time than to watch this.

Dull, plodding horror flick from talented director

[fertilecelluloid · 4/10 · 31 December 2004]

William Fruet, who directed the classic THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE and the Ivan Reitman-produced CANNIBAL GIRLS, must have been doing film-making "time" with this plodder.

It's an old-fashioned tale of a grandmother with a split personality. Black shapes skulk about in the dark committing bloodless murder. Voices whisper and argue in the night.

Nothing much eventuates as the murderess is unmasked and taken upstairs for a cup of tree.

Also known as CRIES IN THE NIGHT in some circles, this is very average stuff.

The theatrical poster was a goodie.

Cries in the night

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 14 June 2018]

Oh Canada.Your horror movies are so strange, so unlike anywhere else, as you remain such a polite country, our neighbor to the north. What strange horrors have you brought to me today? Oh look - it's 1980's Funeral Home, otherwise known by the much better title Cries in the Night.

Heather (Lesleh Donaldson, Curtains, Happy Birthday to Me) is spending the summer in a small town with her grandmother, who has turned her home, which was once a funeral home, into a quaint inn. Her husband's been missing for several years, so she also makes ends meet by selling artificial flowers. She even has her own handyman, Billy, who is mentally challenged.

The only problem is that when people check in, they end up missing. Like that unmarried adulterous couple. And that real estate developer. And when Heather comes home at night, she hears her grandmother talk to someone who isn't there.

Well, it seems like Heather's grandfather was having an affair with Helena Davis, which her grandmother denies to everyone, including Helena's husband (Barry Morse, the Inspector from TV's original The Fugitive) - who is soon murdered with a pickaxe.

Heather and her boyfriend Rick start investigating, finally finding the corpse of her grandfather. Now, Maude speaks with his voice and comes after them with an axe. Luckily, the police arrive just in time.

As the credits roll, the cops explain all of it to us. It's such a weird ending, with an overly long explanation fighting for screen time with the names of the gaffers.

This movie just felt like a slog. I continually kept checking to see how much more time was left. I hate when movies make me do that.

Though not a 10-star film, it was surprisingly good for a B-Movie.

[claudialora · 6/10 · 14 May 2008]

I thought I'd seen all the B-Movie horror films of the 1970s-80s. Apparently not, for this one somehow got by me. The title "Funeral Home" was a bit misleading as there was nothing "funeral-homish" about this film other than that most of the action took place in a converted funeral home. I'd been under the impression there would be ghostly or ghoulish occurrences, something most "reformed funeral home" films seem to be filled with. There were none, however the story, as it slowly unfolded, was remarkably well done.

In my opinion, 1980 was a pivotal year in the horror industry. A whole new generation of films started to appear that became known as "slasher films" (or "gore-fests," depending on who you ask). There was a new trend developing where nothing was left to the imagination. Though equated with slasher films, "Funeral Home" is nothing like "Halloween" or "Friday the 13th" since it's violence was more implied than graphic. When films contain graphic violence the shock value of "blood and guts" can all too easily take over and render story-lines and characters irrelevant. This was not the case here.

I was impressed with the character development in this film. The primary characters, and almost all of the secondary ones, were given "histories" that were revealed in dribs and drabs as the story moved along...and as is common with people in small towns, everyone seemed to be connected to everyone else in some way. The dialog could be corny at times and didn't quite flow as "normal conversation" would (particularly with regard to the teenagers) but the performances were good enough to make it credible.

Being a horror film veteran, the ending did not surprise me. From about 1/3 of the way into the film I had a pretty good idea where it was heading, but there were some surprises that made the film enjoyable despite seeming routine. It was also refreshing to see a film stand on it's own without resorting to pools of blood, nudity and four-letter words. Though not a 10-star film and not very high on the "shock-meter," it was surprisingly good for a B-Movie.

What's in the Cellar?

[martinscrimm · 5/10 · 19 August 2019]

Every now and then, you want to watch a movie that's just cozy and won't make you think too hard, scare you too much, or leave you too disturbed. One days like that, Funeral Home would make a nice movie companion. It never goes anywhere too dark, there's not any blood or gore to speak off, and it moves along at a reasonable pace, leaving you mostly unmoved, but not feeling like you wasted your time either.

Heather moves in with her quirky grandmother to turn their old funeral parlor into a boarding house and, as soon as the guests arrive, they start disappearing or dying under mysterious circumstances.

Any horror or mystery fan won't find the central mystery of Funeral Home too tough to crack, but that's part of the charm. Sometimes, it's just nice to see a familiar story well told.

Psycho 2....kinda

[FrightMeter · 7/10 · 15 October 2008]

Young Heather (Lesleh Donaldson) arrives to spend the summer with her grandmother, who are recently turned her old funeral home into a bed and breakfast, where years earlier Grandpa disappeared. Almost immediately upon her arrival, strange things being to happen. She hears noises and conversations coming from the basement in the middle of the night, and people-mainly unruly or nosy guests-begin to disappear. Grandma dismisses the incidents as Heather's imagination, but when Heather and her young summer love interest begin nosing around too much, the truth about Grandma and the Funeral Home is revealed in a frenzied climax that undoubtedly will remind you of Psycho, as anyone who has seen Hitchcock's classic will figure out where this film is heading rather quickly.

"Funeral Home" is a slow burn. It's pacing leaves a lot to be desired, but with that said, it is still an exceptional little horror film that really has the nostalgic 80's feel to it. Simply put...they don't make horror movies like this anymore. It's full of atmosphere and tension that we just don't see anymore and even though the ending can be seen from a block away, it is still shocking simply because of its execution. The acting is way above average. Kay Hawtley as Grandma steals the film in a performance that reminds me of Susan Tyrell's Aunt in another early 80's slasher "Night Warning." Donaldson, who gave some great supporting performances in other 80's slashers (Curtains, Happy Birthday to Me) gets the chance to shine in a lead role where she is extremely likable (she was nominated for Canada's version of the Oscar for this performance). The creepy noises in the basement are disturbing, and though the gore factor and body count is low, the film still emerges as one of the more competent and creepy slasher films from this era.

With that said, this film will not be for everyone. Current youngsters who have been brought up on the "Hostel's" and "Saw's" and think of those as stellar slasher flicks (which they are...for today) will probably not be able to sit through this because the of the slow plot. The film also looks extremely dated, but in a way, that adds to the creepiness. The ending is predictable and I was perplexed at how the "killer" seemed to decide not to kill the main girl through no reason or negotiation. There was no fight, no other person there at the time to stop the lead from being killed...the killer just seems to have a change of heart and puts down the axe. It's like the filmmakers were running out of time and didn't want to film a long chase sequence, so they just decided to have the killer decide not to kill the nosy heroine after all, even though there is every opportunity to do so. Is really was the only WTF? moment to be found in this otherwise good film. Check it to see what I believe the golden age of the slasher film looked liked.

My Grade: B

Derivative but atmospheric eighties horror

[The_Void · 5/10 · 18 July 2006]

Funeral Home is hardly an original slice of horror, but it just about gets by thanks to director William Fruet's attention to detail where the atmosphere is concerned. As the title suggests, the film is set in a funeral home; which in itself is a great place to set a horror movie, but thanks to gritty cinematography and dank locations within the home, most notably the basement, the film is lifted just above the area inhabited by many similar films. The plot takes obvious influence from a certain influential sixties film which I won't mention, and even though it's highly derivative; the way that the film comes together isn't bad. The story follows a young girl who travels to her grandmother's funeral home, which she is turning into a place for tourists to stay. While there, she learns about her grandfather; a supposedly mean man that disappeared several years earlier. The funeral home comes under suspicion again when several of the guests that have come to stay there begin to disappear, and this leads the girl and her new boyfriend to discover a terrible secret surrounding the home.

The main problem with the film is that despite revolving around a mystery, it's never very exciting and there's a distinct lack of tension throughout. The other side of the film takes in ideas from the popular slasher sub-genre that was just getting on it's feet back in 1980, but again it doesn't do very well as the murders aren't very imaginative or bloody. The film was clearly made on a modest budget, and this shines through often as Funeral Home has a very cheap feel about it, and the script doesn't do anything to help this as the dialogue is very basic and often not very delivered by the actors, which aren't up to much. Most of the acting plaudits go to Kay Hawtrey, who gives a strong performance as the central character; but this role doesn't require much acting ability, and I can't give her too much praise for the performance. It all boils down to a predictable ending, but it's well played out and even though the film makes no attempt to mask the fact that it's ripping off another film; it works well in the context of what has gone before it. Overall, Funeral Home isn't worth tracking down, but it's a decent slice of eighties horror and just about worth seeing.

Very Creepy

[dwzl32 · 9/10 · 9 February 2007]

As a movie lover, I have seen my share of horror films. This is one of the THREE ever that actually frightened me. (The others being, of course, Hellraiser and Saw) This film is classic because it combines the slasher element with the old fashioned creepy style of stuff like Psycho. Much of its horror appeal lies in the non-gore moments, such as the weird whispering the young girl hears through the heating vents.I actually had a couple of bad dreams after seeing this picture!I wouldn't recommend watching it alone at all...this one calls for a buddy who doesn't mind arm grabbing.If you like truly scary movies, this one is a must-see.

Evil, is not quite what it appears to be.....

[marshrydrob · 7/10 · 17 October 2017]

The opening of the film, is suggestive of horror. scare tactics of the movie, play on superstitions and beliefs of the time.

The story revolves around a funeral home, that is being renovated for a tourist home: a bed and breakfast.

There is a mystery in the story. the trigger to the building of the suspense: a black cat.

The film seems to play out more as a psychological thriller, than as a classical horror.

The score, plays well with the suspense of the movie. The plot, it reminds me of the movie Psycho; in many ways.

I believe this movie, to be an original interpretation; of a psychological slash horror film. The movie takes a while, before it gets to anything that can be seen as actual horror.

The mystery of the story, is played out enough; to keep the viewer interested.

Funeral Home, seems to be a little longer than it needs to be, but it is an okay movie; and it should appeal to fans of Psycho, and of other slash horror films.

What's Grandma Got In That Basement?

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 23 May 2011]

Funeral Home is a Canadian produced film which was ripped off from Psycho in many ways. Good thing Alfred Hitchcock probably never saw this, he might have sued, but for defamation of art.

Kay Hawtrey's husband of many years who ran the local Funeral Parlor has up and disappeared and after months of fruitless search Kay's decided to turn the home into a bed and breakfast. But her guests have a nasty habit of disappearing. It's got law enforcement stumped.

Her granddaughter Lesleh Donaldson has come to help Grandma run the bed and breakfast. But she keeps hearing all these strange voices coming from the basement where Grandpa used to do his embalming. Maybe that might provide a clue to all the mystery.

It's more than a clue and if you've seen Psycho you know what's happening here. No doubt Hawtrey took lessons in hotel management from Norman Bates and his mother.

Canadian players generally unknown to American audiences are in the cast. The only two I was familiar with were Barry Morse who used to hunt Richard Kimble on The Fugitive and Harvey Atkin who is occasionally an arraignment judge on the various Law And Order shows. I hope their checks cleared the bank.

Alfred Hitchcock would not be flattered.