The film adaptation of the 2022 horror video game The Mortuary Assistant proved that not all popular media should be reimagined for the big screen.
Set in a morgue, protagonist Rebecca quickly realizes that more than the deceased is lying in wait. Head mortician Raymond Delver knows what lurks beyond the shadows and helps Rebecca fend off the spirits to survive.
What made the game so enticing was the nearly unnoticeable apparitions and the mortuary’s claustrophobic layout, with its old windows and narrow halls. The walls close in as the spirits make themselves known.
The Mortuary Assistant features all the classic horror tropes: body horror, possessions, hallway chases, the undead, psychological tension, and highly exaggerated foley effects. The set design for the film is almost exactly like the layout of the first-person game. It was a promising sight, but once the dialogue started, it felt like every other B-rated horror movie.
In each conversation, every line is overly expository. Every action and thought is spelled out like a lesson on Sesame Street.
The horror film, released on a horror streaming service, finds it important to explain the basics of possession and spirits to horror fans.
[RAYMOND DELVER]: “The entity will do anything to weaken you. It exploits the worst parts of ourselves, any doubts, any memories, any sin, anything to gain control, to let it in.”
[REBECCA]: “Why is this happening?”
[DELVER]: “Entities can inhabit the dead fairly easily, but it’s a prison, a foothold into our world until it can find a living body strong enough to withstand possession.”
The filmmakers have almost no trust in the audience. I can assure you, people interested in this movie know the premise, how possessions work, and how to survive. Especially fans of the original video game!
DreadXP’s game stressed the players to “treat it like a normal day.” You must prepare the dead for funerary services, all while seeing figures and objects move just out of sight. Audio tapes of Delver explain how to properly bind demons to their vessels and survive the night.
Stress and fear peak because the player must carry on as though nothing is wrong—but there’s a lot wrong.
The film barely shows Rebecca working like it’s a normal day. She barely acts as a mortician’s assistant, mostly looking at dead bodies and not really touching them.
She hallucinates from the very beginning, with little context. The audio tapes from the game become VHS tapes that instruct survival, like a 90s HR training tape.
When directed to the tapes, her hallucinations completely stop for five minutes while Rebecca plays with wooden runes and paper.
Although the game has limited mechanics and guiding dialogue (which is normal), the horror elements and effects are more memorable. As a first-person ‘walking simulator,’ the psychological impact of the visions and scares is far more immersive.
The game tailors to players’ personal judgment. How you react to Delver’s warnings will bring about a different experience and multiple endings.
Although the film attempts to adjust the experience to a third-person perspective, Rebecca’s actions often feel random. Awkward cuts between sets and scenes, unnatural stunt coordination, and wooden, unconvincing acting left the movie feeling more like background noise.
One positive this film offers, and something the industry is currently short on, is functional lighting.
The lighting is effective in showing variations of darkness and light, while also letting the audience see what’s happening.
We recommend this film as more of an ironic watch. Watching YouTube playthroughs or playing the game yourself delivers the experience much more effectively.
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