Directed By Jeremiah Kipp
Starring – Willa Holland, Paul Sparks, John Adams
The Plot – Follows Rebecca Owens (Holland), a mortuary science graduate who takes a night job at River Fields Mortuary. What begins as a routine job soon turns sinister as she faces terrifying supernatural forces.
This film is currently not rated
The Mortuary Assistant | Official Trailer | Coming to GSC on 13 Feb
POSITIVES
Despite a laundry list of growing problems that stack the longer the film persists, this low budget supernatural thriller from Shudder does have a couple of redeeming qualities that help keep it from reaching the dwelling cellar of horror movie entertainment, beginning with its appeal as a video game adaptation. Having seen a couple of playthroughs of the game, I can say that Kipp’s best instinct as a director seems to be the effortless ways that naturally emulates the gaming experience through the actions of our established protagonist, with the script not only unloading ample exposition to give audiences a deeper knowledge of the things that go bump in the night, but also an outlined screenplay that is essentially one mission after the other, in order to get us closer to reaching resolution, and while “The Mortuary Assistant” isn’t the first movie to summon such an authentic parallel to the flows and progression of its gaming counterpart, it does a masterful job of seamlessly translating the soul of its origin in ways that transcend even the likeness of its recreating set designs, in turn feeling like a satisfying companion piece to anyone enamored with the escapist factor of the popular franchise. This rendering also extends to characterization, ideally Rebecca, who originally in the game is only established with the lightest of backstory as a recovering drug addict, but here the script thoroughly fleshes out more of the matters that she cost herself with her selfishness, even going as far as to re-live one fateful night that scars her like the very corpses she embalms. While her outline is nothing more than the typical flawed grieving lead character that is established in so many horror movies, I do appreciate that screenwriters Tracee Beebe and Brian Clarke at least make an attempt to surmise a deeper scope to the world-building of its origins, in turn granting us a deeper sense of knowledge and understanding with Rebecca that does successfully attain some investing empathy in everything she’s forced to deal with. Lastly, if there’s a single element of the production that a majority of its minimalized budget was spent towards, it’s undeniably the practicality of some gruesome effects work involving lacerations and limbs of its many corpses, leading to some stomach-churning imagery zeroing in on the unsettling realities of the job. As to where I expected a movie like this to go the cheap route artificially with special effects, I’m happy that at least some inventiveness and ambition went towards leaving an impressionable impact on its audience’s interpretation, as it really does offer the greatest insight into a what if scenario of this movie receiving big studio backing, earning every inch of an R-rating if and when the MPAA decides to finally cement it with one.
NEGATIVES
Even in 2026, the number of successful video game adaptations still has very few noteworthy achievers, and in having watched “The Mortuary Assistant”, it’s clear why such an overwhelming majority of instances fail almost immediately upon arrival, beginning with a disjointed screenplay and sloppy editing techniques that nearly makes this story rooted in heavy-handed exposition feel incoherent by the ways it’s presented to an audience. The dialogue directly goes out of its way to alienate new audiences who aren’t familiar with the game, particularly in how it not only unsubtly highlights the necessary aspects conveniently that we need to know to decipher this mystery, but also how glaringly unnatural the context in these conversations feel between characters, succeeded only by sequencing of these individual conflicts that oftentimes abruptly resolve themselves without anything in the imagery or dialogue to convey just what transpired with these flash-forward teleportation’s that sees Rebecca zoning in out of reality, creating a disorienting haze that is very difficult to follow or even remain patient with, in turn slicing any kind of scene-to-scene momentum in the movie’s favor with a consistency to pacing that constantly feels like a wet blanket. Speaking of dwindled patience, I won’t sugar coat matters when I say that Jeremiah Kipp’s direction is among the weakest that I’ve seen so far this year, not only with inspiring any semblance of emotionality out of the performances of his ensemble, which frequently mirror adult entertainment actors in dimensionality and commitment, but also the thrills and frights departments, which never come close to surmising anything that even comes close to an unsettling feeling in the depths of my experience with the film. It certainly isn’t for any lack of trying, as Kipp conjures jolting jump scares, surreal imagery, and foreboding atmosphere as a way to immerse audiences in the inescapable plight of Rebecca, it’s just that it’s all enacted so lazily that it never crafts any semblance of surprise or opportunity to feel tense or suspenseful for what lurks in the enveloping darkness of such a creepy established setting, in turn embracing embarrassing levels of creative execution that never surmises any semblance of originality or even accidental edginess to this movie’s dwindled memorability. Kipp isn’t alone in his responsibility for the blame, however, as everyone assembled within this ensemble also fail to articulate a shred of palpable emotionality in the internalized responses of their performances, especially Paul Sparks, who undoubtedly gives what I confidently feel will be the single worst performance of 2026. I make this unfriendly assessment because he monotonously drowns on throughout every line of dialogue in ways that are not only glaringly distracting to the integrity of these vital scenes of established exposition, but also lacks any semblance of screen presence in ways that could at least make him fun when all else fails, and while I wholeheartedly understand that the intention behind Sparks’ Raymond might’ve been to make him as ominously dry as his gaming counterpart, it’s not something that I feel translates well to cinema, especially during those dialogue-heavy moments of the ice-breaking opening act, where his character’s complete lack of subtlety makes every spoken line feel like it’s being read off of cue cards off-screen, without anything that even comes close to endearing magnetism. To be fair, Willa Holland is much better as Rebecca, at least with a naturalism for line delivery that doesn’t feel wooden or artificial, but Holland also struggles tapping into the emotionality of the character in ways that should come naturally for so much overwhelming vulnerability, and it completely undersells these supposedly tense or even dramatically tragic moments for the character, without anything even closely resembling detectably life-altering influence, leaving a vital detachment from Rebecca that directly underscores the movie’s stakes and condemning circumstances. Finally, nearly every element of the film’s technical components squander any opportunity to elicit something endearing to the movie’s overall atmosphere, with the score, cinematography, and sound mixing feeling so stock and unappealing to the ways they’re utilized throughout the film. Considering this is a first person game that manages to maintain suspense within the limitations of its angles, it’s disappointing that the camera placement here never ambitiously seeks out angles or motions of the camera that help towards painting a growing discomfort organically within the confines of the budgetary limitations, instead opting for supernatural demon designs that feel like they were conceived in a Spirit Halloween board meeting, and while the movie naturally emulates the gameplay of its origins, it’s visual and audio components couldn’t be any more compromisingly different.
OVERALL
“The Mortuary Assistant” is another disappointing corpse to the growing pile of uninspiring video game adaptations, particularly one that is completely void of frights, coherent sequencing, or even energetic acting to give life to this cold slab of meat being regretfully dissected. While Jeremiah Kipp does naturally emulate the structural gameplay familiarity in ways that cater exclusively to longtime fans, the lazy and lackadaisical consistency of everything else leaves it soullessly similar to those that came before it, with the supernatural power to disappear from theaters just as quickly as it arrived.
My Grade: 3.4 or F