As bad as most modern horror anthologies are, The Mortuary Collection makes a real case for the future of these movies, even if it borrows some of its narrative device from Tales from the Hood.

Ryan Spindell made The Babysitter Murders - I mean, if you're going to take a title, take it from one that makes horror fans recognize that you get it - which is part of this story. The framing is all about Sam (Caitlin Custer) who has come to Raven's End Mortuary to ask for a job from its owner, Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown).

He takes her through the coffins inside, telling her how each of the bodies got there. The first story is simple - a thief discovers a monster - and nearly made me stop watching this, as I worried that this would follow the example of other modern portmanteau films with stories that abruptly end and have no real narrative steam.

I'm happy that I stayed with this movie.

In "Unprotected," a college man tries to take advantage of the woke nature of his classmates. When he finally scores his next conquest, Sandra, and takes off his condom, which leads to her making him pregnant. This is a quick and simple story, yet well-structured and filled with some disquieting imagery.

"Till Death" has a husband trying to get rid of his catatonic wife with increasingly gory and unsuccessful efforts. Ironically, the movie then has Sam demand that the stories become less about simple comeuppance. Montgomery takes Sam to the mortuary subbasement and prepares to cremate a child-size coffin. Sam then tells him she's not here for a job. She's here for the dead child and has a story to tell.

This is where "The Babysitter Murders" fits into the story, revealing that Sam is a killer of children. She attempts to use the bones of the kids to kill the mortician, but her victims tear her apart. He sews her together and uses embalming fluid as her blood, making her the new owner of the funeral home as he steps into the sun and turns into dust.

With films like this and Ghost Stories, the future of this subgenre of horror feels like it has a chance.

Well, this was definitely a horror anthology that had atmosphere, and that is something that counted well in favor of the movie. But I am getting ahead of myself here.

First of all, "The Mortuary Collection" is a horror anthology, which the movie's title sort of also indicates. But just so you know, this is indeed a horror anthology, for better or worse.

The different short stories in the anthology were of various degrees of entertainment and contents, not surprisingly really, as it usually goes with horror anthologies. Some of the stories were very good and interesting, where as some were just bland if not actually unappealing.

I was initially lured in to watch this 2019 anthology because of the movie's cover. Sure, I hadn't even heard about the anthology before now in 2021 as I was given the chance to watch it. Of course I did so, because I enjoy horror and because I was intrigued by the movie's cover/poster. And when I saw that Clancy Brown was in it, this was a given movie to watch.

Personally I liked most of the stories told in the anthology, but oddly enough, as it actually is with many anthologies in my opinion, it was the narrative that binds the various segments together that actually had the most appeal. Perhaps because it was that narrative that had Clancy Brown in it. But it was also a rather enjoyable narrative story binding the other stories together.

Visually then "The Mortuary Collection" was rather interesting and good. I liked the special effects and the make-up. The special effects, both practical and CGI was rather good in all the segments and the narrative. And the make-up and prosthetics department really worked magic in this anthology. I particularly liked what they did in terms of putting make-up on Clancy Brown.

I was genuinely entertained by "The Mortuary Collection", and this is an anthology that I can warmly recommend you spend some time on sitting down watching.

My rating of "The Mortuary Collection" lands on a seven out of ten stars. It is without a doubt one of the better anthologies since the "Creepshow" ones.

What makes a horror anthology a good one? We know that the stories in between have to be decent - but what also matters: to have something that really feels like a good story surrounding it all. VHS tried that to a degree and I reckon you could say it served its purpose. But in this case here, it is more than just a simple thing to accompany the other things that are being said.

I was not able to watch this at a cinema but did get my hands on a 4k release. This really looks beautiful! Even more of an achievement if you think how small the budget must have been (see also behind the scenes). Nice stories and really good actors get a great treatment (two dps apparently as the director states, which is not a bad thing in an anthology)! So all the elements work nicely together - you just should not be ... easily offended and grossed out too quick. While the nudity is "missing" or a non issue, this is quite vivid when it comes to the violence ... can you dig it?