The Mortuary Assistant should have remained a video game. Because what it transformed into in its film version feels clunky, unbalanced, and somehow really slow but also so fast-paced that you don’t even get a chance to comprehend what you’re watching. And it’s true that the video game version gave this indie gem more time to build on the tension that made it so popular. But where the adaptation failed is in understanding that to transform it from video game to live adaptation, things had to change.
A lot of times when live-action adaptations happen, they miss the mark because of concerning casting choices, a clear departure from the source material, or it has zero soul to the point where you don’t even see or feel the source material within the adaptation. The Mortuary Assistant didn’t do that, which is the most fascinating thing about this film. This movie felt like a video game walk-through but with a bigger budget and actual actors on the screen.
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There were multiple moments throughout the movie where they stopped everything to explain the mechanics of things. For example, the demon possession info dump or how to free themselves info dump. Instead of weaving all this lore and information in a more natural manner that fits the movie medium, The Mortuary Assistant thought that it could dump collective knowledge on us in huge doses and that we would just understand. Unfortunately, we didn’t understand.
It only got worse the more you watched because The Mortuary Assistant didn’t take a second to breathe. They used heart pounding music that you would find in the debut trailer for an action film throughout most of its hour and a half run. And all it did was disorient me while I tried to figure out the lore, why I should care for the main character, or what the mortician’s role in all of this was. That and the demons and moving corpses.
Then there are the motivations of its lead Rebecca (Willa Holland).
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At the heart of every movie, is motivation. Or something to fight for, something to be brave for. Rebecca, the main character, didn’t have that. Her addiction felt flat and not necessary for the demonic possession story arc. And the revelation that her father had seen the demon when she was young felt like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and hoping to god no one notices. We noticed. And by the end of The Mortuary Assistant I was left with so many pieces that I didn’t know how to fit together to form something coherent.
The Mortuary Assistant could have been a successful live-action adaptation if they trimmed the movie and focused on one clear idea. Because that’s what happens when you take something from one medium into another. You have to trim concepts, ideas, and moments for a solid message that comes through for the medium in front of you. Instead The Mortuary Assistant feels over-stuffed yet flat while giving the actors so much material that I’m not sure they understood it all to properly emote and drive the story forward.
The Mortuary Assistant is available on Shudder.
