User reviews

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ****

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.

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" 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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Heather has decided to help her grandmother for the summer who has turned the family funeral home into a bed & breakfast despite the fact that the old bag is about as friendly as a rabid junkyard dog. At times during the late evening hours Heather overhears talking in the basement that her grandma strictly forbids her from entering. Clues abound as the story of her grandfather's mysterious disappearance confronts Heather with an ugly truth she doesn't want to acknowledge. Who can she trust? Will she stay at the creepy house? Who is Mrs. Chalmers speaking to in the basement? How the hell did you not figure it out in the first five minutes?

William Fruet is definitely a talented director and he does an admirable job despite clearly not having much of a budget. The acting is also for the most part done well especially Lesleh Donaldson as the conflicted but trusting Heather. You would have to be lobotomized to not know how the story is ultimately going to end but that shouldn't detract from the eerie atmosphere that is prevalent during most of the film. The reason I can't give this a higher rating is the rather slow build-up to the kills which in themselves are rather tame and unoriginal. As a matter of fact I'm perplexed that this movie received an R rating to begin with as there isn't any profanity and absolutely no nudity. This is the second consecutive movie in the "Chilling Classics" collection that has a woman seducing a mentally challenged man. Was there a market for this kind of thing in the seventies? It's creepy as hell. A decent film that's just a little too vanilla for me. Kinda like Canada.

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.

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.

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.