By: Claudio “tombstone piledriver” Cortés 

Let’s take a moment to unpack the key element that today’s film pick leans on for atmosphere, let’s examine why we find funeral homes / mortuaries creepy in the first place. Why do we hear tales of haunted funeral homes, why are gravediggers always portrayed as ghoulish?, why are hursts seen as spooky cars despite looking like rather rad station wagons, why are morticians portrayed as creepy people, why was the WWF Undertaker’s whole schtick with Paul Bearer a weird zombie spooky thing? If you ask me, which you didn’t, it all boils down to the very human fear of the unknown. We simply do not know what happens to us when we die, some people have their theories and beliefs but as of October 18, 2020 no one has provided any concrete evidence. As a result we find ourselves resigned to fear because ultimately we cannot bear to acknowledge our relative insignificance outside of our direct sphere of influence. The world will keep spinning when I return to the dust from whence I came, and frankly that’s a tough pill to swallow. As a society we have cast the facilitators of our end of existence rituals as ghouls because it helps us cope, if we can turn those people into creepy ghouls it helps separate us from our own death. 

Today’s film recommendation is a product of that exact phenomena, today’s recommendation is The Mortuary Collection. The Mortuary Collection is a classic vignette format film narrated by the very well cast Mortician played by fantastic Clancy Brown that tells the individual stories of the people that have made it across the narrator’s table prompted by the mysterious arrival of a job seeking young woman. It wouldn’t be a vignette film without a spooky bow tie to tie the entire thing together.

You can watch today’s pick with a free trial and or subscription to Shudder. Side note, if you are a scary movie fan like me the subscription is well worth the fee.  

Today’s musical accompaniment is The Babysitter by Pulp, from britpop opus His N Hers. Watch today’s film to put the puzzle pieces together as to why we picked today’s song. 

Keep up with the playlist as it builds Here

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