THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT movie poster | ©2026 Seismic Releasing/Shudder/Epic Pictures

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Willa Holland, Paul Sparks, John Adams, Keena Ferguson, Mark Steger, Emily Bennett, Shelly Gibson
Writers: Tracee Beebe and Brian Clarke, based on the video game by Brian Clarke
Director: Jeremiah Kipp
Distributor: Seismic Releasing/Shudder/Epic Pictures
Release Date: February 13, 2026

Mortuaries, where corpses are prepared for burial, make fine settings for horror movies. THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT, based on the video game of the same name, takes advantage of the inherently atmospheric concept and begins with a promising sense of menace.

Rebecca Owens (Willa Holland) is doing her final supervised embalming procedure under the watchful eye of mortuary owner Raymond Delver (Paul Sparks).

Rebecca attends an AA meeting where her first year of sobriety is celebrated in low-key manner. Her grandmother (Shelly Gibson) is there to support Rebecca, as is her sponsor Kelly (Keena Ferguson).

Although Raymond initially tells Rebecca that he only wants her on day shifts, he calls and says it’s an emergency and she’s got to come in tonight. Three bodies have arrived and all need immediate handling.

On her own, Rebecca finds it odd that Raymond has ordered her to embalm the corpses, then cremate them. Seems like it should be one or the other. Even so, as a good employee, Rebecca does as she’s told. She marvels as the extensive wounds on the bodies but doesn’t notice when they begin to open their eyes on the slabs.

Then there’s a horrific struggle. Rebecca wakes up at home with no memory of how she got there. Kelly comes around to check on Rebecca, who is definitely not okay. Rebecca suffers a time loop and heads back to the mortuary. Raymond is concerned she ever left.

More disturbing developments ensue.

If this sounds somewhat choppy, it is. Clarke and Tracee Beebe wrote the screenplay based on the game, but conventions that are suited for game play don’t necessarily always work for the big screen.

Director Jeremiah Kipp creates and maintains a mood of lurking dread, but its effectiveness decreases as our confusion grows. After the time loop, we’re not sure what is meant to be “permanently” happening and what are meant to be hallucinations that don’t leave lasting marks.

We get a large exposition dump, but it comes so late and contains so much that it doesn’t really help us with what’s come before.

Holland is game, with backbone and emotion, and Sparks is properly enigmatic. Ferguson plays Kelly like an authentic AA sponsor and John Adams makes the most of a varied role.

Kipp and the production team have fun with the retro look of the mortuary, complete with dial phone, cassette boom box and VHS tape player. Creature effects creator Norman Cabrera’s monsters are appropriately horrific.

THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT works on a pop-up, demons-that-go-bump-in-the-night level. It just doesn’t reward deep examination or provide many bonus aspects.

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