PopHorror Let's Get Scared
If you watch low budget indie horror and are craving something uniquely different, then The Embalmers is the movie for you!
The Embalmers is directed by PopHorror’s own Rebecca Rinehart (Frightvision, Sharks Of The Corn, Backwoods Bubba… read our interview with her here), co-written by Rebecca, Diane Fraker (There’s An Alien In My Backyard!, He Knows… read our interview with her here), and Rob Mello (Happy Death Day 2017 – read our review here, Happy Death Day 2U). The film stars Helene Udy (My Bloody Valentine 1981 – read our retro review here, Evil Under The Skin 2020 – read our review here) as Billie, Julie Anne Prescott (Ring of Desire, #Shakespeare’s Shitstorm 2020 – read our review here … read our interview with her here) as Ivy, Rebecca herself as Amy, Alyss Winkler (Space Babes from Outer Space 2017 – read our review here… read our interview with her here) as Lottie, Andrea Collins (Death Care, Bad Apples 2018 – read our review here) as Mae, Jonni Shandor (He Knows, Should We Be Doing This?… read our interview with her here) as Kali, and newcomer Robert Walker as Cy.
Synopsis:
The Quint Family Parlor has served the citizens of Morgan County for over 100 years. Siblings Mae, Lottie, and Cy tend to the residents’ journeys into eternity. However, not all of the folks will rest in peace.
I admire Rebecca Rinehart and crew for stepping out of the slasher box and doing something completely different. Sometimes, different is not a good thing, but in the case for The Embalmers, different is definitely awesome. I honestly can’t recall many movies that have a plot or has characters quite like the ones in The Embalmers. I’m glad that Rinehart wanted this movie to go in a different direction rather than just another slasher film.
In most cases when watching a low-budget indie horror movie, I don’t put much emphasis on the acting itself. In this film, however, I am impressed with everyone’s performance. Everyone looks like they’re having fun, and that fun translated quite well on screen. There is one actress that really made the movie for me though, and that was Jonni Shandor as the little KISS fangirl. Seriously, I want a sequel where Kali walks around in a black-leather jacket and battles Satanists. I don’t care what the movie is about, but I need more Kali in her KISS attire. PLEASE!
The writing in The Embalmers is simply superb. There are so many great lines in this movie. My all-time favorite line is when Kali says, “Does a girl need an occasion to dress up as one of the members of KISS?” She does make a good point.
The special effects are really good, especially the scene where Helena Udy’s character, Billy, uses dark magic and her eyes are lit up by what appears to be CGI. Really impressive work for a low budget film.
I love this movie, but I do have a few criticisms. The main problem I had with The Embalmers was the sound quality. On my television, I had to really crank up the volume to hear the actors speaking. When music was inserted or one of the actors began yelling, then I had to turn the volume way down. That can make for an uncomfortable watch.
I also would recommend a tad more gore to the film. I felt something was missing from The Embalmers, and I think some more kill scenes would have made the movie better. These are the only criticisms I found with the film and are only minor problems.
I highly recommend The Embalmers and hope horror fans will seek this one out. The whole cast and crew should be proud of their hard work and effort because it’s quite evident how much they put in when I viewed the film.
