Funeral Home (1980 film)

Funeral Home
Directed by William Fruet
Produced by Barry Allen
William Fruet
Written by Ida Nelson
Starring Lesleh Donaldson
Kay Hawtrey
Alf Humphreys
Harvey Atkin
Jack Van Evera
Barry Morse
Dean Garbett
Stepehn E. Miller
Music by Jerry Fielding
Cinematography Mark Irwin
Edited by Ralph Brunjes
Distributed by Frontier Amusements
MPM
Vouge Video
Paragon Video
Mill Creek Entertainment
Release dates
  • October 3, 1980 (1980-10-03) (Canada)
  • August 12, 1982 (1982-08-12) (U.S.)
Running time
 93 min
Country Canada
Language English

Funeral Home (also known as Cries in the Night) is a 1980 Canadian horror/thriller directed by William Fruet starring Lesleh Donaldson, Kay Hawtrey, Jack Van Evera, Alf Humphreys, and Harvey Atkin. Both Donaldson and Humphreys would later become cult favorites of the horror genre for the film, and also Donaldson's roles in Happy Birthday to Me (1981) and Curtains (1983), and Humphreys in Death Weekend (1976) and My Bloody Valentine (1981). Fruet would later direct the 1986 slasher film Killer Party.

Plot

A young woman arrives at her grandmother's house, which used to be a funeral home, to help her grandmother turn the place into a bed-and-breakfast inn. But soon after they open, guests begin to either disappear and/or turn up dead.

Cast

Production

The budget for the film was roughly $1,431,780.00 and was filmed from July 23, 1979 to September 12, 1979.

According to actress Lesleh Donaldson, actress Kay Hawtrey and director William Fruet did not get along well, stating that "She couldn’t stand him. She hated him. Just hated him." She also recalled Hawtrey "...being a nervous wreck nearly every morning. And then she claimed Bill was making her do stuff at the end that was too much for her. In the scene where she's down in the cellar, there were a lot of crew guys doubling for her, with the axe and swinging stuff around. It wasn’t her doing that."

On director William Fruet, Donaldson stated that she "knew that he would do things off-the-cuff at the last minute, like changing a scene. [I] might not have been called in that day and suddenly I’d get a call telling me "Get to the set now!", and I’d have to do a scene I hadn’t memorized yet. It was tense that way."

Soundtrack

A soundtrack to the film was released on October 25, 2011 by Intrada Records as part of their Intrada Special Collection Series.

All tracks were composed by Jerry Fielding. This was his final score.

  1. Main Title [2:50]
  2. The Cat [0:54]
  3. Heather's Arrival [1:05]
  4. Home Sweet Home [1:10]
  5. Whispering Corridors [2:20]
  6. You Like the Way I Look [3:34]
  7. Going, Going, Gone [2:15]
  8. Mysteries of the Dark [0:37]
  9. Animal Magnetism [2:33]
  10. Garage Discovery [0:42]
  11. The Lure [1:21]
  12. Home, Not So Sweet Home [2:24]
  13. Voices in the Basement [4:52]
  14. Vicious Gossip [1:57]
  15. Davis Whacked [3:44]
  16. Water Rescue [1:00]
  17. Billy's Demise [4:46]
  18. Coffin Ready [2:04]
  19. Grandma Unhinged [2:20]
  20. Meet Mr. Chalmers [1:01]
  21. Finish [2:46]
  22. Not Quite Country [3:30]
  23. Just the Old Car Radio [2:05]
  24. Brass Ensemble [1:10]
  25. Rock of Ages/Brass [2:11]
  26. Rock of Ages/Organ [2:00]
  27. Wild Pump Organ [1:28]
  28. Rock of Ages/Pump Organ [1:18]

Release

The film was released in Canada in 1980 by Frontier Amusements and in America in 1982 by MPM.

It was released on VHS by Vouge Video in Canada in 1982 and Paragon Video in 1983 and again in 1986 as a big box reissue.

It was officially released on DVD by Mill Creek Entertainment in 2005, however this release was sourced from a VHS transfer, resulting in a murky video.

Reception

The film has received mixed to positive reception in recent years, with AllMovie, in their summary of the film, stating that "...Funeral Home serves up a generous supply of shudders even for non-fans of the horror genre."

Retro Slashers.net gave the film a positive review, stating that "Funeral Home is the type of slasher that relies on story and actor performances...Fruet takes a much more atmospheric route." However that the ending "...borrows too heavily from another slasher film..."

However, Bleeding Skull.com gave the film a generally negative review, stating that "While Funeral Home offers several instances of subtle creeps and makes excellent use of its rickety, small town scenery, the steamroller of dull events, bated acting, and careless plot holes cannot be stopped." and "As a result, we have a PG-rated mystery-slasher that's nice to look at, but lacks any type of personality."

Awards

Funeral Home was nominated for three Genie Awards:

External links

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