As long as there have been video games, there has also been opportunists who’ve seen the prospect of adapting those winding stories into motion pictures or television shows.
And … why not? Like any good franchise or established and successful intellectual property, there’s already an audience who might be easily wooed to make a trip to the cineplex to see the latest and greatest video sensation brought to life on the silver screen. In fact, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie damn near created a zeitgeist all of its own, earning a mind-bobbling $1.36 billion in ticket sales globally while also laying down an all-new (gold) yellow brick road in merchandising tie-ins. Granted, not every attempt has broken the bank to that astonishing level; but the potential is there if storytellers can produce something those initial players are willing to see expanded. Who can blame a studio – Hollywood or independent – from taking a stab at greatness?
Of course, none of this happens without intrinsic risks. For example, all of the bells and whistles that ignite a player’s imagination in the game may not exactly translate into ‘peak cinema,’ and I’m thinking that might be the case herein with 2026’s The Mortuary Assistant. A first-person experience created by DarkStone Digital, the game pits players against the dark forces surrounding a haunted mortuary where the undead and demonic forces are always on the watch for a new soul to possess … namely you! In pursuit of a happy ending, you must identify the corpses possessed and complete a kinda/sorta exorcism in order to get out alive; and the film from director Jeremiah Kipp follows the same basic narrative structure, pairing up watchers with the central Rebecca Owens in theatrical format.
Still, what starts out rather promising ends up being downright tiresome and befuddling for a fair number of reasons, the single greatest of which is the script from Tracee Beebe and Brian Clarke relies far too heavily on its unreliable narrator.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Follows Rebecca Owens, a mortuary science graduate who takes a night job at River Fields Mortuary. What begins as a routine job soon turns sinister as she faces terrifying supernatural forces.”
Meet Rebecca Owens (played by Willa Holland). A year into her sobriety, she’s finally found herself in a good, livable place. Though her sponsor, Kelly (Keena Ferguson Fraiser), is apt to remind the young woman how quickly addicts are prone to relapse, she’s also supportive to the fact that Becca seems to be on the right track. Indeed, she’s completed an internship at a local mortuary under the guidance of Raymond Delver; so, presumably, things are finally looking up for the lady.
However, what started as a career simply working with the dead turns out to be something vastly more complicated. In the scope of a single evening, Becca discovers that Raymond and the mortuary are actually a place of increased spectral activity, the likes of which represents a battle between the forces of good and evil. Secretly, the man has mastered the high art of combatting these dark lords; and he’s quietly been preparing for Becca to join him in waging the conflict against the underworld. Before the night is over, she’ll not only grapple with a pervasive spirit but also learn a thing about herself and the tragedy of her youth that ties her directly to the conquest in more ways than one.
Now, I’ll grant anyone reading that the premise for both Assistant’s game and film sounds impressive. Horror films especially get great mileage out of pitting the right and the wrong against one another, and director Kipp similarly stages the set-up for his chilling affair with great poise. Essentially, the first thirty minutes to Assistant is almost entirely atmosphere and foundation building; and it’s definitely good enough to make viewers believe they’re in for something special. However, once Becca exits her tutorial stage and enters discovery, Assistant – as a film – begins to fall apart with each successive development.
This isn’t to say that the resulting film isn’t spooky in any regard because the jump scares and constant creepiness (especially of the morgue which keeps losing power in the midst of a storm outside) are effective. The problems entirely surround the fact that Becca’s own existence is plagued repeatedly by visions of increasingly questionable veracity. Is that stiff dead, or is it not? Did she just cut herself, or was that only her imagination? Is her long-dead father walking around the dark interiors, or is that, too, something her wayward mind is manufacturing? While we’re shown that the dead aren’t exactly deceased, she’s busy doing other stuff tied to either the voices in her head or the hallucinations that – ahem – may or may not be taking place. (Again, some are, but it’s strongly suggested that many aren’t.) Distinguishing between Fantasy and reality becomes damn near impossible, and Assistant seems complacent staying in that broken gear. All the way up until the closing scene, the audience questions everything from Becca’s point of view; and – sorry, folks – that’s just so way to win over those of us who haven’t played the game.
Unfortunately, I’m adding Assistant to that growing number of games-to-films that squander an otherwise fabulous proposition on faulty storytelling. The inability to distinguish authenticity had me downright hating the second half, wasting an interesting performance from Holland; and I suspect those who stumble into this one without knowledge of the game might feel much the same.
The Mortuary Assistant (2026) was produced by Creativity Capital, Dread, DreadXP, Epic Pictures, and Traverse Media. A quick search of Google.com indicates that the picture will be available in a limited theatrical run beginning on February 13, 2026, with a streaming launch to follow on Shudder effective March 27, 2026. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the film offers a high degree of practical, in-camera trickery with a respectable number of jump scares: all of it both looks and sounds exceptional. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? As I viewed this one via streaming, there were no special features under consideration.
Alas … this one is Hard To Recommend, though it might offer cursory appeals to established fans of the intellectual property.
Bluntly, there may very well be an audience for The Mortuary Assistant (2026); but, alas, I can’t imagine it spreading all that much beyond the crowd who’ve come to both know and love the world and premise of the 2022 video game that serves as its inspiration. My trouble with it – coming aboard entirely uninitiated with the project – is that the central story lacks any compelling hook with which to draw me in. While the idea of playing some game and learning how all of these pieces go hand-in-hand toward some resolution, the flick is a confusing and meandering mishmash of events all evolving from the frayed, hallucinogenic existence of an unreliable narrator. As such, I felt torn between reality and Fantasy far too much of the time, with the young hero’s struggle being completely lost in translation.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Epic Pictures provided me with complimentary streaming access to The Mortuary Assistant (2026) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
And … why not? Like any good franchise or established and successful intellectual property, there’s already an audience who might be easily wooed to make a trip to the cineplex to see the latest and greatest video sensation brought to life on the silver screen. In fact, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie damn near created a zeitgeist all of its own, earning a mind-bobbling $1.36 billion in ticket sales globally while also laying down an all-new (gold) yellow brick road in merchandising tie-ins. Granted, not every attempt has broken the bank to that astonishing level; but the potential is there if storytellers can produce something those initial players are willing to see expanded. Who can blame a studio – Hollywood or independent – from taking a stab at greatness?
Of course, none of this happens without intrinsic risks. For example, all of the bells and whistles that ignite a player’s imagination in the game may not exactly translate into ‘peak cinema,’ and I’m thinking that might be the case herein with 2026’s The Mortuary Assistant. A first-person experience created by DarkStone Digital, the game pits players against the dark forces surrounding a haunted mortuary where the undead and demonic forces are always on the watch for a new soul to possess … namely you! In pursuit of a happy ending, you must identify the corpses possessed and complete a kinda/sorta exorcism in order to get out alive; and the film from director Jeremiah Kipp follows the same basic narrative structure, pairing up watchers with the central Rebecca Owens in theatrical format.
Still, what starts out rather promising ends up being downright tiresome and befuddling for a fair number of reasons, the single greatest of which is the script from Tracee Beebe and Brian Clarke relies far too heavily on its unreliable narrator.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Follows Rebecca Owens, a mortuary science graduate who takes a night job at River Fields Mortuary. What begins as a routine job soon turns sinister as she faces terrifying supernatural forces.”
Meet Rebecca Owens (played by Willa Holland). A year into her sobriety, she’s finally found herself in a good, livable place. Though her sponsor, Kelly (Keena Ferguson Fraiser), is apt to remind the young woman how quickly addicts are prone to relapse, she’s also supportive to the fact that Becca seems to be on the right track. Indeed, she’s completed an internship at a local mortuary under the guidance of Raymond Delver; so, presumably, things are finally looking up for the lady.
However, what started as a career simply working with the dead turns out to be something vastly more complicated. In the scope of a single evening, Becca discovers that Raymond and the mortuary are actually a place of increased spectral activity, the likes of which represents a battle between the forces of good and evil. Secretly, the man has mastered the high art of combatting these dark lords; and he’s quietly been preparing for Becca to join him in waging the conflict against the underworld. Before the night is over, she’ll not only grapple with a pervasive spirit but also learn a thing about herself and the tragedy of her youth that ties her directly to the conquest in more ways than one.
Now, I’ll grant anyone reading that the premise for both Assistant’s game and film sounds impressive. Horror films especially get great mileage out of pitting the right and the wrong against one another, and director Kipp similarly stages the set-up for his chilling affair with great poise. Essentially, the first thirty minutes to Assistant is almost entirely atmosphere and foundation building; and it’s definitely good enough to make viewers believe they’re in for something special. However, once Becca exits her tutorial stage and enters discovery, Assistant – as a film – begins to fall apart with each successive development.
This isn’t to say that the resulting film isn’t spooky in any regard because the jump scares and constant creepiness (especially of the morgue which keeps losing power in the midst of a storm outside) are effective. The problems entirely surround the fact that Becca’s own existence is plagued repeatedly by visions of increasingly questionable veracity. Is that stiff dead, or is it not? Did she just cut herself, or was that only her imagination? Is her long-dead father walking around the dark interiors, or is that, too, something her wayward mind is manufacturing? While we’re shown that the dead aren’t exactly deceased, she’s busy doing other stuff tied to either the voices in her head or the hallucinations that – ahem – may or may not be taking place. (Again, some are, but it’s strongly suggested that many aren’t.) Distinguishing between Fantasy and reality becomes damn near impossible, and Assistant seems complacent staying in that broken gear. All the way up until the closing scene, the audience questions everything from Becca’s point of view; and – sorry, folks – that’s just so way to win over those of us who haven’t played the game.
Unfortunately, I’m adding Assistant to that growing number of games-to-films that squander an otherwise fabulous proposition on faulty storytelling. The inability to distinguish authenticity had me downright hating the second half, wasting an interesting performance from Holland; and I suspect those who stumble into this one without knowledge of the game might feel much the same.
The Mortuary Assistant (2026) was produced by Creativity Capital, Dread, DreadXP, Epic Pictures, and Traverse Media. A quick search of Google.com indicates that the picture will be available in a limited theatrical run beginning on February 13, 2026, with a streaming launch to follow on Shudder effective March 27, 2026. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the film offers a high degree of practical, in-camera trickery with a respectable number of jump scares: all of it both looks and sounds exceptional. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? As I viewed this one via streaming, there were no special features under consideration.
Alas … this one is Hard To Recommend, though it might offer cursory appeals to established fans of the intellectual property.
Bluntly, there may very well be an audience for The Mortuary Assistant (2026); but, alas, I can’t imagine it spreading all that much beyond the crowd who’ve come to both know and love the world and premise of the 2022 video game that serves as its inspiration. My trouble with it – coming aboard entirely uninitiated with the project – is that the central story lacks any compelling hook with which to draw me in. While the idea of playing some game and learning how all of these pieces go hand-in-hand toward some resolution, the flick is a confusing and meandering mishmash of events all evolving from the frayed, hallucinogenic existence of an unreliable narrator. As such, I felt torn between reality and Fantasy far too much of the time, with the young hero’s struggle being completely lost in translation.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Epic Pictures provided me with complimentary streaming access to The Mortuary Assistant (2026) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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