“Funeral Home”, also called, ‘Cries in the Night’ is a Canadian horror film that superbly blends horror and thrill from the Canadian Director William Fruet. Centered on the ominously quiet funeral home of a small town, the film probes into top ideas of a mystery compounded by suspense.
Synopsis
The story revolves around Heather, a little girl who visits her grandmother’s house which is actually a former funeral home. She is spending time with her grandmother with the purpose of changing the home into an inn. Guests start to vanish, guests start showing up dead, and through the course of the story, Heather reveals the hideous things that are within the house.
Cast & Crew
- Director: William Fruet
- Writer: Ida Nelson
- Cast:
- Lesleh Donaldson as Heather
- Kay Hawtrey as Grandma Maude Chalmers
- Barry Morse as Mr. Davis
- Dean Garbett as Rick
- Stephen E. Miller as Billy Hibbs
IMDb Ratings
According to user reviews on IMDb, the movie scores a rating of 5.1 out of 10.
Personal Insights
Definitely, a horror classic offering a strong atmosphere and a raised level of tension, ‘Funeral Home’ slowly reveals the drama. It is interesting to boil down to the performance of Lesleh Donaldson as Heather where she drifts from awkwardness to resolve. Its only weakness is the pace of the film but then again it is the mystery that keeps peeling through the layers.
Cultural Significance
In Canadian early 1980s’ cinema context, “Funeral Home,” being a representative of this era’s horror, shares its stylistic and thematic features. It is the studied combination of a small medium-hand format and trifling small-town drama with common fear of something”s not very right which helps it make the crowd convincing arguments when looking at horror films.