Cries in the Night

Through the woods to Grandmother's house we go

A young woman (Lesleh Donaldson) ventures to the rural Northeast to stay with her grandmother (Kay Hawtrey) at an old home that used to be a funeral parlor. As they work on morphing it into a bed-and-breakfast, she attends to the needs of the sometimes obnoxious guests while dating a young man. But something really weird is going on, particularly in the locked basement.

Shot in the dead of summer, 1979, “Funeral Home” is also known as “Cries in the Night.” It cost $1,400,000 in Canadian dollars, which would be equal to about $5,050,000 today. I point this out because that’s more than enough money to make a competent movie of this sort. Thankfully, it is proficiently made. You buy the people and their situation as a real in the manner of “Squirm” from four years earlier.

Speaking of comparisons, it starts out very similar “Friday the 13th,” which is strange since this film started shooting five weeks before that way more popular one. However, it’s mostly a variation on “Psycho” with the classic Little Red Riding Hood setup. It’s similar to Tobe Hooper's “Eaten Alive,” but superior. “Mountaintop Motel Massacre” from three years later was obviously influenced by it.

Lesleh is winsome as the brunette protagonist, but she’s strapped with dubious apparel. The sets, décor and costumes all have a curiously aged look. Nevertheless, the flick establishes a nice mood with the rural funeral home milieu, not to mention the nearby quarry, and strangely keeps your interest, plus I like the bit with the black cat.

It runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in the Toronto area in the outskirts of Markham (house), Elora (the town and quarry), Guelph and Lakeshore Studio near the city.

GRADE: B-