It's hard to believe that the man who directed films such as Polergeist has had such a hit and miss career. For every Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there is a Mangler. For every Funhouse, there's a Crocodile. His latest movie, Mortuary (which just aired on Sci Fi, and hits DVD on April 18th.) isn't exactly a miss, but it's not a hit either.

The movie tells the tale of the Boyle family (which includes Denise Crosby from Pet Cemetary and Dan Byrd from the recent remake of The Hills Have Eyes), who move into an house in Arkham, Mass. Yes, this movie is heavily influenced by HP Lovecraft. That out of the way, the home is also a Mortuary, and of course, since it's a Mortuary in Arkham, only bad can come outt of it.

Anyways, the son get's a job at a diner, and makes some friends (including Alexandra Adi from Slap Her, She's French and Tequila Body Shots, and Rocky Marquette from Shallow Ground). They tell him about the legend of Bobby Fowler, a strange boy who murdered his parents at age eight and is rumored to live in the cemetary, which conveniently, is in the back yard of our Teenage hero's house.

Needless to say, it turns out that Bobby Fowler is real (and a bizzare, uneven mix of HP Lovecraft, the monster from Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak (which was inspired by a Lovecraft story) and Lucio Fulci's House By The Cemetary). Oh, and there's a strange fungus that possesses people, and brings the dead back to life. As well as a Lovecraftian creature who controls the fungus/slime. Oh, and the zombies can only be killed by salt. So, does it work?

Well, yes and no. On the plus side, Crosby, Byrd, and Marquette do good jobs at their roles. The make up effects are well done, and the Lovecraftian overtones and references don't hurt a bit at all. However, there are problems. The first being the rather lame CGI effects. Another problem is that the other performances are uneven. The biggest problem however, is the general tone. At one minute, it seems like the movie wants to be a creepy gothic horror story and tribute to Lovecraft, then in the next minute, it wants to be a tongue in cheek romp. The two style generally don't work, and the attempts at humor are pretty lousy. Plus, don't expect a gorefest, Sure, there's a torn out heat, black fungus vomit, and some blood, but no major gore. Then again, several of Hooper's films aren't that gory (or even gory at all) to begin with.

All in all, the best way to describe Mortuary would have to be uneven. I'll give it 5/10, since it's definately different, and it's never boring. However, it's not really good either, though it's not Hooper's worst movie.