"Did you ever think when a hearse drives by, that some day you are going to die?" This is the first sentence in the lyrics of the theme song for this film. Subtle, isn't it? Hell no, it's not, and subtlety is probably the very last thing you should expect to see in this grotesquely absurd and downright demented gore-comedy. He isn't mentioned anywhere in the credits, but the crazed sense of humor, the excessive display of (poor & cheesy) gore, the music and the overall amateurish low-budget production values make this feel like a genuine Herschell Gordon-Lewis movie! Undoubtedly he, The Godfather of Gore, influenced many young filmmakers at that time and "The Undertaker and his Pals" is a fine example to prove this statement. It's a tasteless and simultaneously delicious story about the pact between the undertaker and two restaurant owners residing in the same town. They ride out together at night to barbarically slaughter young girls, and while the undertaker makes big money arranging the funeral service, the victims (or at least parts of them) end up on the special menus board of his pals the restaurant owners. The film is as simplistic as it is ingenious, and it's the ideal excuse for an hour of brainless and blood-soaked entertainment. The character of the greedy undertaker is the funniest of them all and, as usual, the investigating cop is too ignorant to figure out the situation. The gags themselves aren't hilarious, but the poor execution is. If H.G. Lewis didn't make this film himself, I'm sure he will have enjoyed watching it. And so did I.
Review of The Undertaker and His Pals
