{"id":24357,"date":"2025-07-26T04:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T04:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/24357\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T04:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T04:57:09","slug":"shudder-acquires-film-adaptation-of-the-mortuary-assistant-for-2026-first-production-image-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/24357\/","title":{"rendered":"Shudder Acquires Film Adaptation of ‘The Mortuary Assistant’ for 2026; First Production Image Released"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shudder made a splash today at San Diego Comic-Con, announcing the acquisition of the upcoming film adaptation<\/a> of Brian Clarke\u2018s The Mortuary Assistant. The film is being directed by Jeremiah Kipp (Slapface), and co-written by Tracee Beebe (Dog Years) and Clarke. Starring Willa Holland (\u201cArrow\u201d) and Emmy Award Nominee Paul Sparks (\u201cBoardwalk Empire\u201d), Shudder has set a 2026 release for The Mortuary Assistant.<\/p>\n

Alongside the acquisition announcement during San Diego Comic-Con\u2019s \u201cThe Bold Voice Of Contemporary Horror\u201d panel, Shudder also revealed the first image from the film featuring Willa Holland as Rebecca Owens, the game\u2019s iconic protagonist, and was accompanied by an in-room exclusive clip. The footage offers an unsettling glimpse of Rebecca preparing to embalm a body as the mortuary\u2019s lights begin to flicker \u2013 an eerie sequence that highlights key elements from the game, including the gurney, clipboard, and the letting strip.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen Shudder indicated the clip from our film they wanted to share at Comic-Con, I was absolutely thrilled. The sequence captured everything I loved about Brian Clarke\u2019s game: the middle of the night strangeness, its elegant minimalism, the ratcheting sense of anticipatory violence, the terror lurking around the corners \u2013 and most of all the resourcefulness and vulnerability of Rebecca Owens, played so thoughtfully by Willa Holland,\u201d said director Jeremiah Kipp. \u201cWhen [the game\u2019s publisher] DreadXP approached me with this project, it resonated with me on a deep personal level \u2013 the way horror invites all your darkest demons to come out and play. Shudder and Dread handled my previous film Slapface with such generosity and care, it\u2019s a profound joy to continue the relationship with The Mortuary Assistant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long and unbelievable road with The Mortuary Assistant. I never dreamed something I poured two years of my life into alone in a tiny home office could ever grow into an experience like this. I\u2019m so grateful to Epic Pictures, DreadXP, and Shudder for giving a solo developer a chance at something so many devs dream of. Sharing your labor of love is a scary feeling but Jeremiah\u2019s skill and dedication to the source material permeated every day of filming and The Mortuary Assistant quickly evolved into our labor of love. The amazing cast, and crew have created something beautiful and I couldn\u2019t be more excited to have that same feeling of sharing The Mortuary Assistant with horror fans all over again,\u201d said the game\u2019s creator Brian Clarke.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been admirers of The Mortuary Assistant since its original release, captivated by its atmosphere and psychological intensity,\u201d said Director of Acquisitions and Productions Adam Koehler. \u201cUnder the direction of a filmmaker with a remarkable command of tone and suspense, the film expands on the game\u2019s terrifying world in a way that feels both faithful and deeply cinematic. We\u2019re beyond excited to bring this chilling experience to Shudder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story for The Mortuary Assistant involves mortician Rebecca Owens, a recent Mortician Studies grad, who on her first night at River Fields Mortuary, learns of a sinister presence that resides there. As the dead awaken and malevolent spirits bind themselves to her, Rebecca has to learn how to combat the demons (including the figurative demons of her past) and survive the night.<\/p>\n

The Mortuary Assistant was originally released in 2022 for PC via Steam<\/a>, followed by releases on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, and the Xbox One.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shudder made a splash today at San Diego Comic-Con, announcing the acquisition of the upcoming film adaptation of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[15370,15371,96,15372,2839,137,15373,1180,127,15374,15375,3121,15376,56,54,55,15377,10453],"class_list":{"0":"post-24357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-brian-clarke","9":"tag-darkstone-digital","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jeremiah-kipp","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-nintendo-switch","14":"tag-paul-sparks","15":"tag-pc","16":"tag-playstation-5","17":"tag-sdcc-2025","18":"tag-shudder","19":"tag-steam","20":"tag-the-mortuary-assistant","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-unitedkingdom","24":"tag-willa-holland","25":"tag-xbox-series"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}