- A mortician uses a cursed embalming tool to re-animate the corpse of a woman with whom he becomes obsessed after she dies.
- A lonely mortician, Eli Leonard, gets hold of a cursed aspirator that lets him bring back the dead - if he kills someone with it first. Eli sets out to get himself a wife by bringing back a recently-dead woman that he himself embalmed, but the woman's fiancee Steve realizes something is wrong.—Gislef
- Night at the Glenview Mortuary, and mortician Eli Leonard attends to the body of Lisa Caldwell in its coffin. He takes a photo of the body and then goes to his office and puts it in a photo album with photos of other corpses whose photos he's taken.
Lisa's fiancée Steve Wells come in, and Eli goes to greet him. Steve asks Eli to play some music he's selected at the funeral, and Eli goes to greet a morgue driver, Max, who is bringing in a teenager who died in a motorcycle accident. Eli notices an antique aspirator in the back of Max's truck, and Max explains that the founder of the mortuaries, Neville Morton, was using it to embalm his wife when he had a heart attack. When Max says that he has to get rid of it, Eli offers wonders why. Max explains that some of the morgue workers think Maxwell's wife was alive when he used the aspirator on her.
Eli says the aspirator is a bit of a collector's item, and Max lets him keep it. He quickly leaves, turning down Eli's offer of a sherry. Inside in his workshop, Eli prepares the body for an open-coffin funeral. He embalms the body and uses the aspirator on the corpse, while Steve comes to look for Eli.
The dead teenager comes to life, screaming, and Steve at the door sees it. He runs away in terror, while Eli stares at the resurrected teenager in horror.
At Curious Goods, Jack hosts a part of ADA, the Antique Dealers' Association. Micki serves appetizers, and Johnny leaves to visit relatives out of town. Jack tells Micki that the party is a duty of the treasurer, who he is. Melanie Sanders comes in, and Jack points her out to Micki and says that Melanie has poor taste in men. He can't stand her or her new husband, who is the police commissioner of the city.
The man, Hank, and Melanie come over. Hank jokingly asks Jack if he has any "occult adventures" to report, and talks about Steve coming into the station and saying he saw a corpse come to life. The commissioner admits that he didn't check it out and dismisses it as a joke, but Jack's interest is piqued. Once Melanie and Hank walk away, Jack tells Micki that they'll look into the story.
Eli checks the teenager, who is non-responsive but moans when Eli checks his joints. The mortician figures that Maxwell killed his wife, "charging up" the aspirator so that it could resurrect the teenager. Eli kills the teenager again rather than let his family see him back to life.
Jack and Micki talk to Steve at the furniture store where he works. He explains that Lisa died a week ago of a heart defect, and insists that he wasn't seeing things.
At the mortician, Eli tells Lisa's body that all his life he's been alone waiting for someone like her. Jack and Micki arrive, and Eli greets them in the foyer. He show them the teenager's corpse and points out that he's dead, and says that Steve imagined the body coming to life because of the trauma of Lisa's death. Jack is seemingly satisfied and leaves with Micki. As they go, Eli gives them his card in case they're even in need of the mortuary's services.
Later, the mourners gather for Lisa's funeral. Afterward, Eli closes the coffin as Steve watches, and wheels the coffin out and takes it to the cemetery. Steve places a flower on the coffin, while Eli looks on. That night in the mortuary workroom, Eli lights candles around Lisa's body and tells it that tonight his solitude would end. He removes Lisa's engagement ring and kisses her on the forehead, then uses the aspirator on her. Lisa comes to life, and Eli welcomes "his love" back.
Eli takes Lisa to his bedroom and sits her on the bed, and says that they're together as it was meant to be. Lisa is all but mindless, staring off into space, and Eli undresses her, lies her on the bed, and kisses her as she embraces him.
The next day, Steve goes to the shop and asks Micki if they checked out the mortuary. She says that Eli said what Steve saw was a post-mortem reaction. Steve doesn't believe it, and figures Eli is lying. Micki isn't so sure, and tells Steve that they saw the body and it's definitely dead. Furious, Steve tells Micki that he's going to talk to Eli himself and leaves.
The teenager's family gather to mourn the teenager.
In the bedroom above, Lisa lies beneath the sheets and stares off into space.
Eli escorts the dead teenager's parents out, and then goes up to his bedroom. Lisa speaks for the first time since her resurrection, asking where she is. She doesn't remember much except for her name, and Eli tells her that she's been sick and it's affected her memory. Eli claims that he's her husband, and says her name is Debra. He tells her to stay there when the bell rings indicating someone has come in.
Steve and Micki are examining the teenager's body, and Steve wonders what is going on. He figures that Eli killed the teenager again and goes to find to the workshop. Eli finds them, and Steve asks him why he lied to Micki. The mortician denies that anything happened, and up in the bedroom Lisa hears Steve yelling.
Steve storms into the workshop, and Eli talks to Micki privately. Meanwhile, the fiancée finds Lisa's discarded engagement ring, while out in the hallway Eli tells Mick to get Steve to leave or he'll call the police. Micki goes back in the workshop, and Steve pockets the ring without her saying and says that he's probably upset.
Outside, Steve shows Micki the ring and wonders what else Eli might be doing than just stealing from the dead bodies as they drive off.
Eli goes upstairs, and Lisa asks who was talking. As Eli gets her into the bed, Lisa says that she knows Steve's voice.
Later at the shop, Micki calls to check on Steve and discovers that he's not home. She tells Jack that she wishes she could help Steve, and Jack assures her that Steve will be okay.
Steve goes to the cemetery, digs up Lisa's coffin, and discovers that she's not inside. He drives to the mortuary and breaks in through a window, and finally goes upstairs. Steve finds Lisa lying on the bed, sleeping, and she wakes up and gasps when he touches her. Lisa recognizes him, and Eli comes in with the aspirator, and stabs Steve with it when Steve lunges at him. The mortician then assures the screaming Lisa.
The next day, Micki confirms that Steve isn't at home or has gone to work. She refuses to abandon him, and Jack says that what Eli told them makes sense. Micki remembers Steve mentioning Eli using the aspirator on the teenager, and Jack says that Eli isn't mentioned in the manifest. He offers to see if the aspirator is listened, while Micki goes to check Steve's place.
Lisa goes downstairs, looking for Steve. She makes her way to the basement and finds Eli at the crematorium furnace. Lisa asks him where Steve is, and Eli tells her not to leave his apartment. She realizes that Eli is burning Steve's body, and Eli holds her back. Eli tells Lisa that he's her wife now, and she should be grateful that she's alive. Lisa begs him to leave her alone, and Eli says that he doesn't have to be alone and won't let anything be in the way of his happiness.
Eli insists that she'll grow to love him, but Lisa runs upstairs. The mortician goes after her and grabs her, saying that he doesn't understand her. He drags her to the main room, puts her in a coffin, and closes the lid, saying it's now her home.
Micki calls Jack and says that the landlord says Steve went out the previous night and never come back. Jack has confirmed that an aspirator is listed in the manifest, and it was sold to Morton. Morton owns the mortuaries, and Micki goes to the mortuary to see if Steve is there while Jack tracks down Morton.
In his workshop, Eli wonders why Lisa turned against him. He figures that he brought Lisa back too soon so she still had her memories, and looks through his photo album. Eli picks out another woman, Linda Curry, who has been dead for two years and goes to the cemetery that night to dig her up. Micki is hiding nearby and sees Eli go, and sneaks into the mortuary.
Micki hears Lisa yelling for help inside the coffin, and releases her.
Eli digs up Linda.
Micki calls Jack and tells him that Linda is dead. Jack has discovered that Morton went through several wives through the years before he died, and figures the aspirator restores someone to life after the user has killed someone else. Micki realizes that Steve was telling the truth, and tells Jack that Eli murdered Steve. Jack says that he's heading there to help search for the aspirator.
Going to Lisa in Eli's apartment, Micki tells Lisa that she's sorry. Lisa can't imagine living without Steve. Micki takes her downstairs to the workshop, and looks for the aspirator. As she finds it, Eli comes in and knocks Micki out from behind.
Later, Eli captures Lisa, and ties her and Micki to gurneys in his workshop. He says that he's first going to wake Linda, and blames himself for not properly embalming her. Micki tries to get through to Eli, but he ignores her and tells Lisa that Linda will be thankful for him bringing her back.
Eli uses the aspirator on Linda, bringing her back to life. He figures that two years in the grave has wiped Linda's memories, and then tells Micki that if she's embalmed properly she'll be ready for him in a year. As Eli prepares to use the aspirator on Micki, the door rings. He gags Micki and goes to see who it is.
Jack sneaks to the workshop, and the lights go off before he can go in. He goes up to Eli's apartment instead.
Micki manages to reach a scalpel but drops it. She pulls her hand free of the restraints instead.
Eli is about to attack Jack from the shadows when Micki yells to Jack. He goes to find her, and meanwhile Lisa asks the dazed Linda to help them,
Jack goes to the main room looking for Micki, and Eli advances on him with the aspirator. Using a coffin as a shield, Jack knocks Eli into it.
Micki tells Linda that Eli is going to keep her alive for his own pleasure: eternal torment instead of the peace she deserves.
Jack tries to break into the now-locked workshop, and Eli attacks him. The two men struggle, and Eli kicks Jack in the groin
Micki realizes that Linda remembers who she was. She begs Linda to help her, and Linda slowly turns to her.
Jack makes his way to the basement stairs while struggling with Eli. Micki comes up and hits Eli with a beaker, knocking him down the stairs. He falls on the aspirator and it drains the life from him, and he pulls it out and falls to the furnace door. The heat sets him on fire, and he stumbles into a rack of flammable chemicals. Jack gets Mick out as the fire spreads, and Micki goes to the workroom to get Linda and Lisa. The fire has spread through the vent, setting the room on fire. The two women are holding each other and refuse to leave, and Jack gets Micki out.
Later, Micki and Jack go to the cemetery. He tells her that he recovered the aspirator, and Micki figures that loneliness killed Steve and Eli. She figures Eli and Lisa are together, and leaves with Jack after putting the engagement ring on Lisa's grave.
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