Though she's beloved by Trekkies worldwide as Lt. Tasha Yar from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," actress Denise Crosby has decided to beam herself into a new realm of fantasy -- the horror film genre.

To make the transition, for the new DVD release of "Mortuary" (Echo Bridge Home Entertainment), Crosby worked with horror maestro Tobe Hooper, the filmmaker behind such classic chillers as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Poltergeist."

"Tobe is a riot -- I love him. He's just a legend in the genre, so I was quite honored to be part of his madness," Crosby told me in a recent @ The Movies interview.

Just because Crosby is granddaughter of legendary entertainer Bing Crosby didn't mean that she grew up watching only "Road" movies and gems like "White Christmas" and "The Bells of St. Mary's." In the mix were horror film classics like Hooper's "Massacre."

"When I was a kid, that movie scared the hell out of me," Crosby recalled. "I was a big horror fan. But especially when I was a kid, on Saturdays, Mom would give us 50 cents and drop us off on Hollywood Boulevard. There were two theaters -- the Pix and the World -- that we would go to that are no longer there. We saw horror films. They were the greatest things in the world.

"And, there were no ratings, so you would see everything -- so it completely twisted us," Crosby added, laughing. "We would watch them over and over and see them three times a day. So I remember seeing 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' as a kid. It was great fun."

In "Mortuary," Crosby plays Leslie Doyle, a widowed mother of two children (Dan Byrd and Stephanie Patton) who decides to start a new life for her children by buying a decrepit funeral home. Learning the mortuary trade as she goes along, Doyle and her children soon come to find out that there's some serious baggage left behind in the funeral parlor -- and the ground is haunted on where it sits, containing a soil that brings the dead back to life.

And they're none too happy.

Naturally, when you have a name like Hooper's attached to a film like "Mortuary," you know that you're in for a gore-fest, as zombies take center stage in the film.

But those who vividly remember "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Poltergeist" and the first television version of "Salem's Lot" know very well that Hooper is equally capable of messing with you psychologically. And he brings that foreboding atmosphere to "Mortuary."

"Tobe knows what will get you," Crosby said. "He knows what the audience responds to. And, he also has a great sense of humor. He knows how to get it all in there. I never laughed so hard -- and I was making a horror film."

Crosby said the lighter atmosphere kept her mind off the reality of what morticians do for a living -- to a point.

"You need to be removed when making a movie because you're playing a part," Crosby explained. "But I was picking up actual instruments that morticians use, which I have never seen before in my life. Tobe and the prop people were explaining to me what they were used for. It's unbelievable what they are used for. It's unbelievable what they do to a body. It makes you more freaked and go, 'This is crazy. Why don't we just put together a big pile of sticks, wrap you in a sheet and burn you?' It makes you go, 'This isn't a monster movie. This is real!'"

The Longest Yar
While Tasha Yar was killed off in the first season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the character returned in a cameo for the series' finale six years later. After that point, Crosby realized that the role of Yar took on a life of its own in "Star Trek" lore -- a lore she explored in two "Trekkies" films with documentary filmmaker Roger Nygard.

Needless to say, she's never grown tired of the role following her around. "Star Trek," after all, is a permanent part of America's culture.

"It's big," Crosby enthused. "I certainly didn't know how my role would be perceived until years later. I'm grateful that I have a part in it, and it just continues. I was lucky that Roger and I were able to make these documentaries addressing the fan world and looking at it from their perspective."

And like many performers in the "Star Trek" universe, the 49-year-old actress said she's a fan of the phenomenon as well.

"With the nature of television with repeats and reruns, new people come on board and discover the show and all of a sudden there's new generation of fans," Crosby said. "It's like I was with the classic series. I didn't get into the classic 'Trek' when it was on TV as a series in the '60s; I think I first started watching it when it first came on in syndication in LA. When I was 19, watching the show was my thing to do at 5 o'clock. Now I'm glad I'm just along for the ride."

Living With 'The Name'
Of course, while many associated Crosby with "Star Trek" (and she's since gone on to guest star on several TV shows, including "NYPD Blue," "The X-Files," "J.A.G.," "The Drew Carey Show," "Judging Amy" and "Crossing Jordan"), her last name rings true as the offspring of a famous Hollywood family.

But like George Clooney told me a few years back in an interview, a famous last name is anything but a guaranteed ticket for success in the cutthroat competitive world of Hollywood.

"I would think it works in an opposite direction in a certain sense," Crosby told me. "Just because you have a famous name, people can be even more critical. They're like, 'OK, show me. Are you here because you got a free ride or doors opened which no one else gets?' You don't, by the way. That's a total myth. That may have happened back the '40s or '50s or the '60s. Maybe you got to meet some director who happened to be over at your house.

"A lot of show business, as you know, is about all the contacts you make and who you know," she added. "But no one these days is going to offer you a show because you're related to someone."

Funny enough, Crosby and Clooney are old friends. And Crosby knew George's aunt (and Bing's co-star) Rosemary Clooney as well her son, actor Miguel Ferrer.

"We were in acting class together and for many years we, along with Miguel, studied with the same guy," Crosby recalled. "We always talked about this and making jokes all of the time. We would say, 'Crosby and Clooney are together again!'"

Crosby said she was not only close with Clooney in the old days, but his aunt, too. That closeness is something she never had with her grandfather.

"It was a little bit different in George's case than mine, because he was very close with Rosie," Crosby recalled. "I used to go over there, too, when George was living at Rosemary's house over in Beverly Hills. Rosie was great."

The reason Crosby said she enjoyed Rosemary Clooney was that she was so caring and reassuring in respect to the reported volatile relationship between Bing and his sons.

"She talked to me a lot about Bing and she was very sad that my family had such harrowing family trials and tribulations," Crosby recalled. "She just reassured me, 'Don't feel anything less than complete as a person -- because that's your family's problems.' The Crosby family is sort of legendary for all of its traumas and familial problems, even though it has this appearance of being this perfect world. It had quite a dark side to it."

Crosby was 19 when her grandfather died, and sadly, she never really got the chance to know him.

"He had moved onto his second wife and had another new, young family and he pretty much disowned his first family," Crosby said.

But Crosby is all right with the alienation. After all, it wasn't of her doing.

"It's no fault of mine; it's just who he was with his first family -- the boys. My grandmother, Dixie Lee, died before I was even born," Crosby said. "I think once Bing had his second wife, Kathryn, and had three more kids and he was much older at that point, he just sort of said, 'I can't deal with this anymore.' He was able to close off that way. That's too bad, that he never took it upon himself to get to know his grandchildren."

Despite the fact that she never knew him, Crosby said she is still proud of Bing's accomplishments.

"You cannot deny the man's talent and his influence on popular music," Crosby said. "Life is full of contradictions, and this is the perfect example. Not everything is neatly tied together, and it's not a happy ending and that's kind of how life is.

"The thing about him was that he was an extraordinary talent and influenced (singers) from Sinatra down the line -- and he basically built Paramount Studios. He and Bob Hope with those ('Road') movies put that studio on the map," she added. "His laconic kind-of style, his mellowness, was wonderful."

If anything, Crosby wishes Bing was still around, even if she only had a chance to ask a simple question.

"Without having him here to defend himself, I know enough about life. Everybody tells a story through their own eyes and experiences," Crosby said. "I'm just sorry that he's not around that I can go, "So, what were you thinking? I know the boys were hard when Dixie died, but here I am. Here are my brothers and sisters and cousins. We're cool. So, let's get glass of orange juice, Grandpa, and talk about old Hollywood, shall we?' That's sad that we're not able to do that."