I saw "Death and Cremation" on the new release wall, and was ready to pass it by when I noticed that it starred Brad Dourif, and that is always enough to get me interested. Aside from being one of those guys who nobody else recognizes by name, which makes me feel superior whenever the person I'm talking to says "who?", Brad Dourif is an amazing actor whom I am always incredibly entertained by. And it's not like he hasn't been in big stuff. Dude was only the voice of Chucky in the "Child's Play" series, Doc Cochran in the acclaimed HBO series "Deadwood" and Grima Wormtongue in "Lord of The Rings," among other trite offerings. No big deal, right?
What I like about Brad is that he is without a doubt, among the creepiest, scariest, most intimidating actors I can think of. When I imagine a textbook "scary" character, it's generally one of three people: Christopher Walken, Ian McShane, or Brad Dourif. But Chris and Ian are more funny or badass, respectively. What's awesome about Brad is that he seems to do it without really even having to try. I mean, I'm sure the dude's a nice guy, but it's almost like they just found some crazy person on a street corner trying to eat a pigeon and stuck him in front of a camera. He's naturalistic as hell. And I can see him eating a pigeon.
Just look at him. That's a pigeon eater, my friends.
"Death and Cremation" was not much of a slasher film, although it does center around a serial killer. And it also wasn't much of a "horror" movie in the terms that genre usually implies. By that I mean that there were no scares at all. And I'm not saying that there were no scares because they fell flat, I'm saying there really were no scares at all. You won't jump at anything in this movie, because there are literally no jumps. In that way, if you are going in expecting or hoping that it will trying to frighten you with loud bangs or have blood and guts by the truckload, you shall probably walk away from "Death and Cremation" thinking it was boring and maybe even pretentious at times.
What you need to do is go into it like you're watching a drama or something. "Death and Cremation" is a horror film the same way "Donnie Darko" is. It may have creepy imagery in it and a dark tone, but you would never call it scary. Or perhaps a better comparison would be "American Psycho," not in terms of plot or subject matter, but in terms of how it treats the "scary" stuff.
The thing about movies like "American Psycho" and "Death and Cremation" is that the deaths, while a huge part of the movie, really weren't the point of it. It was the lead in to the deaths. In horror movies like "Friday the 13th," the deaths were the only reason the movie was there. It existed to kill teenagers. The payoff was the gore, and the lead in was just to get you on edge for the gore. And you know what? "Friday the 13th" did that quite well, as one would expect from a movie that helped create an entire genre. That's how it rolls.
With "Death and Cremation," yeah, the murders are a huge factor, and the lead in is at the end to get you on edge for the gore, but since the film follows the murderers instead of the victims, we get a different perspective and flavor to the film. Since we are in their heads, the film becomes more of a question as to why they are doing the things they do instead of just waiting for them to do it again.
Since we are in their viewpoint, we start sympathizing with the killers instinctively. Someone who would normally be an antagonist is now a protagonist. Whether or not we are aware of it, looking at a villain from the viewpoint usually reserved for a more heroic figure can be quite unnerving. That's why I find horror movies like this and "American Psycho" to be more interesting to watch than straight up slasher flicks.
Am I making any sense whatsoever?
That being said, my thoughts on "Death and Cremation" were somewhat mixed. First, the things I liked about it. I thought Brad Dourif was as always amazing. He gives this performance that just screams that this character has about a thousand things that he wants to scream at the top of his lungs at any moment, but he keeps them locked up. The intensity boiling underneath him is almost agonizing to watch, because you have no idea what he wants to do or is capable of doing to someone at any given moment. He reminds me a bit of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" in that regard. Talk about a string ready to snap any time.
The other actors also do fine jobs, including Jeremy Sumpter of the "Friday Night Lights" series and the outstanding Bill Paxton feature "Frailty." Jeremy does a good job of playing a punk kid who is bullied one time too many, but it's pretty obvious he has some issues that needed working out beforehand. I'm not defending the kids who picked on him and beat the crap out of him constantly, but from Jeremy's performance, this kid was probably not too stable to begin with.
Pro-tip: Don't beat up the kid who seems most likely to snap and cave your head in with a bowling ball.
The other big notable thing about "Death and Cremation" was the one absolutely brutal scene when Brad kills one of his victims. There were two death scenes involving women that were very messed up, but one involving an alley just took the cake. Now, it's not that it's overly graphic, because it's not. In terms of gore, it's maybe a 4 out of 10. But in the way it's shot, the way it's executed, and the thought...the horrifying thought of what just happened to that girl's head and face...it's nauseating. It sickened me more than I think I've been affected by a movie in recent memory. The only other scenes in movies that I can remember disturbing me on such a base level was the "Lust" sin in "Se7en," the "Singin' In The Rain" bit from "A Clockwork Orange," and the scene were the shark eats Quint in "Jaws."
With scenes like that, I couldn't help continuing to think about them. And it was the thought that made it worse. I just sat back, hand to my mouth saying "Dude...dude, what the f-...oh man. That's messed up. Dude..." That's all I could bring myself to say. The other deaths were honestly pretty weak, especially compared to that. And trust me, you'll know it when you get there.
You may have read that and thought that is a reason you would never watch this film. I would actually say that scene is a point in its favor. That means the movie is doing its job.
This brings us to the problems with "Death and Cremation." Among the few gripes I had was the fact that honestly, you never really got to know Brad Dourif's character enough to get a handle on why he was doing what he was doing. Really, the only explanation given is that he had a messed up childhood and his dad beat him. I mean, that's all well and good, but is that really all you can give me for the reason that he goes out and kills anyone he deems a bully? Life tends to be more complicated than that. All we get is one little fragmented dream sequence flashback that lasts maybe 30 seconds, and that's the entire backstory for this character? Lame.
The second problem I had is that the scenes when the bullies are beating up Jeremy Sumpter range from effective to laughably staged. An extended one-take shot scene of Jeremy getting the snot kicked out of him in the bathroom is mostly made up of the bullies just faffing about and not really doing anything substantial or even very threatening to him (oh no! pouring beer on me!), yet he's squirming on the floor like they're spraying pepper spray up his nose. And then they give him a rather convincing looking punch in the face that I'm not even 100% sure wasn't real, and all I could think was "See? THAT looked good. What's up with the rest of this crap?"
And the ending? Well, that's kind of up in the air. I won't spoil it for you on the off chance you want to see it, but suffice to say it has its problems. Yet at the same time, it works when you think about it. It's not like murder is easy, you know.
It most certainly is, my friend!
THE BOTTOM LINE - "Death and Cremation" is worth a look if you like Brad Dourif. Absolutely. If you don't know who that is, shame on you, but this could be a decent introduction. Definitely for a niche audience who like their horror a bit more on the thematic side rather than splatter-packed, but the later could enjoy it for a horror-tinged drama. And hey! It has a Baldwin in it! (It's the one who did a lot of drugs) Recommended.
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