Review of Death and Cremation (2010) by Todd S — 27 Jul 2012

From Peter Pan to a bullied outcast, Jeremy Sumpter continues to show his tremendous versatility as an actor in Death & Cremation. This cast was the whole reason I wanted to see this movie, but unfortunately it falls well short of my expectations.

Stanley (Brad Dourif) is a loner and a serial killer who runs the perfect business for getting rid of evidence, a crematorium. He's a lonely man and nothing exciting happens to him until a loner named Jared (Sumpter) starts working for him.

This film tries very hard to be something it's not and that's creepy. Death & Cremation isn't about blood and gore, but rather moves very slowly and methodically in order to try and freak us out, but sadly it doesn't.

Stanley and Jared aren't guys you're going to be scared of, more like two guys you'd like to hang out with and that's the problem. The audience can relate to them and isn't scared of them at all.

That being the case this film should have gone the other way and been extremely bloody and disturbing, but it's not that either. The story is bland and the movie is slow, but the cast is amazing. Brad Dourif plays a psychopath better than anyone and it really wouldn't surprise me if he is in fact a serial killer.

Here he's teamed with one of my absolute favorite actors, who is also superb, but they're giving their all in a slow, sloppy film, that just doesn't cut it.