It's clear almost from the very beginning that the main character (THE CREMATOR himself) is... a tad odd. He's "too good to be true." This proves to be the case, in short order: his ghoulish fascination with a wax museum's chamber of horrors gives us an unsettling glimpse beneath his carefully-constructed facade. He takes too much delight, too, in "releasing the spirits of the dead" in his so-called "temple of the dead." When it's mentioned that the Nazis are nearing the small town, he's easily (perhaps much too easily) persuaded to join derr Cause. (It's this unsettling willingness to pitch in and help in the mass murder of innocent victims that both sounds the lone false note in the otherwise sound narrative while likewise lending the proceedings an absolutely unforgettable ghoulishness. The Cremator seems too easily convinced, on the one hand; yet, it also seems to be perfectly in keeping with his all too clearly delineated schizophrenic character.) His own, personal Final Solution to the question of what to do about the other members of his family makes this one a horror film to the (rotten) core and, like Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO before it, THE CREMATOR is superbly crafted. Recommended.
Review of The Cremator
