The Cremator is a two-layered experience of immense depth, let alone one of the counted films in history that can be called "ahead of its time".

With a staggering cinematography, the most memorable male character in the Czech New Wave, a neo-noir ambience, an hypnotic directing, a terrifying score, and probably a leading performance that deserves to be held as one of the best in cinema history, The Cremator is an unapologetic downward spiral to delusional madness of a man that strongly believes in the purifying power of cremation and the metaphysical advantages provided by premature death in order to stop human suffering. The presence of this intellectual personage is so imposing, that the rest of the characters around him…

If you’re a handsy repressed smug conformist with no original thoughts yet love to hear yourself talk, you’re probably a secret fascist just waiting to be given permission by an authority figure to murder. That’s just facts. You romanticize and aggrandize yourself, but like all romantics you’re just a blockhead tool waiting... longing... to be told you're important.

Director Juraj Herz was a survivor of Ravensbrück concentration camp as a child and you can see how that personal experience gave him bold proprietary permission to mock and explore this horrifying subject to such great effect.

The tying of transcendental buddhism to our protagonist’s increasingly manipulated and ideologically thirsty mind is sweet perfection. Magical thinking is most often the out for…

This is a real horror film, absurdly haunting with a stunning technical beauty, this film is one of the finest examples of Czechoslovak cinema, set at the height of one of the darkest eras in European history, showing the devastating impact of Nazism and the corrosion of the individual in the face of totalitarian systems.

The film was released in 1969, shortly after the Prague Spring and the subsequent invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces. This context is crucial to understanding the depth of Herz’s political critique, which, under the guise of a narrative about Nazism, was in fact commenting on totalitarianism in all its forms. Czechoslovakia had experienced a brief political and cultural opening under the reformist government of…

The definitive answer to the question, "What if you took David Lynch, Carnival of Souls and Angst and put them in the dreamlike, strange universe of Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad?" And it would be a psychological horror film about a well-meaning man who descends into complete madness when a Nazi convinced him he has German blood.

This is one of those films that cannot be adequately described in words. It's a magnificent and stunning piece of visual storytelling blended with a brilliant script made up of mostly monologues that may appear merely odd, but when combined with the rather experimental camerawork and sound mixing, the nightmarish cinematography that intensifies the psychological aspect of the movie and attacks all…

The more I think about it, the more I think this is a very twisted horror-comedy masterpiece of the darkest kind.

Shot like a hazy dream, it follows Rudolf Hrusinsky as the titular crematorium worker as he gives what is essentially a movie long monologue about his own twisted spirituality, actions, and slowly building madness/mania. Despite the fact that he dominates the film utterly, there's still somehow space for a surprisingly large cast of supporting characters who are much more fleshed out than seems possible. Notable are Mr. Strauss and his awkward wife, Mr. Dvorak the nervous smoker, the family of the title character, and Mr. Reinke, the Devil-as-Nazi-recruiter who matter-of-factly lures Mr. Kopfrkingl (the mad protagonist) into megalomania and…

I can't believe I have dragged my heels in watching this film after all the drum banging of how excellent it is and spoiler IT IS!!!
This is simply a uniquely stylized film that takes place in Czechoslovakia 1939 following a cremator named Karel(Roman) Kopfrkingl who is amazingly played by Rudolf Hrušínský as we follow him around this Czech town constantly espousing his thoughts and believes that reminds me in a way like Patrick Bateman but with lower intelligence but equally sinister.
I can't get over on how many levels this material works as a very dark comedy and in learning what Juraj Herz the director went through during this time for him to make such a detachment from the…