In the interests of full disclosure I will admit up front that I am a pretty big fan of Brad Dourif and love his performances in otherwise terrible films.
In addition to some questionable film choices, Dourif has recently done solid work in a number of Werner Herzog films and is probably still picking up pay checks for supplying the voice of Chucky in the Childs Play films.
He recently had a small part in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans and even managed to stand out there, against the wild eyed crazed performance by Nicholas Cage.
Brad Dourif is now playing a role that was surely made for him, a creepy funeral owner in a new thriller, Death and Cremation.
Death and Cremation is the feature film debut of Justin Steele, who in addition to directing also co-wrote the film. The film was shot on the Red One by cinematographer Akis Konstantakopoulos.
Although the plot doesn’t sound that exciting it does look interesting and the fact that Dourif stars will be enough to get me into the cinema to watch it.
Check out the official synopsis (which is lengthy and contains some spoilers) and the trailer embedded below and let us know what you think.
In Crest Point, people go about their day-to-day lives with no sense of urgency and standard stereotypes abound. There’s the high school bully with the popular girlfriend. The single mother raising her son after her husband has died. The detective who’s never cracked a big case. Then there’s STAN (Brad Dourif), a single 59 year old recluse who contributes to society by offering cremation services from the basement of his funeral home.
JAROD LEARY (Jeremy Sumpter), a bullied and fatherless 17-year-old high school outcast doesn’t even try to fit in with his high school peers. Dressed in black, with his hair and fingernails matching his wardrobe, Jarod draws attention to himself but not in a good way. He’s constantly picked on by resident jock DAVID VALENTINE (Blake Hood) and doesn’t seem to have much luck with the ladies either. Many decide he’s a freak including cool girls LINDSEY WEAVER (Kate Maher) and Courtney Taylor (Madison Eginton), and although Courtney doesn’t mind him, Lindsey has other plans.
In addition to troubles at school, home life for Jarod isn’t much better. Living out of a trailer, Jarod has to put up with nagging from his mother, MARTHA LEARY (Debbon Ayer), and her budding romance with self-righteous immigration attorney RICK WATERS (Sam Ingraffia). Sick of the badgering, Jarod finds after-school work as an apprentice at Stan’s cremation house. The two quickly develop a quirky working relationship and soon Jarod starts to see Stan as a father figure.
Not long after Jarod begins working at the cremation house people start to go missing, including Lindsey Weaver. Her parents BILL (Daniel Baldwin) and BECKY WEAVER (Staci Keanan) tell suburban detective MATT FAIRCHILD (Scott Elrod) about their recent family visit to a cremation house, and all trails lead to Stan.
Rick begins to apply pressure on Jarod to accept him as Martha’s boyfriend just as Jarod gets acclimated to life at the cremation home. When Jarod rejects a summer trip to Alabama witnessing Rick shows his ugly side. Detective Fairchild, meanwhile, steps up his investigation as more bodies amass. It’s then that Stan must decide if protecting his newfound trainee is worth killing for.
