The Cremator (Spalovac mrtvol)

  • Rated Not Rated
  • 1hr 35m

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Movie Info & Cast

Director:

Juraj Herz

Writer:

Ladislav Fuks

Runtime:

1hr 35m

Synopsis

Set in Central Europe during World War II, a demented cremator believes cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.

Cast

  • Rudolf Hrusínský
  • Vlasta Chramostová
  • Jana Stehnová
  • Milos Vognic
  • Zora Bozinová
  • Ilja Prachar
  • Eduard Kohout
  • Jirí Menzel
  • Míla Myslíková
  • Vladimír Mensík

Letterboxd User Reviews

4.3
76.9K
57.5K
28.6K
RATINGS 1.8K FANS
4.3
  • Jul 12, 2014

    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…

    1.6K Likes
    Edgar Cochran ✝️🍋
    Edgar Cochran ✝️🍋
    Mar 28, 2022

    A concentration camp survivor reworks the horrifying wide-angle, POV subjectivity of something like Peeping Tom to fit the snarling, darkly comic, absurdly disturbing headspace of a compulsive, obsessive cremator who views his craft as an art, gradually morphs into a tool…

    1.4K Likes
    Josh Lewis
    Josh Lewis
    Oct 23, 2020

    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…

    1.3K Likes
    Joshua Dysart
    Joshua Dysart
  •
    Oct 13, 2024

    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…

    557 Likes
    noen
    noen
    Jun 24, 2022

    Probably the best movie I've ever seen made by someone other than Rainer Werner Fassbinder about how little effort it takes to push the average man from their socialized notions of patriarchal authority and even mild economic stability into the realm of outright fascism.…

    539 Likes
    Jake Cole
    Jake Cole
    May 15, 2022

    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…

    443 Likes
    Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine
    Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine
  •
    Oct 26, 2026

    Set in 1930’s Prague, cremator Karel Kopfrkingl is calmly becoming undone. He’s been intensely reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead.  His thoughts have somehow wildly misunderstood what Buddhist liberation by death means. He believes his flames mean freedom and that he is…

    165 Likes
    David Whitman
    David Whitman
    Oct 3, 2013

    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…

    348 Likes
    Sally Jane Black
    Sally Jane Black
    Jun 5, 2022

    “I’ll save them all. The whole world” Holocaust survivor Juraj Herz’s fiercely creepy The Cremator is a disorienting character study closely following a Czech cremator’s seduction into Nazism; carefully linking his initially unassuming behaviours to his eventual delirium…

    345 Likes
    braden
    braden

Queue Community Reviews

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Top Reviews
  • CvptvinHowdy
    CvptvinHowdy liked
    The Cremator

    Why do I always find humor even in disturbing films like this? This guy kept touching everyone's neck and combing their hair haha. I like the couple that kept leaving because the wife was too dramatic. In all seriousness though, this was actually pretty disturbing, I'd say, and my favorite scene…

    1Y
    Sam
    Sam loved
    The Cremator

    this movie didn’t go in the direction that i thought it would have gone, although i didn’t read the description beforehand. the POV shots were incredible and this film was riddled with symbolism that nobody would guess would end up the way that it does.

    2Y
    LivinginaHC
    LivinginaHC liked
    The Cremator

    I questioned if this was really a horror movie but is there anything scarier than Nazis? I also questioned if it was a comedy, but is there anything dumber than a Nazi?

    11M
  • saphena magna
    saphena magna loved
    The Cremator

    He truly was a family man

    11M
    melek
    melek liked
    The Cremator

    3/5

    10M
    Vojtěch Mikl
    Vojtěch Mikl loved
    The Cremator

    8.9

    2Y

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long is The Cremator (Spalovac mrtvol)?
The movie is 1hr 35min long.
What's The Cremator (Spalovac mrtvol) about?
Set in Central Europe during World War II, a demented cremator believes cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.
Who's the cast of The Cremator (Spalovac mrtvol)?
  • Rudolf Hrusínský as Kopfrkingl
  • Vlasta Chramostová as Lakmé, Dagmar
  • Jana Stehnová as Zina
  • Milos Vognic as Mili
  • Zora Bozinová as Reinkeová
  • Ilja Prachar as Walter Reinke
  • Eduard Kohout as Bettleheim
  • Jirí Menzel as Dvorák
  • Míla Myslíková as Hloupá zena
  • Vladimír Mensík as Manzel hloupé zeny
Who's the director behind The Cremator (Spalovac mrtvol)?
Juraj Herz directed The Cremator (Spalovac mrtvol).