Christopher Walken plays a man whose family has run a funeral home for generations, and the town has stopped dying. That is the setup for Back in Black, a dark comedy about a mortician who is losing his business because nobody is passing away. The movie stars Walken as Clyde Mortimer, an undertaker who runs Mortimer’s Family Funeral Home with his cheerful wife Autumn and their orphaned granddaughter Sam. Sam, played by Ella Ballentine, has a plan to fix the problem — she starts loosening screws around town, causing accidents that kill people.
Walken’s delivery is the engine of the film. He says “Shut up” with such force that it lands as a declaration of affection. The review describes his performance as funny in its fury, and notes that he is especially upset about how the pandemic should have been a boom time for morticians — until social distancing killed the in-person gatherings that drive the death business. Sam, who does not speak, watches her grandfather rant and then acts, using a screwdriver to sabotage screws in grocery stores, construction sites and motel swimming pools.
The Cozy Crime Twist
The film borrows its structure from Dexter, the TV show about a serial killer who targets other killers. But Back in Black does not offer the same comfort zone. Sam kills whoever is convenient, and that means good people will die. The review uses the example of Dale, a grocery store manager who is kind to his employees and customers, and who gets locked in a walk-in freezer by a sabotaged lock. The audience has no reason to think he had it coming, and the film does not soften the moment. Dale realizes he is trapped and crashes out as he understands he is going to die.
A Silent Star
Ballentine’s performance is built entirely on expression. She uses a range of faces — excitement, doubt, consternation, pleasure — to show Sam’s inner life without words. The review compares her to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, two actors known for silent brilliance. Sam listens lovingly to Clyde’s rants and drinks wine with her grandmother before embalming. She also meets Kevin, a nephew of the deceased, and Charlotte, a raven-haired beauty who offers to help the Mortimers by putting makeup on the dead.
The review argues that Ballentine is equally enchanting opposite the whole cast, whether she is taking in Kevin’s awkward requests, the surly accusations of Deputy Donna or the silky seduction of Charlotte. Sam’s relationship with her grandparents is the main story, with the budding romances that emerge from the funeral of the first murder victim. Walken repeatedly tells her to shut up, and the review says it comes across as a playful “I see you,” not a denouncement or diminishment of his onscreen daughter.
Dark Comedy, Light Tone
Back in Black does not treat murder as a joke. The review contrasts it with Bryan Fuller’s Pushing Daisies, a show that used colorful hues and playful production design to soften mysterious deaths. Here, the deaths are real and grim. The audience laughs and feels shock at the same time, and the film challenges viewers to hold both reactions together.
The movie is not dark or dry like Stoker or Dexter. It keeps the tone of a small-town feel-good movie, which makes every kill feel fresh. The review calls it delightfully odd, unapologetically macabre, and a hell of a good time.
A Movie Worth Watching
The film was reviewed out of the Toronto International Film Festival. Its theatrical release date is TBD.
The review, written by Kristy Puchko, the Entertainment Editor at Mashable, argues that the collision of wicked and nice makes the movie work. Sam is a killer with familial motivations, like Mia Wasikowska in Park Chan-wook’s Stoker. But Back in Black refuses the comfort of a Dexter-style anti-hero. Good people will die, and the film does not apologize for it.
The comparison to Dexter is useful because it shows what Back in Black is not. Dexter focused his homicidal tendencies toward other killers, creating an anti-hero the audience could root for. Back in Black offers no such compromise. Sam kills whoever is convenient, and the film does not invite the audience to root for her even as it finds her actions shocking and appalling.
The review’s central argument is that this collision of wicked and nice makes for a movie that is delightfully odd, unapologetically macabre, and a hell of a good time. That is the honest reaction to this story, and it is the one worth holding onto.
Key Facts
– Director: Ron Murphy, who also wrote the script with Nick Torokvei
– Lead: Christopher Walken as Clyde Mortimer
– Granddaughter: Ella Ballentine as Sam
– Town deputy: Louise Lambert as Deputy Donna
– Sheriff: Tony Nappo
– First victim’s manager: Stuart Hughes as Dale
– Festival: Reviewed out of the Toronto International Film Festival
– Release date: TBD
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