The Cremator (Czech: Spalovač mrtvol) is a 1969 Czechoslovak dark comedy horror film directed by Juraj Herz, based on a novel by Ladislav Fuks.

[5] The film takes place against the backdrop of the political radicalization of Europe during the 1930s, more specifically the demise of the golden era of the First Czechoslovak Republic and the installation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under Nazi Germany in 1939.

Karel takes his wife and children on visits to a carnival (in particular a wax museum displaying gruesome murders, severed heads and body parts) and to a boxing match, but it remains clear that he is aloof and cut off from them.

At a Christmas Eve dinner, Karel openly mentions his new-found respect for the Nazi party and the Third Reich, which begins to worry his wife.

Kopfrkingl delivers a eulogy for his wife, but it quickly descends into a Hitler-influenced mania about the importance of death in the new world order that the Führer is creating.

The crematorium briefly appears as a Tibetan monastery and the monk throws open the gates to reveal the Nazi commanders parked outside.

These shooting locations and description of the actor's feelings while behind the scenes can be heard described by Herz himself in the documentary This Way to the Cooling Chambers which he made for the German release of The Cremator.

[15] Music composer Zdenek Liska bet a box of champagne to the cameraman Stanislav Milota that the film would not be successful or stick to the script.

She recalled a humorous story where her husband Stanislav Milota (film cinematographer) prophetically answered her question about how they want to shoot the scene with Kopfrkingl hanging her from the noose in the bathroom.

He had no idea what truth he had just prophesied as Vlasta Chramostová was not allowed to act after August 1968 and Stanislav Milota also ended his career in Czech film.

He used the fisheye lens to distort Rudolf Hrušínský and make his appearance seem more grotesque (also funnily enough the credits to this film feature a literal "fish eye").

Grotesque shots of dead bodies with syphilis and paintings of nude women are spliced into the middle of conversations at odd points to disorient the viewer and make them feel uncomfortable.

This effect is used in the film where the Jewish singing at the ceremony and Kopfrkingl's expression is halted by Reinke whispering evil things about the Jews in his ear and prodding him to confess that they are agitating against the Germans.

[citation needed] This editing style is used to very humorous effect in one morbid scene, in which Kopfrkingl asks Mr. Dvorak his opinion about suicide (the character commits the act later in the film).

Before attempting to kill his daughter Zina he meets her boyfriend Kaja in the street and asks him to take a photo to preserve the present moment as it is though he doesn't have a camera on him and is unable to.

[citation needed] The monologue that Kopfrkingl delivers toward the end of the film on the death camps and the process of reincarnation is visually punctuated with frantic closeups of the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch.

As the speech becomes more frantic, what follows next is a montage of other Bosch paintings including; Christ Carrying the Cross, Ascent of the Blessed and The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things.

[26] Herz had access to many western films prior to production, especially those by Alfred Hitchcock, Victor Sjöström, Ingmar Bergman and also Luis Buñuel.

The speech gradually descends into mania with many of his wife's friends and relatives leaving while Kopfrkingl states the importance of death in "the Fuhrer's happy new Europe".

The monk says Kopfrkingl must ascend the throne of "the beloved Fatherland Tibet" and rule it with his noble guidance and that the world is waiting to be "liberated".

[citation needed] In keeping with the ideological expectations of the Socialist era, Kopfrkingl is middle class while the innocent victims are his working-class employees.

She is a spectator at Kopfrkingl's speech about the importance of cremation, in the background in the painting store, a figure in the wax museum, a prostitute at Mrs. Iris', and in the crowd at the boxing match that turns violent.

She is also seen when the Gestapo come to arrest Mr. Strauss, Mr. Fenek and others at the Crematorium, immediately before and after Kopfrkingl murders his family and chasing after his car at the very end of the film while he is on his way to the extermination camps.

Throughout, Kopfrkingl loudly professes his abstinence to alcohol and devotion to his wife when in reality, he visits prostitutes at a brothel, sexually harasses a female coworker at the morgue and drinks quite a bit.

The score also uses many traditional Asian instruments and music such as gongs, bells and chanting whenever the vision of the Tibetan monk appears to Kopfrkingl and also when he is describing in detail the process of reincarnation for the Nazi leader.

In the final scene at the coffin room where Kopfrkingl attempts to murder his daughter, the European waltz is playing but Asian motifs such as the gongs and bells are added when the vision appears to him.

Jason Pirodsky of The Prague Reporter praised the film, writing, "Spalovač mrtvol is a masterpiece of atmosphere, conveying the horror of the Holocaust through style rather than story; stark black & white cinematography by Stanislav Milota is a real standout, while unusual rapid-fire editing by Jaromír Janáček helps to keeps the viewer off balance.

"[40] Adam Schofield, writing in A Black Pearl of the Deep: Juraj Herz's The Cremator stated that audiences unfamiliar with Eastern Europe's political past could "surely enjoy it as a work of black comedy or psychological horror" as it was an "ingeniously orchestrated film, full of complexities, and capable of giving the horror genre a better name.

"[7] Herz commented that the film's reaction were different in every country, noting that "In Prague, people were depressed; in Slovakia, they laughed; in the Netherlands, it was a comedy from the beginning to the end.

"[41] TV Guide awarded the film 3/5 stars, stating that "Hrusinsky's scary performance highlights this morbid, darkly funny work.