The Cremator

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The Cremator (Czech: Spalovač mrtvol) is a 1969 Czechoslovak dark comedy horror film directed by Juraj Herz, based on a novel by Ladislav Fuks. The screenplay was written by Herz and Fuks. The film was selected as the Czechoslovak entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 42nd Academy Awards, but was not nominated. In 1972, it won the Festival de Cine de Sitges Best Film award, where it also received awards for its star Rudolf Hrušínský and cinematographer Stanislav Milota. Set in 1930s Prague, Karel Kopfrkingl slowly devolves from an odd but relatively well-meaning cremator of the dead into a murderer of his family and mass murderer who proposes to run the ovens at extermination camps due to the influence of the Nazi party and Tibetan Buddhism, as he believes his murders are "liberating" the souls of the deceased into a better life. The film consists mostly of monologues from Kopfrkingl that follow his descent into madness. Influenced by German Expressionist film, it is often cited...

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