When a mortician’s love for a corpse is discovered; his once peaceful but twisted life begins to unravel.
I have seen some messed-up movies but few will top this disturbingly twisted short. I am all for exploring the depravity of men when it’s being handled with nuance like Cormac McCarthy but “Mr. Sam” just seems to be the unchecked musings of a pervert. The titular Sam is a mortician who is obsessed with the corpse of a once-handsome young black man in his lab. I was thrown off by the period being modern but Sam’s equipment and outfits are from a bygone Victorian era. Wasting no time with non-stop exposition, Sam is immediately making out and stroking the lifeless body. After that lovely moment, he heads to his mother, who has been molesting him since childhood and starts raping him (in a very lovely sunroom I must say). Even more astonishing is the mother being more appalled by his homosexuality than his necrophilia. He kicks her off storming out and heads to his dead lover in a big hurry.
For such a short film I have so many things to process and complain about. The actor playing Mr. Sam really needs to choose an accent. He goes from nasally German mad scientist, to turn of the century England, and finally some kind of Transylvanian Count. The screenplay is truly mind-boggling. After being exposed as a necrophile, he is immediately turned into an avenging vigilante AND also has an affirming conversation with the ghost of his dead father.
If a gun was to my head and I had to find one positive aspect of this drivel, I guess I’d say the lighting and cinematography. It recalls a kind of “Boardwalk Empire” feel but that just made me want to watch that show instead. At least I didn’t have to review this movie on Mother’s Day!
“Mr. Sam” Recently premiered at the 2019 Dances With Films Film Festival
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