The Mortician

The Mortician is an outstanding documentary, well crafted, perfectly edited, and deeply disturbing.

HBO is killing it with documentaries lately and The Mortician is no exception. The gruesome details of the Lamb Funeral Home practices and the disturbing sociopath that is David Sconce are slowly and painstakingly unveiled in this three-episode masterpiece.

The depths of the criminal activity emerge even as each of the self-serving witnesses give their own sides of the story. Everyone is likely lying to one degree or another and, despite that, a compelling picture of the actual crimes emerges clear as crystal.

The inadequate prison sentences, engendered by the lack of statutes at the time, and the distress they cause the victims is deeply painful to watch and also completely compelling.

I was nauseated at every turn but never considered turning it off. Not easy to watch to be sure, and difficult to digest but absolutely worth it.

HBO's "The Mortician" starts strong, hitting hard-especially for someone like me, unfamiliar with the story of David Sconce and the Lamb Funeral Home, yet all too familiar with the real-life atrocities that sow the seeds of something profoundly dark, unsettling, and inhuman.

Unlike many documentaries that tiptoe around real-life horror, "The Mortician" doesn't flinch. It tells a story so horrifying that one might argue it shouldn't be told at all-or perhaps, it absolutely must.

It reinforces a truth I often find: reality is far more terrifying than any horror film you'll ever watch.

"I don't put any value on anybody after they're gone and dead." - David Sconce

"I don't put any value on anybody after they're gone and dead." - David Sconce That single quote crystallizes the chilling apathy at the heart of this story. Delivered with dead-eyed indifference, it feels like a final nail in the coffin of human decency.

Though "The Mortician" is a well-constructed three-part docu-series, it doesn't quite reach its full potential.

Episode two lingers too long on familiar exposition, where a deeper exploration of the families impacted, or Sconce's warped moral reasoning-could have added depth.

Director Joshua Rofé clearly knows how to balance intrigue and revulsion, peeling back the layers in a slow-burn fashion that grips the viewer.

But there are moments-particularly in the midsection-where the pacing dips, and some emotional beats go unexplored.

The first episode lays the groundwork brilliantly, charting the early warning signs of a psychopath with a chilling, psychological precision.

It plays like a grim psychological prelude, grounding the audience in the very real nightmare that unfolds.

Flaws aside, it's absolutely worth a watch. Like death itself, it confronts us with something inevitable yet harrowing-and what makes it even more terrifying is how a trusted business exploited grieving families, turning loss into a real-world horror show.

"The Mortician" unveils another grim reality: a true story of desecrated bodies and a grandiose narcissist whose delusions of power spiraled into something monstrous.

It is an unflinching, grotesque mirror reflecting a brutal truth: No industry is immune to horror when profit is the prize, and "The Mortician" doesn't let us look away.

It's hard to know how to rate this, but I'd give it a 7 out of 10 for the storytelling. The whole thing is deeply disturbing. David Sconce tells his story, as he puts it, "I'm an open book. I'll talk about anything." Very soon you come to understand it's because the guy has no moral center.

He figures because some ash from other cremations get into the next cremation, that completely justifies stuffing bodies in by breaking collarbones and using a meat hook on the corpses to throw them in there 15 at a time, like cattle. He sees it that way so it's okay.

"No one cared about these people, they were scattered at sea. I just don't understand why it makes any difference. They weren't going to be viewed."

Wow. Just wow.

It's not enough to say he's a narcissist or a sociopath, though he probably checks every box. The deeper truth is that some people refuse to see the humanity in others. And when that happens in a position of power like this, a mortician, a doctor, a caregiver... it just becomes evil. The kind that hides behind logic, hides behind business, and destroys lives in the process.

Gut wrenching documentary. I'm glad the story was brought to light, but I really hated giving this psychopath a megaphone to tell his side of the. He's a disgusting human being.

He was wrong for not getting the permission from the families.

He is definitely an odd and creepy guy.

What is interesting is that with mass regulations and oversight, the industry remains ridiculously greedy. The doc liked to mention how cultures used to and still want to treat the dead with respect. That comes with a hefty price tag. Average funeral costs are 20k for cheap. The wealthy get proper burials while the poor can barely afford cremation.

David had valid points about ocean cremation and other types of scenarios but he was wrong to disregard the loved ones and wrong to profit in the manner he did. He should have done it all above board and would still be living off the hog had he just done it the correct way. Greed is a heck of a drug.

Who believes he has no contact with his Mother?