Just Buried

Oliver Whynacht inherits his father's ailing funeral home. Due to location, it looks like its competing funeral home is getting all of the business.

Poor Oliver seems to be having bad luck; due to a series of accidents several locals are being dispatched. He is consoled and supported by the female mortician. Soon Oliver and the mortician must take positive action to mask the previous accidents. Oliver is getting good at this and now sees a bright future. But is there some underlying plot that Oliver is not aware of?

Never let it be said that Canadians don't know how to produce dark comedies.

The plot is relatively transparent so it might not be of interest to people that are waiting for a lot of plot twists and the butler to come out of the closet at the last minute.

It is, however, fun to watch the characters go through their motions and allow you time to kibitz.

After his father dies a young man inherits an old funeral home. The problem is that it isn't getting any business. So he, and the beautiful mortician, decide to kill people from the town to get the business booming. Sound familiar, that's because this is basically a remake of sorts of an old film starring Boris Karloff and Vincent Price called The Comedy of Terrors.

This film feels like a mixes dark comedy and horror. There are numerous deaths but all of them are off screen, with the exception of 3. One of which is pretty gruesome. It stars Jay Baruchel and rose Byrne, as the son and mortician. Byrne is pretty sweet here, in her dark and twisted role. Baruchel plays awkward well, and it fits the character here. It's just too bad I wasn't a big fan of this character. I found him annoying and incompetent.

The film has a few funny moments, but a lot of it is dark and doesn't get many laughs. It's more concerned for it's characters and morbid story then laughs. The film isn't for everyone and it tends to drag in parts, but for the most part I enjoyed it. It has a good twist and the good outweighs the bad.

Jay Baruchel plays a nerd and he plays it well. He has nosebleeds if he's stressed out so of course when he inherits a funeral home, he gets many nose bleeds. The movie was filmed in Windsor and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The camera shots are wonderful. But wait: the plot (or plots?) is convincing and I must warn those who are easily grossed out not to watch this movie. I hooted and cringed all in a matter of minutes. You'll see what I mean when you see certain scenes. I haven't seen a movie that is as original as when I'd last seen of one Alfred Hitchcock movies. So its true: this is a "very" dark comedy. If it was released by Paramount, talk show hosts would be talking about it. But once again, I warn you that certain scenes are beyond gross. I rate "Just Buried" highly. Spend the ten bucks and go see it for yourself, while it's still in Canadian theaters.

This funeral home based dark comedy is somewhat of a rarity. It does not pull any punches, at times is gritty, and resolves itself with quite a satisfying ending. The fact that other than Graham Greene's character, no one will elicit any sympathy just adds to the fun. If you like death as a motivation for personal gain, then "Just Buried" is a must see. The acting and character development is quite good for this limited budget endeavor. It is funny, never boring, and at times unpredictable. The conclusion especially is surprisingly original. I recommend this black comedy for both it's creativity and entertainment value. - MERK

Aimless Oliver Whynacht (Jay Baruchel) inherits his estranged father's nearly-bankrupted funeral home. There is a lack of people dying. With worker Roberta Knickle (Rose Byrne), they set off to kill so they could resume their funeral work.

This dark comedy lack the require style to be quirky or dark enough. It's a Canadian indie but director/writer Chaz Thorne just don't have the skills to pull this off. There's a definite lack of energy in the shooting style. As hard as the actors try, they just couldn't fill the lack of pace. It does pick up later on as more and more people are killed. But it doesn't save the movie.