The story line of this movie could have been a little clearer. There are too many things to think about in order to put the pieces together.
It's disturbing to me that I gave this type of movie as much thought as I did. Maybe there is a little bit of 'Jack' in me too.
Critics review this movie as a supernatural thriller. People die and think they are still alive. While in the process of letting go of the physical, there is a friendly mortician who helps them cross over.
I think this is not a supernatural story at all but could really happen. That fact makes it even scarier.
Here is my take on the movie.
Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) is a serial killer. He causes the simulated untimely 'death' of his victims. They are brought to his funeral home where he toys with them for several days before finally burying them alive.
Like most serial killers he keeps mementos of each victim in a brown paper bag that has their picture attached to the outside.
Deacon is a mortician who does 'normal' funerals but also drums up new business fulfilling his need to dominate and kill his victims.
Dead people are photographed with their eyes closed and the ones who he will bury alive are photographed with their eyes open.
The old lady has her eyes closed in her picture. The young guy, (Anthony who was 'always confused') is one of Deacon's victims. His eyes are open in the picture.
In Anna Taylor's (Christina Ricci) case, he uses his white pick-up van to harass her on the road eventually causing an accident. Being first on the scene, he administers a drug that simulates death. Later, armed with an official death certificate, he convinces her that she is, in fact, dead.
Her warm breath appears on the mirror upstairs in the funeral home only to be quickly wiped off by Deacon. It appears again while she is lying in the casket before the final viewing and it is here that Anna realizes she is still alive. Also, the scar on her forehead looks pretty good at this time. The stitches covered up pretty well with makeup after partially healing.
He gives her a nice funeral (at mom's expense) and buries her alive.
Possibly a side effect of the drug is no hunger and that's why she never eats. Another side effect might be susceptibility to suggestion - don't know but it seems plausible after being constantly drugged. It obviously causes weird nightmares.
Eliot does refer to 'cleaning up (bodily functions)' a couple of times. That would be easy to do with a water hose and slab having a drain at the foot. He may also help his victims along with their bodily functions while unconscious on the slab (catheter, enema etc.).
Anna spends a lot of time walking around the preparation room unclothed. This leads me to believe that Deacon chose her for a 'special' reason. Who knows what else he did while she was unconscious? Paul Coleman (Justin Long) visits his detective friend Tom Peterson (Josh Charles) telling him that he thinks Anna is still alive. Peterson writes it off as grief but another officer knows of this drug (Hydroniam Bromide) that can simulate death. We later see it is the same drug used by Deacon and kept in a box in his desk drawer.
At the funeral of Anna's piano teacher he opens his mouth showing it was not sewn closed like the cop's brother. It also shows he is still alive. Thinking back to the beginning where he is shown lying in the casket, there is a hypodermic needle and infamous brown bottle on the table next to him. He obviously told Eliot earlier that he likes white roses and 'they seemed appropriate somehow' when his widow asks Deacon how he knew. Same thing when the Beatrice Taylor (Celia Weston) asks about her daughter's violets. ('They seemed appropriate.') Jack (Chandler Canterbury) has no friends and is bullied by the big kids at school. His mother is a total looser who is hypnotized by TV game shows. But the really creepy part is how he likes to hang around the funeral home. (That's so much better than playing baseball!) Even when out riding his bike, he ends up at the funeral home. One time he sees Anna, his teacher, through the upstairs window of the funeral home.
Jack has the quirk of crushing flower petals between his fingers and smelling them just like Deacon. The baby chick is moving and still alive when Jack closes the box and sprinkles dirt on it essentially burying it alive. Jack's entire life is training him to become Deacon's apprentice.
Introverted, bullied, and lack of attention from his mother have a lot to do with Deacon becoming Jack's 'father figure'.
Eliot and Jack follow Paul in the same white pick-up van knowing they can cause an accident like Anna's. Getting there first, they administer the Hydronium Bromide.
Back at the funeral home, even armed with an official death certificate, Eliot knows he could never convince Paul he is dead.
To keep his secret, Deacon is left no alternative but to embalm Paul alive.
It's disturbing to me that I gave this type of movie as much thought as I did. Maybe there is a little bit of 'Jack' in me too.
Critics review this movie as a supernatural thriller. People die and think they are still alive. While in the process of letting go of the physical, there is a friendly mortician who helps them cross over.
I think this is not a supernatural story at all but could really happen. That fact makes it even scarier.
Here is my take on the movie.
Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) is a serial killer. He causes the simulated untimely 'death' of his victims. They are brought to his funeral home where he toys with them for several days before finally burying them alive.
Like most serial killers he keeps mementos of each victim in a brown paper bag that has their picture attached to the outside.
Deacon is a mortician who does 'normal' funerals but also drums up new business fulfilling his need to dominate and kill his victims.
Dead people are photographed with their eyes closed and the ones who he will bury alive are photographed with their eyes open.
The old lady has her eyes closed in her picture. The young guy, (Anthony who was 'always confused') is one of Deacon's victims. His eyes are open in the picture.
In Anna Taylor's (Christina Ricci) case, he uses his white pick-up van to harass her on the road eventually causing an accident. Being first on the scene, he administers a drug that simulates death. Later, armed with an official death certificate, he convinces her that she is, in fact, dead.
Her warm breath appears on the mirror upstairs in the funeral home only to be quickly wiped off by Deacon. It appears again while she is lying in the casket before the final viewing and it is here that Anna realizes she is still alive. Also, the scar on her forehead looks pretty good at this time. The stitches covered up pretty well with makeup after partially healing.
He gives her a nice funeral (at mom's expense) and buries her alive.
Possibly a side effect of the drug is no hunger and that's why she never eats. Another side effect might be susceptibility to suggestion - don't know but it seems plausible after being constantly drugged. It obviously causes weird nightmares.
Eliot does refer to 'cleaning up (bodily functions)' a couple of times. That would be easy to do with a water hose and slab having a drain at the foot. He may also help his victims along with their bodily functions while unconscious on the slab (catheter, enema etc.).
Anna spends a lot of time walking around the preparation room unclothed. This leads me to believe that Deacon chose her for a 'special' reason. Who knows what else he did while she was unconscious? Paul Coleman (Justin Long) visits his detective friend Tom Peterson (Josh Charles) telling him that he thinks Anna is still alive. Peterson writes it off as grief but another officer knows of this drug (Hydroniam Bromide) that can simulate death. We later see it is the same drug used by Deacon and kept in a box in his desk drawer.
At the funeral of Anna's piano teacher he opens his mouth showing it was not sewn closed like the cop's brother. It also shows he is still alive. Thinking back to the beginning where he is shown lying in the casket, there is a hypodermic needle and infamous brown bottle on the table next to him. He obviously told Eliot earlier that he likes white roses and 'they seemed appropriate somehow' when his widow asks Deacon how he knew. Same thing when the Beatrice Taylor (Celia Weston) asks about her daughter's violets. ('They seemed appropriate.') Jack (Chandler Canterbury) has no friends and is bullied by the big kids at school. His mother is a total looser who is hypnotized by TV game shows. But the really creepy part is how he likes to hang around the funeral home. (That's so much better than playing baseball!) Even when out riding his bike, he ends up at the funeral home. One time he sees Anna, his teacher, through the upstairs window of the funeral home.
Jack has the quirk of crushing flower petals between his fingers and smelling them just like Deacon. The baby chick is moving and still alive when Jack closes the box and sprinkles dirt on it essentially burying it alive. Jack's entire life is training him to become Deacon's apprentice.
Introverted, bullied, and lack of attention from his mother have a lot to do with Deacon becoming Jack's 'father figure'.
Eliot and Jack follow Paul in the same white pick-up van knowing they can cause an accident like Anna's. Getting there first, they administer the Hydronium Bromide.
Back at the funeral home, even armed with an official death certificate, Eliot knows he could never convince Paul he is dead.
To keep his secret, Deacon is left no alternative but to embalm Paul alive.