Few subgenres in horror have been, how do I say this, beaten to death the way the zombie film has. Despite producing some of the most undeniably fantastic horror films of all time, once the early aughts rolled around and zombies became a punchline, the quality of films about the undead plummeted, with every dollar sign for eyes producer looking to cash in on the phenomenon pumping out mediocre film after mediocre film. Sure, there’ve been bright spots since then (The Night Eats The World comes to mind, as does the tragically underrated It Stains The Sand Red, and for what it’s worth the first eight seasons or so of The Walking Dead brought a much needed injection of actual artistic integrity into the concept) but most of the films on the matter are cartoonishly forgettable. So, believe me when I say that Orcun Behram’s The Funeral is a breath of fresh air in a subgenre that reeks of staleness.
The Funeral (Cenaze in its original Turkish) is the story of Cemal, a hearse driver with a rather mundane existence. He spends most of his time with the dead, and life is a predictably drab affair for him. That all changes when he is hired for what can generously be called a rather shady gig: take the body of a young woman hide out with for a month. Reluctantly, he does so, and soon discovers that the young woman in question is more than dead but certainly less than alive. What follows is part horror film, part love story, part road trip film, part folk horror film, and part revenge film. It’s a unique blend of several entirely different subgenres into something not so much “fun” in that it will lighten your mood but rather a film that should be sloppy and unfocused but is instead completely focused, streamlined, and a total joy to watch.
I put “fun” in quotation marks because this is anything but a lighthearted goofy romp. Sure, there’s an element of romance in the film as Cemal finds himself falling for his undead passenger, but the romance is more of the tragic kind instead of something Hugh Grant would charmingly bumble his way through. The Funeral is made tragic by this element of romance, in that Cemal cares very much for his passenger Zeynap but this romance can never be because, well…she’s dead and hungers for human flesh. Still, his love perseveres, pushing the film into a classic “morality under duress” story as he struggles to find people for her to eat and deal with the logistical problems of hiding such a problem. Such a film could overstay in its welcome in that lane, but wisely Behram switches gears often enough that it never feels predictable.
Ahmet Sungar and Cansu Turedi as Cemal and Zeynap respectively are fascinating together. Cemal is a classic loner, having only his sister (and the corpses he drives around) for company, a dyed in the wool weirdo that despite murdering people later in the film you still find yourself rooting for. Turedi is phenomenal as Zeynap, imbuing the undead woman with a savagery you’d expect from such a role but also quick glimpses of humanity that make her entirely sympathetic. The resulting character is, while deeply weird and certainly inhuman, somehow incredibly sympathetic, someone worth investing ourselves emotionally in. Seeing the two of them adventure through the backstreets of Turkey towards a strange and culty climax pushes this movie past typical zombie fare and into very sweet but somber territory. You know things can’t reasonably work out for them with any sort of happy ending being an option, and yet you find yourself rooting for them nonetheless.
The Funeral is a dark, dark film. There’s little hope of things getting better, only of things enduring. Nonetheless it’s a movie about doing what you can with what you can while you can, and there’s something endearing and lovely about that.
