Overlook Film Festival 2025 – Even when a great director like David Cronenberg makes a bad film like The Shrouds, it’s still a fascinating watch. The film opens on melancholy widower Karsh (Vincent Cassel), a spitting image of aging Cronenberg, who is mourning the loss of his wife. We learn about his macabre invention, The Shroud. Think of it as a body bag with a live cam that allows family to check in on the decaying corpse of their loved ones. Yet, for some odd reason this ghoulish idea piques the interest of nefarious evildoers and Karsh must unravel the mystery before becoming a corpse himself. The film is a sluggishly paced two hours highlighting Cronenberg’s personal demons. As artistic therapy it is fascinating. As a movie, it is a plodding mass of storytelling.

In what might be my favorite scene, Karsh invites a blind date to his restaurant/cemetary. Seated among charcoal and black decor, Karsh attempts to make small talk with his date by explaining that he owns the restaurant and that his wife is buried out back. He takes his poor date Myrna (Jennifer Dale) out back to a cemetery of tombstones with video screens, fires the thing up and shows her a live view of his rotting wife. Myrna promptly asks for a cigarette and leaves. If Cronenberg had stayed in this space we might have had a disturbing black comedy, or at least a sense of self awareness. But no, Cronenberg keeps it heavy.

We next meet former sister in-law and pet groomer Becca (Diane Kruger). Karsh visits her to talk things through and to reminisce about the past. They bring up Maury (Guy Pearce), Becca’s ex and Karsh’s best bud who helped Karsh get his business off the ground. It’s uncomfortable, but that family tie is still there. That night, as he is methodically studying the feed from the grave cam on his wife, Karsh spots a weird anomaly that leads him to wonder if she has been tampered with. Before anything can be done to investigate the desecration of his wife’s remains, a vandal breaks into Karsh’s high-tech tomb and destroys several of the gravestones, one of which is Karsh’s wife’s final resting place. What’s more, the hefty security that was supposed to protect the graveyard was hacked.

Karsh immediately calls on Maury to pinpoint the cyber security breach. Right here we might have had enough story. Between Karsh’s ability to turn his own mourning into a franchise-worthy idea and the effect it has on immediate survivors, Cronenberg could have explored the thesis for his career. Alas. As if on a timed shopping spree, Cronenberg blindly grabs at the various elements that built his oeuvre. Body horror, technology, corporate greed, they are all here. What is lacking are the sharp insights that allow us to process our own demons.

The Shrouds looks great and the cast ranges from good to noteworthy. Cassel is the dramatic reenactment image of Cronenberg with his lanky frame and silver hair. He can’t carry the impossible emotional weight that Cronenberg sets up for his character, but he tries admirably. Soo-Min does what she can with an absurd character in Sandrine Holt and somehow still makes it work. For me the fringe performers were the ones that nailed it. Dale‘s Myrna was utterly hilarious and heartbreaking with the blind date gone strange. Oddly enough Elizabeth Saunders as one of Karsh’s loyal employees, had a notable presence in her passing scenes.

The Shrouds is a two hour therapy session for one of cinema’s most important and iconic filmmakers. It is a film that lays bare Cronenberg’s weaknesses and strengths. If you are a fan of Cronenberg, you must see The Shrouds to gain a greater insight on a cinematic legend. If you are like, “Cronenberg who?” then you need to circle back and watch The Fly, Videodrome, and Scanners and report back.