Burning human bodies sets their souls free--at least according to an eager crematorium worker, Karl (Rudolf Hrusinsky), in 1930s Prague. Although his odd beliefs have little outlet in reality, that all changes when the Nazis invade Czechoslovakia, setting loose his nightmarish desires on victims that grow to include his own family. Released in 1968, this creepy black comedy remains a powerful document of the thematic and visual inventiveness of the Czech New Wave.