Paramount Pictures released Bringing Out the Dead on 22 October 1999.

Normally, I would have highlighted Lady Frankenstein (1971), but I’ve already written about it in depth.

I think Martin Scorsese is an excellent film director. But the way many film fans talk about him would make you think he had cured cancer. In that way, he’s a lot like Alfred Hitchcock — but with substantially more talent.

Bringing Out the Dead is his greatest film. Paul Schrader made Joe Connelly’s novel less metaphorical — more concrete. Beyond that, Scorsese’s crew fires on all cylinders. Unlike most of his films, this one doesn’t use a cinematic technique that doesn’t help the narrative.

I’m not religious but I was raised Catholic. And I find it a wonderfully creepy and horrific religion. Bringing Out the Dead plays into this. Frank lives in Purgatory. He tries to find redemption. And he ultimately does, even if it may only be temporary. And throughout the film, Frank and Mary are the most sane people — but also the most unhappy. So, you know, it’s realistic.

There are two lines from the film that stand out to me. I think of them both all the time:

“After a while, I grew to understand that my role was less about saving lives than about bearing witness. I was a grief mop. It was enough that I simply showed up.”

“What haunted me now was more savage. Spirits born half-finished. Homicides. Suicides. Overdoses. Accusing me of being there, witnessing a humiliation, which they could never forgive.”

Although it isn’t considered such, I think Bringing Out the Dead is a horror film. Rose’s face showing up everywhere is often frightening. But mostly, it’s just everything. His partners all lack empathy — something Frank has far too much of given his profession. He lives in a world that neither understands nor cares about him. And his only option is to hide away with someone as broken as he is.

I can’t embed the film here but it is available for free on Pluto. I highly recommend it!

Other 22 October Psychotronic Birthdays and Releases

Filmmakers

• Frances Drake (1912-2000): Actor known for Mad Love and The Invisible Ray.
• Joan Fontaine (1917-2013): Hollywood icon who made a couple of interesting films later in her career: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Witches.
• Christopher Lloyd (1938-): Actor best known as Doc Brown in the Back to the Future films. But he’s done a bunch of other things, including Addams Family Values and I Am Not a Serial Killer.
• Annette Funicello (1942-2013): Actor best remembered for Beach Party and similar films.
• Jan de Bont (1943-): Director known for Speed, The Haunting, and more.
• Catherine Deneuve (1943-): Actor known for Repulsion and The Hunger.
• Jeff Goldblum (1952-): Actor known for Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Fly.
• Bob Odenkirk (1962-): Actor known for the TV shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
• Spike Jonze (1969-): Director of unusual films like Being John Malkovich and Adaptation.
• Jonathan Lipnicki (1990-): Actor who played the cute kid in Jerry Maguire who clearly made a deal with the Devil since he doesn’t look weird as an adult. He also starred in Broil and Camp Pleasant Lake.

Films

• The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942): Horror-comedy about the odd goings-on as an old house is turned into a hotel.
• Lady Frankenstein (1971): Frankenstein’s daughter comes from medical school and after he dies we learn that she is the kind of girl you don’t bring other to mother.
• First Blood (1982): John Rambo when he was a symbol of American failure and loss.
• The Sender (1982): A telepathic man can’t stop putting his visions in other people’s minds.
• Santa Claws (1996): A low-budget horror star is stalked by a fan.
• Bats (1999): Mutated bats escape and now must be stopped.
• The Grudge (2004): A nurse gets a curse that puts her in a rage.
• The Witch’s Sabbath (2005): A coven runs a stip club.
• Devil’s Den (2006): A couple of drug dealers go to a Satanic strip club and must fight to leave with their souls.
• The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (2010): An American family inherits a Romanian castle full of monsters.
• The Witches (2020): Family film based on a Roald Dahl book about a boy and his grandmother who have to deal with a coven of witches.
• Dune (2021): Filmed version of the book.

Bringing Out the Dead poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.