Back in Black review: Christopher Walken is hilarious as a quirky undertaker

Though many have tried, no one delivers a line like Christopher Walken.

In Back in Black, Walken's distinctive diction turns "Shut up" into a moving "I love you." And that's just a taste of what makes this off-kilter comedy such a treat.

SEE ALSO: TIFF 2026 preview: 18 films (and shows) you'll want to see (and how) Written by Ron Murphy and Nick Torokvei, and helmed by the former, Back in Black stars Walken as Clyde Mortimer, an undertaker in a long line of undertakers.

He runs Mortimer's Family Funeral Home with his chipper wife Autumn (a pleasant Jane Curtin), and their orphaned granddaughter Sam (Ella Ballentine of 2016's Anne of Green Gables and The Vampire Lestat ).

But things are rough in the death business, as no one in their charming small town is dying lately.

Clyde, who always has plenty to say, is funny in his fury, insisting that no one dying is no way to live! He's especially aggrieved about how the COVID-19 pandemic should have been a boom time for morticians, but the sharp decline in in-person gatherings prevented that.

But fret not, Clyde, because Sam has a plan.

And it involves her handy screwdriver.

Back in Black is like Dexter with a cozy crime twist.

The opening shot of this dark comedy is Sam using a screwdriver to build a coffin.

This becomes a very telling image.

With her family facing financial ruin, Sam uses her screwdriver and her engineering know-how to strategically loosen screws about town, leading to one death after another.

To the average police officer, this might seem like a string of bad luck, these accidents at grocery stores, construction sites, and motel swimming pools.

But a local cop is on to her.