The Mortician

A Gruesome Docuseries That Blurs the Line Between True Crime and Psychological Horror.

HBO's "The Mortician" starts strong, hitting hard—especially for someone like me, unfamiliar with the story of David Sconce and the Lamb Funeral Home, yet all too familiar with the real-life atrocities that sow the seeds of something profoundly dark, unsettling, and inhuman.

Unlike many documentaries that tiptoe around real-life horror, "The Mortician" doesn’t flinch. It tells a story so horrifying that one might argue it shouldn’t be told at all—or perhaps, it absolutely must.

It reinforces a truth I often find: reality is far more terrifying than any horror film you’ll ever watch.

“I don’t put any value on anybody after they’re gone and dead.” - David Sconce

That single quote crystallizes the chilling apathy at the heart of this story. Delivered with dead-eyed indifference, it feels like a final nail in the coffin of human decency.

Though "The Mortician" is a well-constructed three-part docu-series, it doesn’t quite reach its full potential.

Episode two lingers too long on familiar exposition, where a deeper exploration of the families impacted, or Sconce’s warped moral reasoning—could have added depth.

Director Joshua Rofé clearly knows how to balance intrigue and revulsion, peeling back the layers in a slow-burn fashion that grips the viewer.

But there are moments—particularly in the midsection—where the pacing dips, and some emotional beats go unexplored.

The first episode lays the groundwork brilliantly, charting the early warning signs of a psychopath with a chilling, psychological precision.

It plays like a grim psychological prelude, grounding the audience in the very real nightmare that unfolds.

Flaws aside, it’s absolutely worth a watch. Like death itself, it confronts us with something inevitable yet harrowing—and what makes it even more terrifying is how a trusted business exploited grieving families, turning loss into a real-world horror show.

"The Mortician" unveils another grim reality: a true story of desecrated bodies and a grandiose narcissist whose delusions of power spiraled into something monstrous.

It is an unflinching, grotesque mirror reflecting a brutal truth:

No industry is immune to horror when profit is the prize, and "The Mortician" doesn’t let us look away.