When religious leaders first envisioned nourishment for a person’s final moments, it’s safe to assume barbecue sauce wasn’t part of the plan. Filmmaker Derek Frey delivers a darkly comedic and unexpectedly morbid take on last rites in the award-winning short film Viaticum.
Written by the comic trio The Minor Prophets (David Amadio, Steve Kuzmick, and Gil Damon), the film follows Father Kettinger (Kuzmick) as he visits Albert (Damon), a bedridden man hovering at death’s door. Albert’s son Jason (Amadio) serves as translator for the priest, setting the stage for a series of surprising confessions that rattle through the family and unsettle Coach Regina Auerbach (Kathleen Kozak), who has been assisting as a nurse.
The satirical, witty script brims with dialogue that renders the characters both likable and stubbornly persistent. Visually, Frey employs black-and-white cinematography to anchor the audience in the heavy, serious tone of the priest’s visit. The absence of color casts shadows that evoke a ghostly, macabre atmosphere as events unfold in a theatrical, play-like manner within Albert’s home. Much of the film is set in the bedroom where the nurse and Jason engage in a series of confessions, while the priest prepares the last rites—Jason has to translate because his father can barely articulate for himself due to the medication he is on. At one point, there is an unorthodox request to use the family’s homemade barbecue sauce on the Viaticum as part of the Holy Communion ritual. These compelling visuals are further enhanced by sporadic images and photographs tied to Albert’s confessions, particularly during the closing credits, when objects dispersed throughout the house guide the audience full circle—without a word of dialogue.
Amadio and Kuzmick are well attuned to grounded, humorous performances, pulling off the satirical dialogue as guilty revelations meant to cleanse the protagonist’s soul for the priest. This type of comedy requires a precise blend of timing and delivery—something that is not easy to achieve. Audiences may wish for more backstory from the characters, as the narrative does play out like an extended skit, even though it does end on a strong cinematic note. The motivations surrounding Coach Auerbach may leave audiences confused about the bluntness, but Kozak’s performance is gripping and threads a faint line between satire and melodrama.
Klebe & Davis employ the melodic rhythms of a church pipe organ and choir-like vocalizations to guide the audience through shifts in tone, balancing the film’s serious backdrop with its absurdity while remaining rooted in a sense of religious journey. The score crescendos in a way that evokes the sweeping, theatrical feel comparable to The Phantom of the Opera.
Frey immerses the audience in an unsettling, bizarre twist on a typically solemn and non-controversial moment of reflection before death. Viaticum blends humor with the peril of impending mortality, creating a darkly satirical atmosphere—a sharp, incisive commentary on human behavior, especially when it manifests in unexpected ways. In the end, karma works in mysterious ways.
