I have seen many movies and TV shows where the Angel of Death appears. (A scene in Clash of the Titans of Charon depicted in Angel of Death-like attire reminded me of this.) My favorite representations of it are probably from the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday, and from the silly but gory horror comedy Dellamorte Dellamore (a wonderful title unbelievably butchered into “Cemetery Man” in America). Most people my age will remember the Angel of Death best in the personage of The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come from the musical Scrooge, or from that title of the Slayer song that’s about someone else entirely, but kids these days have cartoons about it. But the Grim Reaper is apparently alive and well in cultures the world over.
I seriously doubt there is such a thing as the Angel of Death, but I certainly hope there is. It would sure make things a lot more entertaining, wouldn’t it? I love the idea that he’s a money-grubbing entity, requiring coins for the journey to the afterlife in some cultures. What does he buy with the money? Are there restaurants and video rental places and grocery stores in the next dimension? How about investment scams? Is being the Grim Reaper just another job, like writing traffic tickets or something in the next life? And if so, then how come they accept mortal money? These are but a few of the questions I’ve got for this entity, if I ever meet it in the, um, bones & robes?
But the one thing I know for sure, I really hope the Angel of Death, if one exists at all, is really a spooky skeleton in a black cowl & robe. I would be so disappointed if it ended up being the characters from Dead Like Me! How boring can you get? And then, just to rub it in, they’d probably say: “All the answers to your questions could have been found in Season 1 of Dead Like Me: If only you had watched it! But we can’t tell you now: that would be cheating!” And if they said that, we’d soon find out if that quote is true: “And with strange aeons even death may die”, because I’d most certainly throttle it for saying that!
