Eli Roth has teamed with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions and QC Entertainment (Get Out, Us) for Death Boom, an exposé documentary taking aim at America’s modern deathcare industry, according to Deadline. Directed by Jessica Chandler and currently in post-production, the film finds Roth pulling double duty as producer and narrator.

Death Boom peers behind the funeral parlor curtain as the U.S. braces for the passing of 77 million baby boomers. Through the eyes of embalmers, crematory operators, and other frontline deathcare workers, the documentary examines the physical, emotional, and environmental toll of embalming, cremation, and traditional burial — not just on the deceased and their families, but on the workers handling the bodies.

The film also digs into the political, religious, and corporate forces allegedly blocking greener alternatives from becoming widely legalized and accessible nationwide. From toxic embalming chemicals leaching into soil to the environmental costs of cremation, Death Boom argues that the way America handles death may be poisoning the living. At the same time, it highlights emerging eco-conscious options and pushes to normalize conversations about mortality and grief.

The project is described as a “spiritual follow-up” to Fin, the 2021 shark-finning documentary previously produced by Roth and Appian Way — though this time, the carnage hits much closer to home.

DiCaprio produces alongside Jennifer Davisson and Phillip Watson for Appian Way. QC Entertainment’s Raymond Mansfield and Sean McKittrick produce, with Edward H. Hamm, Jr. serving as executive producer. QC will represent the film with WME Independent.

Roth says the project has been decades in the making.

“Jessica Chandler and I have wanted to make this film for over 20 years, since she first told me about the environmental horrors of the death care industry and how avoiding death as a subject makes us complicit,” Roth said. “We spent years finding brave people willing to speak on camera, revealing the poisoning of our bodies and land that contaminates our water, air, and food.”

Despite its grim subject matter, Roth insists the documentary isn’t a hit piece.

“We aimed to show the issue from all sides, without blame or shame, and to present clear solutions that already exist but are blocked by those invested in maintaining the current system for profit,” he continued. “Made entirely in secrecy, the film will shock and inspire. This is not an attack on an industry, but an effort to understand how we got here and how we can move forward together to protect future generations.”

Appian Way’s Jennifer Davisson echoed the sentiment, calling Death Boom “a crucial exploration of a crisis that is as much about environmental preservation as it is about human dignity.”

QC’s Mansfield, McKittrick, and Hamm added that Chandler’s film confronts “the real costs of how we handle death in America” while spotlighting solutions that already exist — if the system is willing to change.

With 77 million aging Americans and a death industry rarely questioned in the public sphere, Death Boom promises to exhume uncomfortable truths — and maybe even rewrite how we face the inevitable.