‘Zombies, sex and guns. Oh my!’
Dellamorte Dellamore – aka Cemetery Man – is a 1994 comedy horror film directed by Michele Soavi. An Italian-French-German co-production, the screenplay by Gianni Romoli was based on the 1991 comic novel by Tiziano Sclavi. The latter is also the author of the comic Dylan Dog, which covers similar themes and whose protagonist is self-evidently a Rupert Everett lookalike.
The movie stars Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, and Anna Falchi. The story concerns the beleaguered caretaker of a small Italian cemetery, who searches for love while defending the town from zombies…
The film was released in Italy to little success. United States distributor October Films changed its title to Cemetery Man and saddled the film with a campy ad campaign, finally releasing it on April 26, 1996. It received mostly negative critical reaction, small theatrical distribution (opening on six screens and grossed only $253,969. However, it found a cult following over time, via home video.
Blu-ray release:
British company Shameless is releasing the movie on Blu-ray on 15 October 2018.
‘Deadly, Lovely Tricks’ a new interview with SFX Genius Sergio Stivaletti
‘The Last Horror Show’ a new interview with producer-writer, Gianni Romoli
Audio Commentary and Fact-Track by director Michele Soavi a writer-producer Gianni Romoli
English Audio and Optional Italian Audio with revised English Subtitles
16/9 widescreen
103 minutes 07 seconds – uncut
Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the cemetery caretaker in the small Italian town of Buffalora. He lives in a ramshackle house on the premises, constantly surrounded by death, with only his mentally handicapped assistant Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro) for company, who expresses his ideas and opinions only saying “Gna”.
Young punks in town spread gossip that Francesco is impotent. He can open up to his only friend, Franco, by telephone, but when they meet in person, have little to say. Francesco’s only hobbies are reading outdated telephone directories, in which he crosses out the names of the deceased, and trying to assemble a puzzle shaped like a human skull.
Some of the dead interred in the cemetery rise from their graves prior to the seventh day of their internment, reanimated and ready to assault the living. Francesco, as if trapped in a Sisyphean cycle, is duty-bound as the cemetery caretaker, to destroy the “Returners” before they overrun the town. Buffalora’s mayor (Stefano Masciarelli) doesn’t just disbelieve the cemetery caretaker’s reports but is so fixated on his campaigning that he seems unable even to hear Francesco’s pleas for an investigation. Nor can Francesco surmount the complicated bureaucracy or mountain of paperwork to get assistance (“It’s easier just to shoot them,” says an exasperated Francesco).
Accepting his fate, Francesco and Gnaghi spend their days tending the cemetery grounds, doing their best to counteract the decay of ages, and their nights planting bullets and shovels into the brains of the walking dead. “This is my business,” he says before wearily dispatching a zombie motorcyclist. “They pay me for it.”…
Reviews:
” … this is moviemaking as poetry, cinema as stunning visual feast. Approximating the feeling of something both otherworldly and wholly realistic, Soavi invites us into a single stylized setting and asks us to make ourselves comfortable … This is one of the most important fantasy films ever made, one that shows the true power in fanciful thoughts and imagery.” DVD Verdict
“Despite its boldness, Cemetery Man falls considerably short of being a masterpiece. The film runs out of comic momentum about two-thirds of the way through and has to lurch and stumble towards the finish line. Soavi can only sustain the humor for so long before it becomes repetitive.” Reelviews
“Overall this is one of the most imaginative and immaculately constructed films I’ve seen in a long time. All the elements manage to pull together resulting in a film that, while not for everyone, should definitely be seen by fans of the various genres to which it belongs, be it horror, romance, comedy or fantasy” The Digital Fix
Buy UK Blu-ray
“Dellamorte Dellamore is stunning to look at – filled with the kind of light and colour that’s reminiscent of Mario Bava’s Italian horrors of the 1960s, while the use of an actual cemetery (in Guardea, Umbria) makes it even more fantastical. Everett is a bit wet as the titular hero (he’s certainly no Bruce Campbell), but Hadji-Lazaro is a revelation (his side story is a real treat). The humour might be a bit hit and miss, but it’s the visuals that will stay with you…” Kultguy’s Keep
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
“A peculiar hybrid of a horror and a comedy, which never seems to quite know what it is (in a European sort of way), Cemetery Man nonetheless has an odd sort of charm, and originality that comes with never knowing what might come next, or how this bizarre world and its characters will end up in the end.” Adam Lukeman, Fangoria’s 101 Best Horror Movies You’ve Never Seen
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
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