Cemetery Man (1994)
"Dellamorte Dellamore" (original title)

A cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.

Director:

Michele Soavi

Writers:

Gianni Romoli, Tiziano Sclavi (novel)

Stars:

Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi

7 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rupert Everett	...	Francesco Dellamorte
François Hadji-Lazaro	...	Gnaghi
Anna Falchi	...	She
Mickey Knox	...	Marshall Straniero
Fabiana Formica	...	Valentina Scanarotti
Clive Riche	...	Doctor Verseci
Katja Anton	...	Claudio's Girlfriend
Barbara Cupisti	...	Magda
Anton Alexander	...	Franco
Pietro Genuardi	...	New Mayor Civardi
Patrizia Punzo	...	Claudio's Mother
Stefano Masciarelli	...	Mayor Scanarotti
Vito Passeri	...	1st Returner
Alessandro Zamattio	...	Claudio
Marijn Koopman

Storyline

This movie is based on a novel of Tiziano Sclavi, and it always reflects the "sclavian philosophy" diffused by the most succesful comics in Italy: Dylan Dog, the detective of the nightmare. There is the duality between love and dead (in Italian "dellamore" means "of love" and "dellamorte" means "of death"), a duality that Dellamorte feels in a really hard way. He is the guardian of the cemetery of Buffalora, a little town in the north of Italy, in which, we don't know why, corpses rise from tombs and Dellamorte has to destroy them. Dellamorte seems not to ask to himself why this happen, he shoots and loves. But at the end he wants to leave Buffalora...

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Plot Keywords:

cemetery | italy | death | corpse | topless female nudity | 

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Taglines:

Zombies, guns, and sex, OH MY!!!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for macabre violence and gore, strong sexuality and some language

Details

Country:

Italy France Germany

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

26 April 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cemetery Man

Filming Locations:

Arsoli, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$253,969 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Audifilm, Urania Film, K.G. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the late 90's when Rupert Everett gained some popularity in America, he approached Michele Soavi about doing an Americanized remake of 'Dellamorte Dellamore'. It never materialized though.

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Goofs

The bandage on Dellamorte's shoulder covering his bite wound is visible in some shots and missing in others.

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Quotes

Marshall Straniero: Four motorcycles racing, the mayor's daughter is on one of them, her head sliced right off. They had to sew it back on the body. The bikes crash into a bus loaded with scouts, on their way back from a church-sponsored outing. Ha! Slaughter of the innocents. And they were all so young. Ha ha ha ha!
Francesco Dellamorte: Right. They thought their life was ahead of them, but in fact it had already passed them by.
Marshall Straniero: Ha ha ha! Well, you got your hands full.
Francesco Dellamorte: Oh, more than you know.
[aside]
Francesco Dellamorte: Gnaghi, we're going to need a lot ...

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Connections

Features Super Mario Bros. (1985)

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Soundtracks

"Hadi Bakalim"
Sezen Aksu

User Reviews

There isn't another film quite like Dellamorte Dellamore

There was a distinct lack of truly great horror in the nineties; but this film, Dellamorte Dellamore, tops the list of what little good ones there were. It's actually quite shocking that this came out during a huge depression for horror cinema, because it's easily one of the greatest horror movies I ever saw. Dellamorte Dellamore is a rather strange mix of horror, romance, twisted fairytale and comedy that isn't quite like anything else in cinema; horror or otherwise. The film knows that it's not the usual sort of film, and revels in this fact throughout. Dellamorte Dellamore buys itself a licence do whatever it wants through the fact that it so weird, and therefore no matter what the film throws at you; it's easy to just back and enjoy it. The film is directed by Dario Argento's talented understudy, Michele Soavi and finds an unlikely lead in Rupert Everett. The story follows Everett; the keeper of a cemetery in a small Italian town called Buffalora. He lives there with his assistant; the deformed Gnaghi, but this isn't quite the normal cemetery, however, as here the dead come back to life and it's up the cemetery man to put them back to sleep. When he meets the most beautiful woman he's ever seen in his cemetery, however, it appears that his luck is starting to change.

The atmosphere presented in this film is truly brilliant, and one of Dellamorte Dellamore's main assets. A cemetery is always going to present a macabre location for a film's characters to inhabit, but the Gothic design in this film ensures that Buffalora's cemetery is more than the horror film norm. The way that the smoke protrudes from the graves, along with several little special effects that director Michele Soavi has seen fit to implement all help to give the film that unique ambiance that it portrays so well. Soavi has given this film it's own style throughout, and even the zombies adhere to it. Soavi's zombies, like the rest of the film, don't stick to convention and rather than being covered with blood, falling to pieces of screaming "brains!", these zombies really look like they've been underground, and also manage to tie in with the downbeat tone of the rest of the movie. A lot of imagination has gone into Dellamorte Dellamore, and almost every sequence is soaked in it. It's things like the way that the cemetery man's assistant takes the mayor's daughter's head from her grave and puts it in the television that makes Dellamorte Dellamore what it is, and not just any other zombie movie.

Horror movies aren't known for great acting, but Dellamorte Dellamore breaks convention once again on that front. Rupert Everett puts in a performance that goes over and above what audiences have come to expect from him given his earlier roles. Like the rest of the film, he just fits in; and if you'd never seen Everett in anything before, you would think that he made this kind of movie all the time. The fact that he isn't essentially a horror film actor only makes the performance even more impressive. Anna Falchi stars opposite him in three different female roles, and looks absolutely great in all of them. The rest of the cast is made up of lesser-known actors, with the very odd François Hadji-Lazaro standing out most among them. Director Michele Soavi started out working under the great Dario Argento, but the few films he has directed himself show that he is a bigger talent than his resume lets on. Here, for example, he has created a film that absolutely stands on it's own. Dellamorte Dellamore goes beyond the title 'horror film', and comes out in a sub-genre all of it's own. Films like this don't often come to the attention of the mainstream; and that's a shame because originality like this should be praised to high heaven. Dellamorte Dellamore is a film that is impossible to ignore and, providing you can find a copy, ignoring is definitely not the recommended action!