Cemetery Man (1994) Dellamorte Dellamore (original title)

Director:

Michele Soavi

Writers:

Gianni Romoli
Tiziano Sclavi (novel)

Release Date:

26 April 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Cemetery | Italy | Death | Corpse | Topless Female Nudity

Awards:

7 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

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
Renato Donis	...	Husband of 'She'
Claudia Lawrence	...	Miss Chiaromondo
Francesca Gamba	...	Hospital Nurse
Elio Cesari	...	Monk
Maurizio Romoli	...	Hospital Doctor
Maddalena Ischiale	...	Stanza Franco Nurse
Elena Fresco	...	Hospital Sister (as Mariaelena Fresu)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michele Soavi	...	Man in City Square (uncredited)

Directed by
Michele Soavi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gianni Romoli		(as Giovanni Romoli)
Tiziano Sclavi		novel

Produced by
Conchita Airoldi	....	co-producer
Conchita Airoldi	....	executive producer
Heinz Bibo	....	producer
Tilde Corsi	....	producer
Dino Di Dionisio	....	co-producer
Dino Di Dionisio	....	executive producer
Michèle Ray-Gavras	....	executive producer
Gianni Romoli	....	producer (as Giovanni Romoli)
Michele Soavi	....	producer

Original Music by
Riccardo Biseo
Manuel De Sica

Cinematography by
Mauro Marchetti

Film Editing by
Franco Fraticelli

Production Design by
Massimo Antonello Geleng

Set Decoration by
Roberto Caruso

Costume Design by
Alfonsina Lettieri
Maurizio Millenotti

Makeup Department
Daniel Auber	....	assistant makeup artist (as Daniele Auber)
Maria Teresa Corridoni	....	chief hair stylist
Enrico Iacoponi	....	makeup artist
Marijn Koopman	....	assistant makeup artist
Barbara Morosetti	....	assistant makeup artist
Francesco Motolese	....	assistant makeup artist
Sabrina Ranalli	....	hair stylist
Sergio Stivaletti	....	makeup artist
Gino Zamprioli	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Carla Bernardin	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Julie Gavras	....	assistant director
Enrico Grassi	....	first assistant director
Francesca Marra	....	assistant director

Art Department
Roberto Angelini	....	sculptor
Marina Pinzuti Ansolini	....	set dresser
Sebastiano De Caro	....	property master
Tommaso Dubla	....	set painter
Umberto Fantina	....	carpenter
Maurizio Garrone	....	assistant production designer
Sergio Grassi	....	property master
Osvaldo Monaco	....	property master
Caterina Napoleone	....	assistant production designer
Dionisio Rossi	....	sculptor

Sound Department
Massimo Anzellotti	....	sound effects editor
Andrea Dallimonti	....	sound recordist
Alessandro Peticca	....	sound editor (as Sandro Peticca)
Alfredo Petti	....	boom operator
Angelo Raguseo	....	sound re-recording mixer
Frank von Kuegelgen	....	adr editor

Special Effects by
Daniel Auber	....	special effects assistant (as Daniele Auber)
Massimo Cristofanelli	....	special effects
Marijn Koopman	....	special effects assistant
Barbara Morosetti	....	special effects assistant
Francesco Motolese	....	special effects assistant
Sergio Stivaletti	....	special effects designer

Visual Effects by
Francesca R. Di Nunzio	....	ossuary designer
Sergio Stivaletti	....	ossuary designer

Stunts
Valerio Colombaioni	....	stunts
Fabio Romanielo	....	stunts
Mauro Romanielo	....	stunts
Pamela Vitali	....	stunts
David Zamperla	....	stunts
Mirko Zamperla	....	stunts
Nazzareno Zamperla	....	stunt coordinator (as Neno Zamperla)
Rinaldo Zamperla	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Alessandro Bolognesi	....	Steadicam operator
Domenico Caponecchi	....	grip
Romolo Eucalitto	....	still photographer
Stefano Falivene	....	focus puller
Claudio Frollano	....	electrician
Luciano Giusepponi	....	key grip
Roberto Luzi	....	camera operator
Marco Massaccesi	....	electrician
Cesare Pascarella	....	grip
Marco Pieroni	....	Steadicam operator
Giovanni Piperno	....	camera loader
Otello Simotti	....	generator operator
Claudio Verdenelli	....	chief electrician
Daniele Verdenelli	....	electrician

Casting Department
Ofelia Garcia	....	casting: children

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Giovanni Casalnuovo	....	assistant costume designer
Monica Ricci	....	costume assistant
Maria Spigarelli	....	wardrobe mistress
Maura Zuccherofino	....	wardrobe mistress

Editorial Department
Julie Gavras	....	post-production
Roberto Priori	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Luca di Silverio	....	soundtrack album producer

Other crew
Renato Agostini	....	set technician
Guido Airoldi	....	paymaster
Giordano Esposito	....	production assistant
Renata Franceschi	....	continuity
Alessandra Guerra	....	cutting room assistant
Paolo Lombardi	....	voice dubbing: François Hadji-Lazaro
Anna Orieti	....	production accountant
Roberto Pedicini	....	voice dubbing: Rupert Everett
Barbara Petrelli	....	production secretary
Claudio Quaglietti	....	set technician
William Quarshie	....	dialogue director
Frank von Kuegelgen	....	adr director
Emilio Zaccaria	....	production assistant
Robert Schlockoff	....	press attache: France (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Audifilm
• Urania Film
• K.G. Productions (co-production)
• Canal+ (co-production)
• Silvio Berlusconi Communications (in collaboration with)
• Bibo Productions (in collaboration with)
• Fonds Eurimages du Conseil de l'Europe (support)

Distributors

• Distribuzione Angelo Rizzoli Cinematografica (1994) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Jacinto Santos Parrás (1997) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Norstar Releasing (1996) (Canada) (theatrical) (as "Cemetery Man") (dubbed)
• October Films (1996) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Distribution (1995) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (1995) (France) (theatrical)
• Steward (1995) (France) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Astro Distribution (1998) (Germany) (VHS)
• CMV Laservision (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Castle Filmes (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Cinekult (2011) (Italy) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Fox Video (199?) (USA) (VHS)
• Malofilm Home Video (Canada) (VHS) (as "Cemetery Man") (dubbed)
• New Line (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Penta Video S.r.l. (Italy) (VHS)
• SPO (2004) (Japan) (DVD)
• Shameless Screen Entertainment (2012) (UK) (DVD)
• Starlight (2011) (Germany) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• VellaVisión (Spain) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment  soundtrack

Also Known As:

"Dellamorte Dellamore" - Italy (original title)
"Of Death, of Love" - International (English title) (literal title)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Italy | France | Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:MA | Germany:18 | Italy:T | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Hong Kong:III

Filming Locations:

Arsoli, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Audifilm

Trivia:

Tiziano Sclavi's comic character Dylan Dog features were based on Rupert Everett's; in this movie, Rupert Everett wears typical Dylan Dog style jacket and shirt (even if shirt is in a different color).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Dellamorte is standing in the shower, he hears the sound of zombies and he attacks them. When he attacks he is wearing dry underpants.

Quotes:

[singing]
Boy Scout Troop:Never should have gone out on the boy scout picnic!
Boy Scout Troop:Never should have, never should have left my room!
Boy Scout Troop:Never should have gone out on the boy scout picnic!
Boy Scout Troop:Now I'll do my scouting in a marble tomb!
Boy Scout Troop:Never should have gone out on the boy scout picnic!
Boy Scout Troop:Never should have, never should have gone just then!
Boy Scout Troop:Never should have gone out on the boy scout picnic!
Boy Scout Troop:Never should have, now I'll never go again!

Movie Connections:

References The Unholy Three (1925)

Soundtrack:

Hellraiser

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!