This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of re-watching a movie that I first saw when I was very young. The Royal Cinema has a monthly feature that’s sponsored by the Toronto publication Rue Morgue magazine. The film in question? One Dellamorte Dellamore or better known by its north American title, Cemetery Man. Originally based on a book of the same name and later turned into a comic book named Dylan Dog.
Rupert Everett plays Francesco Dellamorte, a cemetery caretaker in a small Italian town named Buffalora. Together with his faithful, albeit a little slow, assistant Gnaghi they return the recently resurrected (read zombies) back to their eternal resting place.
It’s business as usual until one day, during a funeral Francesco meets the recently deceased’s much younger widow where he falls instantly in love. Unfortunately, she doesn’t share the same sentiment until mention of an ossuary stirs her interest. She returns one night to spend some time with our protagonist (wink) and while near a grave she is bitten by her late husband who has returned from the grave and abruptly succumbs to her injuries. Convinced that she will return, Francesco stays by her side in order to do what must be done. Sufficed to say, she returns and I’m sure you can figure the rest.
This flick kinda goes a bit batshit from this point on… Gnaghi falls in love with the mayors daughter whom shortly after dies in a motorcycle accident. Of course, she’s buried in the same cemetery, and she returns but Gnaghi severs her head and makes friends with it, keeping it in an old broken television.
Francesco on the other hand keeps meeting different incarnations of his lady love (all played by the same actress Anna Falchi) and all sorts of zany scenarios ensue.
I won’t tell you anymore of the plot, love it or hate it you should at least see it once.
The movie was shot on a $4M budget and opened in Italy, France and Germany March 25 1994 as Dellamorte Dellamore and unfortunately I’m unable to find the foreign box office earnings. It opened in the US in April of 1996 but the American distributer felt the film would do better with an English title and renamed it to Cemetery Man. Unfortunately it only grossed $253,959 domestically.
I realize that it’s a train wreck of a movie, but I guess that I just see it through my 12 year old self’s eyes and my opinion is tainted by nostalgia. Sure, it’s a bit disconnected and has a weird dreamlike quality to it but it’s a good bit of fun.
If you really want to expand on this movie after watching, google some fan theories about what’s really going on. There’s a few doosies, to be sure.
