CEMETERY MAN

(1994)


All notes and summary below by Sopang Men (2006).


Notes: Italian, a.k.a. Dellamorte Dellamore.
Francesco Dellamorte: Rupert Everett
Gnaghi: François Hadji-Lazaro
"She": Anna Falchi

Directed: Michele Soavi


Type of Zombies: Inconsistent. Some zombies limp around like Hollywood zombies while some walk at a normal human pace. Also, the main zombies retain their memories and speaking abilities but the zombie extras do not.


Summary:
Cemetery Man is a bizarre mix of comedy, romance, horror, and European art-house fantasy. They changed the name from the more original Italian title Dellamorte Dellamore (Of Death and Love) but the European strangeness isn't lost in translation. Francesco Dellamorte (played by Rupert Everett) is a graveyard caretaker whose main task is to re-kill the walking dead as they arise a week after their deaths. He soon falls for a mourning widow, and in no time making love to her on the grave of her dead husband. It gets even more awkward when the late husband chooses that exact moment to come back to life. Dream and reality are intertwined and there in no definitive interpretation of what this film is trying to say about death and love. The acting is superb (especially the two main character Dellamorte and his mute friend Gnaghi), the humor is dark, but stay away if you don't like ambiguity and jumps in logic.


Gore Factor:
Not as gory as other zombie films but still a little twisted. The undead are dispatched easily with bullets and shovels to the brain. And a young girl gets her head severed by a bus full of boy scouts.


No Brains...No Brains...:
A teenage girl wishes to see her dead boyfriend again, so she sneaks inside the graveyard at night to wait for him to arise. When he does come back, he predictably begins feasting on her body. Dellamorte comes by to dispose of the zombie and tells the lovesick girl to leave. But she refuses, yelling, "Mind your business! I shall be eaten by whoever I please!"


Undead Quotable:
"The living dead and the dying living are all the same. Cut from the same cloth. But disposing of dead people is a public service, where as you're in all sorts of trouble if you kill someone while they're still alive." -- Francesco Dellamorte


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