It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Cemetery Man, a low budget Italian horror flick, puts a meaningful spin to the zombie genre. There is a deep philosophical approach to the notion humans are "working to die" instead of "working to live". Cemetery Man is a movie that you can mold it to whatever you want it to be, which in turn makes a great movie because anybody can relate to something different. There isn't a lot of explanations to events that happen throughout the film so if you're one of those that needs something straight forward this isn't a film entirely for you. Rupert Everett did a fantastic job portraying Francesco Dellamorte adding to the somber depressing atmosphere of the film. The ending is a bit abrupt but if you can manage to find solace with the film's message you'll be able to truly enjoy the grim, horrific film that is Cemetery Man.

Michele Soavi began his directing career with THE CHURCH, a muddled religious chiller, in 1988. In that film he showed some ability in creating some visually interesting and inventive images (particularly that of the writhing mound of bodies) while possessing a certain artistic style all of his own, inspired by Argento himself. In DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE, Soavi reaches the peak of his achievements in what is most probably his best movie: although it works as a conventional horror film too, this film is primarily a study of the boundaries between life and death, and all that they entitle. It also explores the human mind in its longing for love and the effect that despair and isolation can have on it. While DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE may not always be a straightforward or easy-to-follow movie, its sheer uniqueness and visual scope makes for engrossing viewing.This offbeat film opens with star Everett nonchalantly shooting a zombie in the head which has climbed in through his door. We learn that this is all in a typical evening's activity for him, as he is cursed with looking after a graveyard which repeatedly spawns the living dead from its graves. Expect no Romeroesque zombie movie here, though, as the zombies themselves - although regularly appearing - are just visual filler, a backbone on to which the rest of the human drama and plot lies. Sergio Stivaletti's special effects are as good as ever, and as the film has a noticeably higher budget than Italian productions have had previously, the SFX of the zombies are quite remarkable; this time they really do look like complex, rotted creatures, treading a thin line between looking funny and looking scary.There are a few "invasion" scenes in the film in which the zombies attack in hordes and come this close to dispatching Everett once and for all, only for Everett to escape or kill them just in the nick of time. These are nice touches and had me jumping in my seat once or twice. Everett himself is the capable hero of the movie, a pessimist who narrates the various bizarre events occurring in his life; of course, now that he's gone mainstream, his work will never be as interesting or profound. Everett is supported well by a talented cast, especially Francois Hadji-Lazaro who threatens to steal the show with his comic support as Everett's mute but faithful companion. The "charms" of actress Anna Falchi are also thrown into the mix, with the undeniably beautiful woman recurring in a number of roles. Am I the only one who thinks that Stanley Kubrick himself stole some of the couple's chemistry/bizarre relationship for EYES WIDE SHUT?Watch out for the many bizarre and unexpected moments in this film, from the midnight tryst between Everett and Falchi being interrupted by a hungry zombie to the terrible bus crash in which a load of schoolchildren are massacred. DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE is definitely not for the weak of heart, and its pretty strong stuff with hints of necrophilia and the like, while mixing in sex with gore in a way to most likely offend the censors. Although not explicitly gory, we see many people getting shot in the head, brains being blown out and skulls cloven in two. One of my favourite scenes in the film has Everett visiting a sick friend in hospital; as each doctor and nurse comes in to interrupt him, he offhandedly shoots them in the head until the bodies are piling up on the floor! By the end of the movie, the film has come a long way. It began as a straightforward zombie horror film, turned into a bleak love story and actually moves into serial killer mode in the last half an hour. The final shot has to be one of the most courageous, bizarre and frankly fantastic that I've ever seen in a movie and really tops off what already has been a great film. Surreal, macabre and definitely absurd, DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE is definitely a contender for the best horror film of the '90s.

We had the immense pleasure of screening this film on 35MM during the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival in San Diego. The print was immaculate. We found this to be one the most artistically beautiful movies in a long time. This gorgeous Italian film from 1994 stars Rupert Everett (as Francesco Dellamorte) and is entirely in English. The filmmaking style is unlike anything I've ever seen before and deals with a cemetery caretaker who must kill the deceased when they return as zombies. The style of this movie clearly took me back to the heyday midnight monster (or in this case zombie) movies. At times the movie comes off as almost hallucinatory in its imagery, but all the while gives us a rich looking movie accompanied by a spectacular music score. It's basically comprised of what could be considered story vignettes, all threaded together by Francesco's responsibility to rid his little community of Buffalora of its zombies. If you're a fan of artful movies, or even zombie movies, then this is a film you definitely need to see!

Italian zombie movies come with their own set of rules and clichés. By 1994, the extreme gore and apocalyptic visions the genre is famous for were well-established. Michelle Soavi's "Cemetery Man" shows its disinterest in the tradition of the genre in its opening minutes. After a long pan out of the inside of a skull, Francesco Dellamorte causally, without care, shoots a zombie in the head, paying it little mind. "Cememtery Man" has zombies in it but is not a zombie movie. Instead, it's a surreal, absurdist voyage into the Freuadian psycho-sexual subconscious of its lead character.Adapted from a novel by Tiziano Sclavi, itself a spin-off of Sclavi's immensely popular "Dylan Dog" comic, the movie takes a semi-episodic look at the life of Francesco Dellamorte, the caretaker of a cemetery in the small Italian town of Buffalora. The dead buried in the cemetery have a nasty habit of returning to life. However, Francesco's concerns are elsewhere. He worries about loosing his job, keeping the zombie infestation a secret. He wonders if his life has meaning and if he'll ever get out of his dead-end corner of the universe. A plot line slowly forms, revolving around Francesco meeting the woman of his dream, only for her to die, and reappear again. The troubles in Francesco's life pile up, culminating in visions of Death itself, prompting him to murder the dead while they're still living.Soavi loads his film with symbols, layers, and deeper meanings. A first time viewer just has to let the dreamy "Cemetery Man" wash over them. Repeat viewers are allowed to examine the picture, discerning the purpose behind its images and stories. Francesco has no concern for the dead, apathetically slaying zombies. He has little regard for life either, even before his murder sprees start. He struggles to find meaning in his life, has few friends, and no future. The cemetery becomes his prison, the job and the town around inescapable. The events of the film are representative of his inner turmoil. The ending and snow globe imagery reflect this, showing Francesco as trapped in his own cycle of self-defeat. The script acknowledges that this is the protagonist own fault. Dim-witted Gnagi has no problem assembling the skull puzzle Francesco struggles with.The original Italian title is "Dellamorte Dellamore," translating as "Of Death, Of Love." The love of Francesco's life is a nameless woman that keeps returning to his life. Credited only as She, the woman sets up her own purpose earlier on, asking the man if she "can return." She is represented by billowing scarfs. The title is visually illustrated when her bright red scarf, representing of love, blows onto a pile of skulls. The nameless woman is less a character then another symbol of Francesco's self-inflicted torture. During their graveyard set sex scene, the woman stand behind a statue of a headless angel, the wings behind her. Later, the wings fall off the statue, beside Francesco's feet, marking them both as fallen. The first time She dies in Francesco's arms, he is unable to save her. The second time he lets her rotting zombie chew on him. The third encounter shows his suffering over a woman he barely knows isn't worth the trouble it brings. By her fourth appearance, Francesco has come to actively resent his love, another symbol of his endless frustrations. Love, like death, is never as simple as it's supposes to be.Don't think "Cemetery Man" is a pretentious study in symbolism. The movie has a darkly comic absurdist streak running through it. This is most evident in Gnagi, Dellamorte's sole friend and companion. The rotund Gnagi resembles Uncle Fester and speaks only one word, a grunting "Gna!" He grotesquely scarfs spaghetti and mindlessly watches television. He hordes dried up leaves in the same way Francesco hordes old telephone books. Like Stan, he shows his romantic interest in the mayor's daughter by vomiting on her. Despite perishing immediately afterwards in a motorcycle crash, Gnagi still gets to have a relationship with the girl. He removes her zombified head from her glass coffin, serenading her with his violin. The girl('s head) is charmed by the bizarre Gnagi and happily takes up resident in his blasted-out TV. Humor is all over the place in this film, from the oddball motorcycle riding zombie, the girl willing to have her undead boyfriend chew on her, the mid-film absurdist take on Tod Browning's "The Unknown," the mayor's morbid political grubbling, to Rupert Everett's sarcastic line readings. For all its melancholy and existential wandering, "Cemetery Man" is a very funny movie.It's also, visually, quite a beautiful one. Soavi has always been a fantastic visualist but he tops himself here. The cemetery is another world. Torquise balls of swamp fire dance through the air. Fog billows among the grave stones. The gates and walls of the graveyard seem to close in on the characters as the story goes on. The tombs are painted in blues and violets. Soavi places his camera in creative locations. It slides between floorboards, under coffin lids and even peers out of a floating head's mouth. Inside of showing the aftermath of a violent shooting in a simple A-to-B fashion, the camera spins upside down. "Cemetery Man" is equally moody and creative in story and visual presentation.The ending is inscrutable at first. However, I finally gleamed its meaning on this rewatch. Francesco realizes his greatest treasure had been beside him the whole time and, still unable to escape his own world, devotes himself to his stalwart companion. Rupert Everett is perfectly cast in the lead, Francois Hadji-Lazaro makes one word mean so much, and Anna Falci is achingly desirable. "Cemetery Man" is a unique, beautiful film, Michele Soavi's masterpiece, a one-of-a-kind treat for adventurous horror fans.