Dellamorte, Dellamore was released on VHS way back in 1996 under the title Cemetery Man. That was how I first knew it. I was introduced to it while working at a video store in 1998. While looking for a horror flick to watch, this caught my eye. The box looked promising, so I gave it a shot, and am I glad I did. It is without a doubt one of the best zombie films ever made. Since I started collecting DVD's I've been keeping my eye out for this, but, sadly, it does not appear to be in the cards. I have heard rumors that, I believe, 20th Century Fox are considering it for release. Nothing has been concrete, so I did some research and decided to pick up the R2 Italian release from DVDland.it, I just couldn't wait any longer. I guess that's enough for my history on the movie, let's get to it, shall we?
Zombie horror meets arthouse. That's a fitting way to describe this truly bizarre rumination on the nature of love and death. The film plays by it's own rules, it is quite clear that this film does not take place in the same world that we live in. Black comedy married with gore, with a dash of the surreal, sprinkled with the profound. I'm sure there is much more to this film which is on the surface, but I haven't peeled away all the layers yet as what is on the surface is so much fun.
On the surface we have a tale of a groundskeeper and his assistant who tend to the Buffalora cemetery. The biggest part of their job entails re-interring the dead after they have risen from the grave. Like all other aspects of their lives, this is taken in stride as just another task. That is until our hero, Francesco Dellamorte, meets an alluring young woman who visits the cemetery to bury her deceased husband. This leads to an affair between the two, on the deceased husbands grave! As was expected the dead husband arises at an inopportune moment rises and bites his wife, in the process scaring her to death, or does he? Dellamorte keeps vigil over her, as other zombified events take place. I dare not reveal the her fate, but it leads into the third act which preys on Dellamorte's sanity.
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