CEMETERY MAN (1994)
(aka. "Dellamorte Dellamore")

Starring: Rupert Everett, Francois Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi, Mickey Knox, Fabiana Formica, Clive Riche. Written by Giovanni Romoli. Directed by Michael Soavi. Italy. 105 minutes.

Dario Argento protege' Soavi (director of the so-so Demons rip-off The Church) finally hits his stride and begins to to live up to his considerable promise with this one. Cemetery Man is in the same satirical zombie movie sub-genre as Peter Jackson's Dead/Alive but is a different, "artier" trip to the old i>Night of the Living Dead well. The story (based on a wild and wooly Italian comic book about an occult detective named "Dylan Dog") concerns one Francesco Dellamorte (Everett), the handsome sad-sack caretaker of a graveyard where the corpses have this pesky habit of rising from their graves on the seventh day after burial with (surprise!) an insatiable appetite for human flesh. Along with his mute, imbecilic partner Gnaghi (Lazaro), Dellamorte has the unenviable duty of re-killing the zombies by (surprise!) destroying their brains - with a bullet to the noggin or by splitting their skulls with a sharpened spade - and dumping them back into their graves.
            
Poor Francesco might not be the brightest candle in the candelabra ("I've read two books in my life." he explains in over-voice. "One I never finished. The other is the telephone book."), but he certainly isn't hard on the eyes and manages to attract the attention of a beautiful young widow (Falchi) who has a necro-fetish and makes out with him amongst the piles of mouldering bones in the cemetery's ossuary. "You know, you have a real nice ossuary!" she tells him. My kinda gal! But eventually his grim profession begins to take its toll on Dellamorte's love life and sanity, and it's not long before long he's killing the living with the same indifference he has towards dispatching the dead. Fortunately for him, his work and secrecy are highly appreciated by the city government and the local authorities conveniantly clean up for him and cover up his crimes.

While it tends to drag and meander needlessly in places (and might have benefited from a little tighter editing) Cemetery Man has a Gothic visual flair   (clearly inspired the Italian giallos of Bava and Argento that it is descended from) that simply makes the jaw drop with wonder at moments. The magical boneyard in particular has a surreal, otherworldy atmosphere that makes you feel as though you've entered an enchanted Gothic fairy tale world. Add some surprising plot twists and a mysterious, evocative ending, and you've got a witty and daring entry in the kooky zombie movie cannon. The torch that once belonged to Bava and then Argento has been passed to a new bearer, and from the looks of it the giallo is in pretty good hands.

*** Three Skulls Full of Maggots out of Four

Rating System:
* Dead Meat
** Moribund, but showing a slight flicker of life
*** Strong and healthy
****Brimming with vitality