REVIEW: ‘Cemetery Man’ is a stellar dark comedy about death
Photo: Cemetery Man stars Anna Falchi and Rupert Everett. Photo courtesy of Severin Films / Provided by Foundry Comm with permission.
Severin Films recently released UHD and Blu-ray versions of the restored Italian film Cemetery Man, also known as Dellamorte Dellamore, starring a wonderful Rupert Everett in the title role. In the film, Everett stars as Francesco Dellamorte, a cemetery watchman who is yearning to find true love. The problem is there’s the pesky problem of the dead rising from their graves and needing to be dispatched with a gun blast to the head — and this happens each and every night.
It’s all in a night’s work for Francesco, but when will he find the time to fall in love?
Love does come knocking on the cemetery in the form of a grieving widow played by Anna Falchi. Francesco is immediately smitten by her good looks, even if the grave of her recently departed husband is still fresh. At first, she brushes off his advances, but eventually she, too, falls in love with Francesco. Cue the credits. The protagonist has found true love; this film could end at the 45-minute mark. But this is not a typical movie.
The issue in this Michele Soavi-directed feature is that no one alive stays alive for too long, and no one dead remains dead. This makes any lasting connection quite tricky.
Cemetery Man is a marvel to behold, and Severin should be commended once again for resuscitating this 1990s corpse. Soavi’s film is beautiful and eerie, with fog-drenched graves offering viewers an otherworldly landscape, and Francesco’s home and workshop, which he shares with a loyal assistant (François Hadji-Lazaro), is like stepping back in time.
The humor of the piece comes from its absurdity, almost like Moavi took a page from the book of Stuart Gordon and Re-Animator. The jokes are not laugh-out-loud-funny; instead, the chuckles come from Francesco’s ever-mounting problems in life, problems that he never seems to outpace.
The Severin release includes a commentary track featuring the insights of Soavi and screenwriter Gianni Romoli. There are also interviews with Soavi, Everett and Falchi. Some trailers and a making-of featurette round out the special edition. The movie and these features fit on two discs, but for the die-hards, there’s also a four-disc version with more content.
Cemetery Man may not be a household name, but for horror fans who love a dosage of absurd humor with their frights, this one is a must-see. The characters are interesting, and the acting is spot on and believable. The effects are not cheesy at all and actually hold up some 30 years later. Most importantly, the film is dripping with originality. Francesco is not some boring, paint-by-numbers character, and his plight in life (and death) is not a storyline one usually encounters in the horror genre, making Cemetery Man a most welcome treat.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Cemetery Man (1994). Directed by Michele Soavi. Written by Gianni Romoli. Starring Rupert Everett, Anna Falchi and François Hadji-Lazaro. Running time: 103 minutes. Now available on UHD and Blu-ray from Severin Films. Click here for more information. Rating: 
