1994 ‘Dellamorte Dellamore’ Directed by Michele Soavi
A cemetery man has the unusual problem of the dead rising from the grave. Himself and his assistant must end these creatures' lives again after they are reborn. Everything is going well until "She" comes along and stirs things up a bit.
Rupert Everett François Hadji-Lazaro Anna Falchi Fabiana Formica Mickey Knox Barbara Cupisti Michele Soavi Clive Riche Anton Alexander Alessandro Zamattio Katja Anton Patrizia Punzo Pietro Genuardi Stefano Masciarelli Vito Passeri Renato Donis Claudia Lawrence Francesca Gamba Elio Cesari Maurizio Romoli Maddalena Ischiale Elena Fresco Marijn Koopman
Heinz Bibo Tilde Corsi Conchita Airoldi Dino Di Dionisio Michèle Ray-Gavras Gianni Romoli Michele Soavi
Fonds Eurimages du Conseil de l'Europe Urania Film K.G Productions Audifilm Silvio Berlusconi Communications Bibo Productions Canal+
Dellamorte Dellamore is the last great Italian horror film. Normally I would save something so heavy for the closing but I just want to make sure people read that fact, if it's the only thing they read in this post, I'll be happy. Starting with Mario Bava's gothic horror films of the 1960s and ending with Michele Soavi's Dellamorte Dellamore, the span of Italian horror cinema did not last very long. The success of Italian horror films can almost be considered a phenomenon, they burst onto the scene and then faded away by the mid-1990s. One theory is because they could no longer compete with other countries, the demand for Italian horror died (probably after the many imposters and lousy…
I prefer calling Michele Soavi’s cinematic art-form masterpiece Dellamorte Dellamore but whatevz letterboxd, be that way 😒
For years now, since I was a teenager in the late 90’s, I’ve had trouble sleeping. Whether due to anxiety, existential dread, teenage angst, or annoying neighbors just being too loud, the slightest sleep disturbance has always woken me up, and kept me that way. Luckily, I’d always have films to fall back on that would help take me away to dreamland, and In those particular moments of insomnia, Dellamorte Dellamore has been there for me. Like heroin, I’d watch it and sink into the velvety pillow of Francesco Dellamorte’s hazy, dark philosophies, causing me to question what’s really important in life, and watch my problems float away on dream clouds like the unimportant metaphors they usually are.
I adore this picture.
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I really like Michele Soavi.
You know what else I really like? Apart from Winona. The first paragraph on the Wikipedia entry for this film describing the plot:-
"Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the cemetery caretaker in the small Italian town of Buffalora. He lives in a ramshackle house on the premises, constantly surrounded by death, with only his mentally handicapped assistant Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro) for company. Young punks in town spread gossip that Dellamorte is impotent. His hobbies are reading outdated telephone directories, in which he crosses out the names of the deceased, and trying to assemble a puzzle shaped like a human skull. Gnaghi, whose interests include spaghetti and…
I think that this is the greatest concept and one of the greatest films ever created. Anna Falchi plays a woman who is obsessed with men who are impotent, but she keeps dying, but keeps coming back. That is just cool af. Francesco Dellamorte is probably top 10 protagonists of all time, he's essentially death incarnate. Yes, death is a good guy, well except when he kills the loving instead of the living dead. Nagi is just such a great sidekick who you're emotionally invested in 100% and every time I thought he was going to die I was on edge and in my head was like "nooooo". Valentina was also a great side character who dies like right after…
Utterly bemusing but so tenaciously compelling. There seems to be some sort of limit to my patience when it comes to the absurdity and nonsensicality of Italian horrors, but Dellamorte Dellamore sidesteps the issue by being overtly comedic and using Rupert Everett as a focal point for the strange events so that we actually have something to latch onto throughout the story. Death is absurd but life is, indeed, absurder here where the cemetery man walks as if in a solipsistic dream through an oddly melancholic life. This'll probably improve on second viewing; for now I'm content with raising an eyebrow and looking baffled.
A sex farce. A surreal nightmare. An existential probe into the core of humanity. A splatter comedy. A classic gialli. A political satire. A droll slice of life melodrama.
Cemetery Man is all this and a whole hell of a lot more, a film bursting with wit and imagination, tackling anything and everything that comes into its head. It's funny, sad, scary, erotic and mind-bending in equal measure, and above all it's truly, wonderfully perfect.
Gna.
Cemetery Man is an international co-production between Italy, France, Germany, and it’s one of the more unconventional horror films I’ve seen. The protagonist’s surname is Dellamorte, which is translated to English as ‘of Death’, and it’s revealed later in the film that his mother’s maiden name was Dellamore, which means ‘of Love’. This name tells you all you need to know about this character; his pursuit of love and contact with death makes up the fabric of this Michele Soavi-directed picture. Dellamorte’s desperate attempt at staying significant and his desire for some kind of meaning to life makes this a very existential experience.
This is a surprisingly touching movie. I say ‘surprising’ because on the surface there's very little reason…
La recomposición de un hombre descompuesto y Terroríficamente Muerto pasaba por quitarse el Vértigo En las montañas de la locura.
Cuanto más la veo, más alucino.
The living dead, but more about the dying living. Neo gialo? Maybe. Definitely my cuppa.
Scavenger Hunt #38
3/31
Task #2
This is a highly violent goth Italian dark comedy/horror B-movie that is wonderfully quotable, totally likable, and has a lot of heart buried down inside all the wacko craziness.
I don't understand half of what the fuck just happened but it was great. Who needs a plot when the writing and the lead characters are so endearing?
This film came recommended as a classic and unique horror film. It definitely qualifies as weird. With credits and title in Italian (Dellamorte Dellamore), but dialogue entirely in English, it's a confusing mishmash of both a parody of zombie films, and an existential French romance/drama. The first half is irregularly funny, with stretches of seeming seriousness, completely absurd scripting, and unintentional(?) hilarity. It feels and sounds very 80's and the plot never really goes anywhere. Every floating or flying object has a clearly visible string or wire attached to it. By the end, our hero has become an anti-hero, Death has told him to stop killing the dead, and a cliffhanger is left unresolved and unexplained. What starts out like Shaun of the Dead or Evil Dead, turns into an abstract French puzzler. It's quite silly, but don't expect coherence, meaning, value, or particularly good filmmaking.
A delightful movie, let down for me only by the comedy sidekick.
Don't judge it by the awful cover art on here, it's a hell of a lot better than that would suggest. Surprisingly too, is how good Rupert Everett is. I'm used to seeing him playing toffee nosed characters in period dramas, but here he is superb. A real treat for horror fans.
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