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.

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.

Top 5 zombie flix for sure.

Some wild visuals and moments, but inane to fault. The characters are largely insufferable.

2018 Horror x52 challenge
Zombies

Italians are more intense than I thought.

And it just gets better every time I watch it. It is truly a shame that Soavi left horror but what an awesome swansong.

Categorically, I'm not a fan of Italian horror. Same thing with Korean horror. There's something about how these cultures handle visual storytelling that just doesn't work for me. And that's exactly how I feel about the first 30 minutes or so of Cemetery Man.

But then Gnaghi throws up on the mayor's daughter and it's like the starter's pistol for insanertainment. Almost as if Peter Jackson donated his Dead Alive deleted scenes to this movie. When that motorcycle rockets out from the grave it's like we're suddenly in the lost Halloween episode of Miami Vice.

Other Letterboxd users have found deeper meaning here that eludes me, but after a good 20 years since having first watched this movie, I can say that I enjoyed it enough this time to want to revisit it again soon.

Favorite line: "I'd give my life to be dead."

An insane and insanely unique Italian Horror/Comedy/Romantic/Drama/Thriller with surrelaists elements and excellent gore that defies easy categorization. A fiercly original film overflowing with ideas from artists who have clearly torn up the rule-book and lit it on fucking fire. There’s so much to unpack in the dense 1hr 45 min runtime, I feel like I’ll have to return to it a few more times to begin to sort it all out. Seriously great stuff.

Such a strange and beautiful film. It's a shame Soavi didn't make more films. This is one of his best.

Wha - !