This 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray combo pack from Severin Films will be available for purchase on May 28th.
This reviewer has a long history with the English-language Italian feature Cemetery Man aka Dellamorte Dellamore. I attended its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival back in the day (it was part of the Midnight Madness program) with director Michele Soavi in attendance. The movie was a wild and impressive sight on the big screen, with plenty of unique subtext that was explained to audiences by the filmmaker in the Q&A session following its premiere. It was also well-received and ended up finding a North American distributor in the process.
Occasionally, a festival screening can make a bigger impression on viewers than it might with others, and this admittedly is a very eccentric zombie picture, mixing humor with more disturbing elements. However, as the years have passed, I have continued to write positively about it (even calling it one of the best of its genre in a book I wrote on the subject). After stepping away for some years and revisiting it in 4K Ultra HD through this new Severin Films release, I can confirm that its unique pull hasn’t wavered. The movie holds up extremely well and is one of the best genre efforts. The disc is also phenomenal, with a cleaner image than I can recall ever having seen before.
Here is an abridged version of what I wrote about Dellamorte Dellamore in my book from a little over 15 years ago…
Also known as Cemetery Man, this film was the last zombie movie made in Italy (at least, as of the time of this review’s publication) and one of its finest. Director Michele Soavi adapted a popular novel by Tiziano Sclavi (the main character is a kind of alter ego or relation of Dylan Dog, the title hero of Sclavi’s extraordinarily successful comic book series). His zombie epic is a beautifully shot, dreamlike mix of shocks, comedy, horror and social commentary.
Francesco Dellamorte (the appropriately cast Rupert Everett, to whom the look of Dylan Dog of modeled after) and his endearingly simple helper Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro) are caretakers of a small town cemetery in which the dead return after seven days and can be stopped only with a bullet (or impalement) to the head. Everett’s character, who refers to the zombies as “returners” is a bored apathetic loner who barely seems to register the strangeness of it all. At times, he can’t even be bothered to put down the phone while firing at the undead.
While he is amusingly droll, the townspeople, the opportunistic mayor, and the mourners at the cemetery are equally self-obsessed and unwilling to move on with their lives – so the caretaker purposely avoids them. But as the bullets continue to fly at the cemetery, our lead falls for a beautiful woman known only as “She” (Anna Falci), and when the relationship comes to a deadly end, his grip on reality begins to slip. He soon mutters strange things like, “The living dead and the dying living are all the same,” and ultimately begins coldly firing on the townspeople as well as the zombies. In the meantime, the sweet Gnaghi, who can’t even speak to women without getting nauseous, falls for a girl. After she is killed in a tragic auto accident, he attempts to befriend and win over her severed head.
There are definitely some outrageous and sometimes baffling moments in the film. To director Soavi, the film is about the fear of living. Francesco creates a dreamworld for himself within the cemetery. Protected from the outside world, he is unwilling to leave and grow up. Unfortunately, it all turns nightmarish when reality comes crashing in. The returners can, in a sense, be seen as the returning problems in Francesco’s life that just won’t go away, no matter how he tries to escape them.
Technically speaking, the film is gorgeous. There is incredible close-up photography, a 360-degree spinning camera shot, and slick smooth camera moves through the cemetery. Truth be told, there is something that is visually inventive in every scene and it really leaves a visual mark on the viewer. The returners have an interesting, earthy look; fused plant roots and branches often stand out dramatically against the gray cadavers. Viewers should watch for a group of zombie Boy Scouts whose teeth chatter in a most unsettling way as they stumble forward.
And so…
While there are elements that may confuse (the ending is very cryptic), this is wonderful horror/satire that will stay with the viewer long after the credits roll. The image quality on the disc is phenomenal, coming from a Soavi approved 4K scan from the Cinecitta negative. While being clearly shot on film, the sharper, crisper image reveals all sorts of great cemetery and background detail. Since the camerawork is already so striking, everything really pops on this release. I was made aware of one review complaining about grain, but I saw no evidence of this with my copy. The Blu-ray is excellent and the 4K Ultra HD disc is even stronger with beads of water and sign postings even clearer. It looks even more impressive than it did on the big screen back in the day, with much of the nighttime photography wowing and the daytime material looking so sharp that I was deeply impressed.
There are some wonderful extras included as well. This includes a detailed commentary from Soavi and screenwriter Gianni Romoli. They speak in Italian with English subtitles translating their comments on the screen. The pair have plenty of insightful things to say about the picture.
Soavi states that he wanted to keep a comic book feel to the proceedings and shot the movie in such a way as to try to match its appearance. He takes note of what a rough and cold shoot it was and admits that the budget they were given wasn’t really enough to shoot the script as written. Soavi talks about all the ways they attempted to shoot the movie as inventively as possible and mentions the importance of using as many practical effects on set as possible.
The director explains how thrilled he was that Everett agreed to star in the picture (also realizing that he was likely flattered that Sclavi was a fan and had modeled his Dylan Dog character after the actor). Romoli discusses translating the episodic book to a narrative feature and attempting to find a way to develop the story in a linear manner. The pair explain that the leads are essentially little kids who won’t grow up acting out. They also discuss how difficult it was to come up with an appropriate ending and how they came to the idea for the conclusion and shot it after principal photography had wrapped.
The pair also talk about the criticism they received, pointing out that some of the issues reviewers had with the emotionally stunted and at times violent male lead was actually the point of the story. His inability to emphasize with anyone other than Gnaghi was intentionally created to emphasize these disturbing, deep-seated flaws.
Additionally, interviews are included. There is a lengthy talk with Soavi, who goes over some of the ideas explained in the commentary and elaborates on them. He also talks about his relationship with Sclavi and his career prior to the film, which included being second unit director on Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. He says that the look of the statue of Death in his film was in some respects inspired by the character from the Gilliam project. He also talks about how pleased he was that the film seemed to be successful with audiences domestically and abroad (it was sold and released in many international territories).
There is also an enlightening discussion with star Rupert Everett, who is very proud of the movie and the fact that it still has a big following. He talks about his adoration of Italian cinema and how excited he was to work on the film, detailing his own experience shooting the picture.
Anna Falci is also very happy to talk about working on the picture with the cast and crew. And if that isn’t entertaining enough, there is a lengthy archival making-of presenting more interviews, as well as the film’s trailers for Italian and English audiences.
After owning a DVD of this picture for so long, I am thrilled to heartily recommend Severin Films’ 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray release of Cemetery Man aka Dellamorte Dellamore. They’ve brought the picture to new life and anyone familiar with it will be amazed by both the image quality and the extras, which provide further clarification of what the picture is all about and why it really makes an impression. I can’t recommend it enough to zombie fans, or horror enthusiasts in general. Pick it up!