Michele Soavi’s Cemetery Man (1994) is neither your standard zombie movie, nor is it your typical Italian horror movie. Though a protégé of Dario Argento, Soavi departs from his mentor by being capable of crafting a film that actually makes narrative sense. More, it’s a film that builds to an actual climax—and a climax that’s consistent with the rest of the film. In fact, it’s a climax that’s established at the very start of the movie. On its simplest level, Cemetery Man is a surprisingly intelligent, beautifully crafted horror-comedy, and it’s quite possible to just leave it there and be satisfied. However, it’s equally possible—and more rewarding—to peel away at the layers of the film to get to the questions of identity, bonding and the nature of fate underneath.
Rupert Everett (who never seems to list the film in his credits) stars as Francesco Dellamorte, the keeper of a cemetery in a small Italian town. He has only one friend, Gnaghi (French actor François Hadji-Lazaro—something of a cross between Tor Johnson and “Krimi” star Adi Berber), who functions as his assistant. The job itself is complicated by a peculiarity of the cemetery—namely that the dead (well, some of them) come back to life as your average flesh-eating zombies. This has become so old hat that Francesco is awfully laid-back about it all—barely pausing in a phone conversation to shoot one. Life—and death—goes on till Francesco meets the woman of his dreams (in three embodiments, no less). There’s more, including a busload of Cub Scout-esque zombies, Gnaghi and the mayor’s dead daughter, and a small version of Tod Browning’s The Unknown (1927) with a twist worked into the plot. Some of it is very funny. All of it is compelling and weirdly beautiful.
I have this title on DVD. Several months ago, I had a couple of friends over and wanted to watch it (for the first time). After about 30 minutes, both of them fussed at me to stop it and put something else on, so I’ve yet to actually watch it. The replacement title they wanted to see was yet another title that I owned on DVD but had not watched; the title is MAY. I found that film quite weird and somewhat disturbing, although there were some funny (darkly so) lines in it (‘nice gams’).
I’ll watch Cemetary Man in its totality this weekend, in light of this review. Thanks.
Whoops, I meant ‘Cemetery Man’.
I’ll be interested to see what you think. I managed to screen it on the big screen for this review and found it even better than I remembered. Among other things, I simply like the way it’s made — the approach to the filming. I also like the fact that it truly does take a kind of existential — and occasionally irreverent — approach to horror. And I love things like the evocation of Magritte’s painting, The Lovers and Browning’s The Unknown. It’s far and away my favorite Italian horror picture, but that’s faint praise because I’m not a fan of Italian horror as a general rule.
This is one of my favorite films, hands down. I just happened to catch it on late night tele about ten years ago, and since then, I’ve been hooked. It’s quirky, dark, with some gothic undertones (which actually adds to the melancholy beauty of the film, even though I’m not into goth), but to me, the film really excells when it’s main character begins to grapple with the issues of isolation, identity, and existence. I’ve shown it to all new friends, I guess as part hazing and part missionary mindset, depending on how you look at it.
“existential- and occasionally irreverent- approach to horror.” I definitely agree.
I’ve often wondered what else Soavi has done, as I do like his work better than Argento and miles better than Lucio Fulchi (though Fulchi is good for a joke).
One question: I’ve looked up Dylan Dog, the comic the character was based on, and the novel the story was based on, but they’re not available in English. I’ve dissected the poem at the end, but I still don’t quite get it. What do you think the end means? I’d love to hear your opinion. If you don’t want to spoil it, I can email you about this. Thanks.
When I first saw the film, I had a friend of mine track down the then hard to find Soavi films The Church and The Sect and I didn’t respond to them at all in the same way I did Cemetery Man. I probably should try them again, but I kind of placed Soavi into the realm of one of those filmmakers who had one really great film and nothing else was likely to live up to it.
I’m not sure whether discussing the ending would spoil things for others. If you want to get into specifics, then it might be better to e-mail me, but in broad strokes, I’m not sure you’re ever going to get a full answer as to what it means. It seems to me to be more a case of an ending that works simply because it’s consistent with what the film has been from the onset — only that everything becomes progressively unreal as the story unfolds. I could put forth at least two or three readings of what it “means,” but I’m not sure any of them would be definitive. I actually think that’s part of the film’s fascination.
Soavi from what I remember dropped out of filmmaking to take care of his sick child, and since has done mainly tv work. It’s a damn shame because this film was his first where he stepped out of Argento’s shadow and made an amazing piece of work. One of the best zombie films ever, if you can call it a zombie film.
This is one of my favourite films of all time. I just love the way it’s ut together, it’s areally deep film that doesn’t force you to try and understand it, it just kind of leaves you guessing and you want to work it out, each time I watch it I find something new in it that I hadn’t noticed before. I think it’s very clever, not many people have succeeded in managing it, how it manages to be so clever and thought provoking whilst at the same time being a bit silly in places but not over the top silly and the humour in it is dark but unique. I can safely say that I have never seen a film that even comes close to being what this film is, there’s nothing like it and that just makes it all the more special because it is something new and more directors need to do that in my opinion. I’ve had a couple of freinds that haven’t really got the deeper things in the film because they found it hard to accept that a zombie film has meaning behind it but they sill enjoyed it which is good, it show it’s the sort of film that people can watch and get some enjoyment out of instead of being centered towards a specific group of people like just zomie film lovers or people that love foreign films. I would actually be really interested if a second one was made. I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t as good as the first as it’d be a very hard film to follow up but as log as it were kept in the same vein with the (even though I’ve used these words a few times I really can’t think of any other words that fit) deep meanings but the humour but not over the top on either, then I think it would be worth watching, I like a film that makes you think but isn’t in your face about it. Argh too much babble. Sorrow! Watch the film if you haven’t already!! :)
Never seen it, heard of it, after reading your review definitely renting it from netflix soon.