Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

In 1978, George Romero threw down the gauntlet with Dawn of the Dead, almost unanimously championed as the greatest zombie movie of all time. Almost immediately horror filmmakers - particularly Italians - started churning out imitations. Some of these movies, particularly those directed by Lucio Fulci, are fairly interesting, but it was sixteen years before a really good, non-imitative Italian zombie movie was released.

Based on a novel by Tiziano Sclavi, creator of the Dylan Dog comic books, and directed by Michele Soavi, a protege of Dario Argento, Dellamorte Dellamore (or Cemetery Man, as it is known Stateside) is easily the best zombie movie since Dawn of the Dead. It's also one of the most unusual, original and accomplished horror movies in at least that long.

Rupert Everett stars as Francisco Dellamorte, a cemetery worker whose duties mostly consist of exterminating the recent dead, who have a habit or returning seven days after being buried. He is assisted by Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro), a grotesque looking seemingly-mute, seemingly-mentally handicapped fellow who may have more going on than it first appears. Dellamorte finds himself obsessed with Anna Falchi, billed as "She" and playing three roles. Beyond this, the movie's narrative is impossible to summarize without going into specific details that you're better off discovering for yourself - and even then they'd be hard to describe. When I describe Dellamorte Dellamore as "original" I am not using hyperbole; you have never seen anything like this movie.

There are a lot of different elements to the movie, which works on several different levels. It manages to be horrific, sexy, funny, philosophical, romantic, grotesque, and satirical. Everett is great as the unhinged, obnoxious antihero. Falchi is mostly stunningly gorgeous, but acquits herself nicely as an actor too. Hadji-Lazaro is outstanding as Gnaghi; without any words other than the occasional "Gnah," he makes the character lovable, sinister, tragic and - most of all - hilarious. I had not previously heard of him, but he is apparently a French punk musician, and has turned up in a few movies, such as The City of Lost Children, which I am going to have to re-watch to look for him.

I am not familiar with the novel the movie is based on, but I have read a number of Sclavi's Dylan Dog comics, and Dellamorte Dellamore has a lot of the same tone as those comics; his dark, surreal sense of humour translates beautifully to film. Many people have claimed that Dellamorte Dellamore is based on Dylan Dog, but this is not true; it is based on a novel Sclavi wrote before creating the comic. Probably this confusion arises from the fact that the character of Dylan Dog is visually based on Rupert Everett - let's hope he gets to star in an actual Dylan Dog movie one day.

As well as Sclavi, the movie's sense of humour seems to owe quite a bit to the early films of the New Zealand director Peter Jackson, particularly Braindead (released in the U.S. as Dead Alive). Jackson's film are known for their cheerful attitude to extreme splatter, and Dellamorte Dellamore certainly has that.

I would recommend Dellamorte Dellamore to any horror movie fan without reservation. I'd also recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different. To fans of Italian zombie movies, it is essential. Hell, I recommend it to anyone I know and most people I don't. Soavi finally stepped out of Argento's shadow with this movie and made his own stamp on the genre. It's also his last movie to date; I hope he's got something else brewing.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age