Cemetery Man
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Movie Reviews of Cemetery Man
Movie Review: :)
Summary: 5 Stars
:) YEAH DUDE!!!!!
WILDLY CREEPY AND SCARY FOR A FAMILY PARTY ON MIDNIGHT!!!
YEEHAW!!!!
Movie Review: When Your Destiny Revolves Around Zombies, Love Can Bite.
Summary: 4 Stars
Yea, I'm reviewing another Italian horror film. My first review of such a film (Demons) has been a wild suck-sess. Even though I actually enjoyed it, people didn't like me pointing out the proverbial toilet paper stuck to its proverbial shoes. So, I got hammered with "No" votes. As always; that's cool (by no coincidence, most of those votes piled on after I wrote a review of "Pan's Labyrinth"; my crowning achievement!). Well, here we go again. I saw some toilet paper coming out of the pants this time. The good news is this film was trying to be comical to a certain degree. The bad news; it took itself a little too seriously to be funny. However, this movie isn't that simple (or as complex as it tried to be). Let me explain...
- RACCONTO (story)(mild spoilers)
This film is not so deliberate that its purpose is obvious. The plot revolves around "The Cemetery Man" and his mundane, day to day existence blowing the heads off of zombies and the fact that this is his sole purpose in life. Whenever he decides to divide himself from his work (i.e.; have steamy sex and fall in love) the inevitable result is death of some sort. We and he eventually have to resolve ourselves to the fact that, no matter how many chances he gets, it's just not going to work out. As you could imagine, this is a bleak and numbing existence that takes its toll on our "Hero". This point is made in not so subtle ways, even when we get to the bizarre impressionistic ending. On the other side is his buddy, Gnaghi, who finds love despite destiny due to less than discriminating tastes. Of course, he's not the boss and tragically must succumb to destiny's pecking order. I liked the way this started, but about two thirds through it took directions that started to suck the fun out of it for me. The story fulfilled its destiny, but I didn't enjoy its uneven changes in pacing and style.
-IMPRESSIONISTIC HORROR COMEDY?
By the end of this film, I asked myself that question. Before the end, it would have never occurred to me this was the goal. This film starts out with a bang (you know; like the ones in all the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti-westerns?) and muddles its quirky way along as a somewhat sublime soft-core, zombie comedy (though it's not really that funny even by dark-humor standards). Later, "Cemetery Man" becomes a film about a sociopath fulfilling his destiny. In the end it falls off the impressionistic deep end, quite literally (is that possible?). Of course it all has a point and it all makes sense, but it could not avoid appearing disjointed. It was very entertaining in early stages with lots of bizarre zombie mayhem. Unfortunately the pace of the film slows down, then gets slower and then takes some strange turns. It's all pretty dark and ludicrous but not particularly funny, unless you find the emotional suffering of others funny.
-DELIBERANDO MAGNIFICO! (Magnificent acting!)
Well, not really "Magnificent" (I just wanted to use "MAGNIFICO") but it was usually pretty darn good. Rupert Everett was an excellent choice for the lead; tall, handsome, brooding and edgy with a quirkiness that fit the role. Anna Falchi and her "chesticles" were, um, IS his main squeeze. Her characters (Yea, she plays more than one) are pivotal and shallow all at the same time. This actually works when you consider how this movie plays out. François Hadji-Lazaro is Gnaghi; Rupert's simpleton assistant and beloved friend. Like most mute characters, he is a very sympathetic figure (Fairly disgusting as well). The rest of the cast serves it purpose without negative effect.
-MORE ZOMBIES, PLEASE?
I'm way behind on my Italian zombie films (this being the first I've seen). However, they clearly have a talent for this genre. These might have been some of the more creative and interesting zombies I've seen in a film. Not overdone (like in "Resident Evil 3) and well acted, these zombies keep you asking for more. The head carnage in this film is also top notch, believable and very entertaining. Unfortunately, the cool zombies and the ensuing carnage fade into the background of the story. Perhaps this is where my less than excited mood comes from. If some way could have been found to keep the zombie's more integral to the story, I might have maintained my enthusiasm.
- IL FILM IL DESTINO. ("The film's destiny" according to "Google")
"Cemetery Man" has nice production values and some nice creepy atmosphere. The actors did a good job and the Zombie carnage was first rate. As cool and interesting as this film started out, no amount of sex, grossness or murder could keep my enthusiasm going as the story moved away from the great "zombie pest control" theme. I understood where the story was going; I was just disappointed in how we got there. There is nothing of note good or bad for the DVD release as I didn't pay much for it and had no problems with it. The film appeared to be shot in English with post production dubbing. There is plenty to like in this film, just don't be surprised if you lose interest or become disappointed as it progresses.
Concept........4.5 stars
Zombie fade...2 stars
Movie Review: Cool Stuff
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been waiting to see this movie for years, as they've been telling us that a DVD release was just around the corner forever, so I never sprung for used VHS copy or bootleg, and, once again, it proved worth the wait. I'm not quite as in love with this film as some genre fans, but it's definitely a very good movie, and easily one of the most original and unique horror movies of the 90's.
Now, I should note that this is only a horror movie in the loosest sense. It qualifies as one mainly because it is so rooted in the form and conventions of the genre, even if it doesn't use these things in the conventional way i.e. in an attempt ot be frightening. Black comedy is perhaps a better description, filtered through a vaguely surrealist, contemporary and darkly fantastic universe. (I've heard this film compared to Terry Gilliam, not with out reason, and Tim Burton is another effective point of reference.) Still, on the other hand, it primarily takes place in a cemetery and involves a lot of zombies and exploding heads and whatnot, so it's pretty tough to deny it the horror label as well.
'Cemetery Man' is quite simply one of the most plotless films I've seen. It simply lurches forward from one scenario to the next with no apparent thru line whatsoever. The premise is like this: Francesco Dellamorte is the caretaker of the cemetery of Buffalora, a small, rural town presumably found in Italy. Oddly enough, corpses have begun to rise from their graves approximately one week after they die, though Francesco sees no particular reason to alert anyone to this problem. (He, correctly, notes that it's just easier for him to shot them himself.) The film basically follows his day to day life, as he deals with the epidemic and continually philosophizes while occasionally and spontaneously falling in love with women. People love to talk about Italian horror films having a `dream-logic', and they're usually full of crap. I've never bought that most of these films are generally self-consciously disjointed, it's just that they have priorities greater than making a coherent plot. This time, however, it is obvious that this was deliberately designed to be as wandering and inexplicable as it is. Still, the film is built from numerous intriguing scenes, so it works even if it doesn't add up to that much.
Anyway, this is a heavily character driven affair, and Rupert Everett's Francesco Dellamorte is wholly at the center of the film. The success of the movie is heavily reliant on the audience's ability to like him, or at least be interested in him. Fortunately, Francesco is a great character and Everett does a fine job with him, making him a strangely cynical romantic and delivering all his sharp one-liners with just the right attitude. (Now, a handful of these cracks are a bit too on the nose, I think, but they're quite clever in general.) Francesco's assistant, the monosyllabic Gnaghi, who functions more as a pet than as a person, also proves to be surprisingly endearing, probably even moreso than Francesco himself. Other than them we've got a few more amusing types, such as Francesco's one other friend, Franco, who seems normal, but perhaps isn't, the electioneering mayor of Buffalora and the clueless detective sent in to investigate the series of murders that occur later in the film. On the weaker side are the three women played by Anna Falchi, but that's to be expected as they serve a different function from most of the other characters, as they're all Francesco's ill-fated love interests. (Though, it must be noted that whoever it is that dubbed Falchi's voice isn't much of an actress. Also, Anna Falchi looks like a fish. This, arguably, doesn't matter, but I felt like mentioning it.)
Beyond the various oddball characters, 'Cemetery Man' is simply a visually splendid film. Soavi showed that he could shoot and stage scenes effectively in 'Stagefright' and (especially) 'The Church', but he really takes things to the next level here, with innumerable oddball shots and great, elaborate set design. The cemetery itself looks especially great, and it comes off as something of a parody of your traditional horror movie cemetery, as it is so exaggeratedly ominous and foggy. On the downside, the many zombies generally don't look so hot, and the gore fx is often surprisingly shoddy. Perhaps this is intentional, as the film is mainly just trying to be bizarre and surreal rather than frightening, but I still wish they looked better.
Despite the severe lack of a central plot, `Cemetery Man' actually manages to build somewhat, ending with some of the darker, more intriguing scenes, and finally concluding with the fairly baffling finale. The ending will probably irritate some, but I liked it.
It's hard to say who this movie will play to, but its got quite a cult-following by now. A taste for Italian horror is certainly a plus, but you'll also probably need to like some ultra-black comedy and self-consciously goofy, contemporary fantasy. If you like all that, I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't enjoy `Cemetery Man'
Grade: B+
Movie Review: Zombos Closet of Horror Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Rupert Everett plays Francesco Dellamorte, the forlorn, laconic caretaker of the Buffalora Cemetery, aided by a Curly-esque, dim-bulb--but frenetic--sort of individual called Gnaghi. One slight annoyance, or nightly chore--if you will--is that they have to keep the newly buried dead underground. For reasons never mentioned, the dead keep wanting to stay undead. (Mr. Soavi, as noted in the IMDb trivia for the film, explains that these 'returners' are brought back to life by the mandragola roots that permeate the grounds of the cemetery. But that really doesn't tell us why, does it?)
So Francesco and Gnaghi are kept rather busy returning the dead to where they belong--in the ground. To assist with this endeavor, Francesco keeps a revolver, which he uses liberally to shoot the dead, well, dead again. To complicate matters, Francesco refuses to let the town authorities know what is happening in the cemetery for fear he may lose his job, along with having to fill out all that bureaucratic paperwork. One aspect of all this bizarre supernatural activity that provides a bit of tension is that we never know, as Francesco and Gnaghi never know, which returners are going to take a few bites out of them, and which returners are just anxious to get back to their daily living routine (but really shouldn't, considering hygiene and all).
Francesco's night life, shooting and reburying dead people, is more interesting than anything else he does during the day, and that is a sad commentary on his existentialistic existence. For a man whose favorite pastime is reading the phone book, and who observes one day that "At a certain point in life you realize you know more dead people then living," things are not going all that well. But how can he get out of his doldrums?
It is at this point that the voluptuous She enters his life. The woman, as played by Anna Falchi. He meets her during her husband's funeral. He is captivated by her beauty. Francesco does what he can to get closer to her, but it is when he shows her his ossuary--interesting double-entendre here--that she begins to fall passionately in love with him. It is here that the use of billowing cloth becomes most apparent as they embrace and kiss through the cloth. Billowing cloth appears throughout the film, and combined with the cinematography of long perspectives and close-ups, lends an impressionistic feel to the odd events surrounding Francesco. The ossuary itself is a wonderfully eerie and claustrophobic tomb filled with intertwined skulls, bones, earth and huge mandragola roots, suffused in a brownish-gold light. In the documentary, it is explained that the set was constructed in layers, then put together to create the finished look. It is quite a work of horrific art indeed.
As daylight fades and the night comes, blue ghost lights dance around Francesco and the woman. Soon both he and the woman are making love over her dead husbands' grave. Her husband, of course, is not pleased, and attacks them, killing his wife before Francesco can stop him. This being Buffalora Cemetery, however, she soon returns in her billowing death shroud to make passionate love again with Francesco. A little decomposition doesn't get in the way of his ardor, but her biting a rather large chunk out of his neck does. He makes sure she does not return this time.
Adding insult to injury, a busload of scouts, the mayor's fun-loving daughter, and fun-loving but careless motorcyclists, get mashed up on the roadway in a nasty accident, and soon fill up the cemetery, providing both Francesco and Gnaghi with much work to keep the mangled returners sedentary. Gnaghi, who does have some personal issues, takes a fancy to the mayor's daughter's head, and he soon has it out of the grave and into his apartment. She also takes a fancy to Gnaghi, and soon the two are singing and chatting up a storm.
The film shifts from absurdity to surrealism as Francesco begins to see the woman he loves in other women. Oh, and the meeting he has with Death I suppose I should mention also. Death is rather miffed that he keeps sending the dead back to the grave, so Death tells him it would be better if he just killed the living instead.
Francesco's existentialist angst spirals out of control, and he finally seeks escape from it all. Packing a few belongings, and Gnaghi, into the car, he heads out of the town, through a long tunnel, and into the outside world. Or does he? Has he found a resolution to his problems by trying to escape them?
I dare you to watch this film only once.
Movie Review: Is it a thought provoking zombie yes
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is sort of out there and you won't even be able to comprehend it at any levels for quite a while. I'm not saying that this isn't a good movie but boy, you don't know exactly what you are getting yourself into once you see this. This highly entertaining little zombie movie from Italy has all the elements that make it a wonderfully dark horror-comedy in the same vein as Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and An American Werewolf in London.
In Michele Soavi's confusing art-house zombie film, Dellamorte Dellamore, Rupert Everett plays Francesco, a caretaker in a cemetery where the dead don't stay buried for long. Aided by his simple assistant, Gnaghi, Francesco deals with the cemetery's zombie problem by either shooting the undead in the head or splitting their skulls with a spade. However, soon after falling for the mysterious beautiful widow of one of his recently interred, Francesco finds himself busier than ever before...
I probably shouldn't categorize it as just a "zombie movie" because it contains friendship, love and one man's struggle to escape his destiny. It 's not just another empty hack & slash movie with no heart. No, there's clever dialogue and good performances here. For example, the relationship between Dellamorte and his faithful assistant Naghi is both touching and quite funny.
Visually, the film is outstanding. The moody, surreal gothic sets really enhance the fright factor of the movie. There is also some neat camera work that invokes a few "WOW's." There are however a few scenes that are hard to watch that, ironically, don't even involve the zombies (ex: Naghi throwing up on the Mayor's daughter). Overall though, this movie is FUN! I mean, really: the subject matter is about a cemetery caretaker killing zombies - is this something we encounter in our daily lives? Probably not. So why not make it stylish and funny and something our brains can appreciate - even in its absurdity.