Cemetery Man was one of those films I caught kind of randomly on cable during college. It’s a weird one, for sure, but I’ve always loved it.
It tells the increasingly bizarre story of a graveyard keeper, Francesco Dellamorte, who’s found that his job now entails putting the dead back in the ground after they rise up a few days after they’ve died the first time.
It’s mostly just him and his assistant, Gnaghi, and life is… okay. Even with the dead coming back, things are still pretty routine and low key.
Dellamorte isn’t the brightest guy around, he knows it. But he’s good at what he does and, for the most part, that’s enough for him.
Until he falls in love.
With a mourner at a grave.
It doesn’t go well at first. But then he shows her his ossuary and things take a turn. Seems she’s got a particular interest in death. It could very well be a match made in heaven.
Except there’s nothing heavenly about Dellamorte’s life. He new squeeze’s ex takes some amount of umbrage at their amorous moves atop his grave and, well… things take a tragic turn.
And from that point forward, it’s one tragic turn after another for Dellamorte and Gnaghi. Love and death, intertwined to a ridiculous, cyclical extent.
This film is a dark, comedic, gothic romance.
Dellamorte’s voice overs and dialog is a goth kid’s dream of ethereal dark philosophy and longing. The other characters in the town are utterly oblivious and incompetent compared to Dellamorte (really, compared to anyone). That means all of their dialog is kind of silly and, in the context of the story, quite amusing and full of social commentary on life in “the world” as opposed to within the walls of the cemetery.
There’s one point where the new mayor pulls up and sees Dellamorte and Gnaghi stringing barbed wire atop the cemetery gates and asks “Do they climb in there at night?” to which Dellamorte flatly replies, “No, but sometimes they try to climb out.” Of course the mayor doesn’t get it.
There’s no question this is an Italian horror film that’s maybe half a step away from just being an art film. If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll love this.
- Cemetery Man – October 12, 2026
- V/H/S/Mixtape – October 10, 2026
- Carrie (2026 Series) – October 10, 2026
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