Cemetery Man

Cemetery Man (original Italian title: *Dellamorte Dellamore*) is a 1994 zombie comedy horror film directed by Michele Soavi. It stars Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, and Anna Falchi, and was produced by Tilde Corsi, Gianni Romoli, and Soavi. The film is an international co-production between Italy, France, and Germany, adapted from Tiziano Sclavi's novel *Dellamorte Dellamore*. Rupert Everett plays Francesco Dellamorte, the weary caretaker of a small Italian cemetery, who juggles a search for love with the constant need to fend off the dead as they repeatedly rise from their graves.

The story is set in the town of Buffalora, where Dellamorte lives in a dilapidated house on the cemetery grounds with his mentally disabled assistant, Gnaghi, whose only word is "Gna." Local punks spread rumors that Dellamorte is impotent. His pastimes include reading outdated phone directories and crossing out names of the deceased, as well as assembling a skull-shaped puzzle. The cemetery's gate bears the Latin inscription *RESURRECTURIS* ("For those who will rise again"), and indeed, some corpses reanimate as aggressive zombies within seven days of burial. Dellamorte destroys these "Returners" to prevent them from overrunning the town. The mayor, preoccupied with his reelection, ignores Dellamorte's requests for help. Dellamorte confides in his only friend, a municipal clerk named Franco, but never files the necessary paperwork, reasoning that shooting the zombies is simpler.

At a funeral, Dellamorte falls for the young widow of a wealthy elderly man. She is charmed when he shows her the ossuary. They consummate their relationship by her late husband's grave, but the husband rises and bites her. She appears to die, though the coroner calls it a heart attack. Dellamorte stays by her corpse and shoots her when she reanimates. Meanwhile, Gnaghi becomes infatuated with the mayor's teenage daughter, Valentina, who is decapitated in a motorcycle accident. Gnaghi digs up her reanimated head and begins a strange romance, which ends when the mayor discovers them and Valentina bites his throat, forcing Dellamorte to shoot her. The young widow rises again, making Dellamorte suspect she was never a true zombie and that he murdered her.