Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Cemetery Man 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 22, 2024

Some of you may remember the rather provocative ending of the long running medical series St. Elsewhere, where it was at least implied that the entire show had been the figment of an autistic child transfixed by a toy snow globe with a hospital inside it. Without posting overt spoilers, let's just say that this film both begins with and then has a similarly baffling windup which rather improbably again features characters in a snow globe, though whose snow globe it may be in this case, or at least how it really pertains to the story, may be something of a mystery. Cemetery Man bears the on screen title Dellamorte Dellamore, which is the same title of the source novel by Tiziano Sclavi that at least partially inspired it (other inspiration was drawn from a Sclavi horror comic which was itself adapted as Dylan Dog: Dead of Night ). Though Dylan Dog was ultimately picked up for an English language version by a publishing house that's actually in my very neck of the woods, Dark Horse (located in a suburb of my hometown Portland called Milwaukie), I've never read an issue and it doesn't look like the novel version of Dellamorte Dellamore has even been translated into English as of the writing of this review, and so I can't authoritatively state whether Sclavi's original formulation contains some of the peculiarities of Gianni Romoli's screenplay, but suffice it to say an enigmatic wrap up featuring a snow globe is just one oddity in a film virtually stuffed full of oddities.

The original Italian title of both the novel and film can be roughly translated as "of death, of love", though it's salient to note that the focal cemetery caretaker is named Francesco (or Francis in the subtitles) Dellamorte (Rupert Everett), who jokes (?) in some opening monologue narration that he recognizes how weird the name "Francis of Death" sounds and that he's considered changing it, which of course then leads to a punch line where he discloses it's his first name that he'd alter. Francesco is beset with a rather peculiar "issue" at the cemetery in the village of Buffalora, namely the distressing fact that various corpses reanimate a week after their burial and need, in true zombie fashion, to be either shot or impaled through the head to finally kill them. Francesco, not wanting to deal with local bureaucracies, hasn't reported this situation, and instead simply "offs" the culprits as they stumble around. Occasionally he's almost helped by his evidently developmentally disabled assistant Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro), who tends to "speak" only in monosyllabic grunts.

When a gorgeous young widow identified only as She (Anna Falchi) shows up at the funeral of her very elderly late husband, Francesco is instantly smitten, though his understandable concern over whether this latest "inhabitant" of his workplace is going to spring back to life in a week makes his first interchanges with the gorgeous woman a bit on the awkward side. Francesco finally manages to catch her attention a few days later when he mentions the cemetery has an ossuary, something the woman finds fascinating. As things so often tend to do when ossuaries are involved, the two end up consummating their new relationship, on the dead husband's grave, at which point the corpse unsurprisingly does poke up through the ground, evidently killing his young wife with a zombie like bite to the neck. What's poor hapless Francesco to do?

What ensues is an increasingly nightmarish escapade involving Francesco and what turns into a triple whammy of Vertiginous shenanigans with Falchi playing three roles. Meanwhile, Gnaghi has embarked on his own perilous love affair with the disembodied head of Valentina (Fabiana Formica), the unfortunate daughter of Buffalora's mayor (Stefano Masciarelli). Valentina was just one of several young victims of a horrifying calamity which then confronts Francesco with a veritable horde of Walking Dead to contend with.

All of this would have been more than enough to probably mystify many, but starting with the weird doppelgängers portrayed by Falchi and continuing on to what almost turns into a slasher film (albeit with bullets in the place of blades), and then the ultimately completely gonzo finale, Cemetery Man slips increasingly into a bizarre liminal state that is part wonder, part horror. By the time Francesco and Gnaghi seem to be two isolated characters in some kind of existential limbo, the story almost plays like a weird riff on Waiting for Godot. In a snow globe.

Cemetery Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 presentation in this package. A 1080 standalone release is linked to directly below.

Cemetery Man is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Severin Films with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.67:1. This package also includes a 1080 presentation of an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1, which is also available from Severin as a standalone release. The back cover states this is "a Soavi approved 4K scan from the Cinecitta negative". This is yet another dual 4K / 1080 release where I wouldn't be surprised if some prefer the lower resolution version due to some at times thick, yellow grain. This particular set of transfers, however, tends to offer that clumpy, chunky quality intermittently, rather than all of the time. Some of the brightly lit outdoor material offers a more tightly resolved grain field, and the 4K UHD version pops magnificently, with some pronounced emphasis on primaries in particular that aren't quite as vivid in an already excellent 1080 presentation from Severin. Note, for example, the sudden burst of red fabric in the ossuary scene, which in the 4K UHD version almost jumps right off the screen in frames that are otherwise noticeably more sepia hued than in Severin's 1080 presentation. The film is full of old style composited effects, and grain understandably spikes, sometimes quite aggressively, during many of these sequences, something that tends to be only more noticeable with the increased resolution of the 4K UHD version. Fine detail is often exceptional on practical sets, props and costumes, barring any intermediary optical effects, and frankly even some of the optical effects, like Valentina's flying cranium, offer at least decent detail levels. There are a few noticeably rough moments in passing in both 4K UHD and 1080, including a kitchen scene shortly after the 50 minute mark that has somewhat degraded visuals. HDR / Dolby Vision aid in shadow definition in particular, if not necessarily quite as much in radically changing the overall palette.

Cemetery Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Cemetery Man features a nice array of audio options, including Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, all in English, as well as a Dolby Digital 2.0 rendering in Italian. There's frankly not a whale of a lot of difference between the Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, but you can hear occasional slight mixing and/or channelization variations, as in the very early knock on Francesco's door by one of the pesky walking dead types. Surround activity is best in some of the effects sequences, including the daffy lovemaking scene in the cemetery and, later, a lot of the equally daffy stuff with Valentina's head. The energetic scene leading up to the demise of Valentina and several other characters also offers some good engagement of the surround channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Cemetery Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: For those interested, Severin released a website exclusive release that contains another bonus 1080 disc as well as a soundtrack CD.

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary by Director Michele Soavi and Screenwriter Gianni Romoli is in Italian with English subtitles.


• Italian Trailer (UHD; 2.:22) still features the English language version of the film.


• English Trailer (UHD; 1:43)

1080 Disc

• Audio Commentary by Director Michele Soavi and Screenwriter Gianni Romoli is in Italian with English subtitles.


• All the Graves (HD; 35:49) is an interview with Michele Soavi. Subtitled in English.


• Of Love and Death (HD; 20:37) is an interview with Rupert Everett.


• She (HD; 24:15) is an interview with Anna Falchi. Subtitled in English.


• Archival Making Of (HD; 18:32)

Cemetery Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Michele Soavi is often "summarized" vis a vis his relationship with other filmmakers like Dario Argento, but Cemetery Man proves what a stylish helmsman he was himself. This is one of my favorite performances by Rupert Everett, who either wittingly or unwittingly comes off to me personally almost as self parodying at times. The fact that this character in its original graphic novel form was evidently based on Everett (appearance wise) gives this enterprise a fun "meta" aspect as well. The story is outré to the point of reaching flat out gonzo levels by the time that aforementioned snow globe shows up to bookend things. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.