We’re pretty damned lucky to be living in an era where many of our favorite films are often featured at public screenings throughout the country, as well in other parts of the world. For many of an older age, this presents a drastic change from the days of having a film possibly see release at your local theater, only to have all your future viewings come courtesy of a televised broadcast or via home media, which often wasn’t until almost a year later. While not only helping the films find new fans, it also presents an opportunity for older fans to view the film on a big-screen and as part of an audience, something they may not have been able to do upon the film’s initial release.

Of course, the frequency of these screenings does tend to escalate around the Halloween season. You have already attended one yourself. Thankfully, our friend and returning contributor, Mathew Herndon, recently attended one such screening as it leads us to today’s film of discussion. Then again, I’m sure that Mat would have been a contributor this year had he not attended the screening.

Mat has been a part of the Halloween Horrors series since it began back in 2015. He was the first friend that I made through running Horror And Sons, and his friendship and support have continued over these last 9 years. So, as always, it’s an honor to welcome Mathew back to the series with today’s look at 1994’s Cemetery Man.

 

 

The stars aligned when I found out that Halloween Horrors was making its triumphant return. My local theater also happened to announce a screening of the 90s’ Italian classic, Cemetery Man (originally titled Dellamorte Dellamore). Seeing it with a good friend in one of my favorite auditoriums only added to the experience. 

 

 

My first encounter with this film was one of the foreign posters which I found in a zombie book that I had picked up as a young teen. My teenage self saw Anna Falchi in all her nude glory and knew he had to track down a copy of the film. Eventually, I stumbled onto a DVD (with the cool, but still less exciting American cover) at a local used video store. I am pretty sure that I counted that as a major life achievement at the time. 

On first watch, the movie lived up to the promise of “zombies, guns, and sex… oh my!” I had never seen anything quite like it. It was goofy, bloody, and strange, but with an odd mix of romance. Of course, teenage Mat loved seeing Anna Falchi in all her nude glory. It was the strange mix of humor and romanticism that caused me to give multiple viewings.

The plot is centered around a cemetery caretaker by the name of Francesco Dellamorte. For unspecified reasons, the dead rise approximately seven days after their deaths. Francesco takes matters in his own hands and puts the “returners” (as he calls them) back to rest, usually with a gunshot to the head. Along the way, he falls for the unnamed widow of the dead. After what feels like ten minutes, they end up having relations on the grave of her deceased husband.

By way of some very unfortunate circumstances, the beautiful unnamed widow dies. Lucky for him (or maybe unlucky for him), Francesco finds love (or maybe lust) again in the form of a doppelganger. Things go poorly again for Francesco. The man is persistent in love, however, when he is given a third shot with yet another doppelganger, three times would not be a charm. After all is said and done, he is left alone to ponder what is life without love. This sends Dellamorte into a spiral of gun-blasting fury where he begins taking down anyone with or without a pulse.

Watching it on the big screen offered a new feeling, however. Of course, I enjoyed everything I had previously, but this time I noticed it had just a bit more to offer. It wasn’t just guns, boobs, and zombies that caught my attention. There is a cautionary tale of the differences between love and lust among the humor, sex, and zombies. One of my favorite horror tropes has always been the negative effects of sex and lust. Cemetery Man handles that trope in a way that feels like the Halloween episode of a television show. It seems the very moment Francesco is faced with lust, things become sinister. Growing up, that seemed to be the lesson with most horror movies I watched during the Halloween season. If you think with your sexy parts before thinking with your heart, you are guaranteed to end up on the slasher’s body count. 

Going forward, I see this transitioning from an occasional watch to a “must see” every spooky season. I am a sucker for a horror movie that has a little more going on than just the cool kills and hot bodies. There is something magical about a movie that offers nudity, violence, humor, as well as life lessons on “love versus lust” and whether or not life is worth living without love.  If you haven’t seen Cemetery Man or remember it as just goofy and silly, give it another watch if you get the chance.