The last great italian zombie movie (and if Dario Argento doesn't get his arse in gear possibly the last great italian horror movie) Michele Soavi's daring, blackly comedic, poetic gothic masterpiece is one of those films that once seen is never forgotten, shot with little consideration for realism it's fairy tale aura permeates everything from music to characterization, Rupert Everett plays Francesco Dellamorte (literally Frances of Death) whose Cemetery is overrun with the returning dead, a fact which doesn't so much concern him as upsets him as it means more work. Aided by his simple but loving friend Gnaghi and hindered by a beautiful woman "She", who seems to crop up all over the place even after dying; Dellamorte struggles to deal with the increasing numbers of walking corpses until he happens upon a plan, kill the living before they become the dead! Whilst this is a grim humoured film (Gnaghi becomes romantically involved with a severed head, a troup of scouts return from the grave) the most important thing here isn't being scared of the dead, but being afraid of being alive, Dellamorte shuts himself off from society, struggles to converse with the few people he does know and because of that is misunderstood by the townsfolk, despite warm blood running through his veins Dellamorte is more dead than the zombies who make his Cemetery their home, their is no outward solution to the problem because as long as he remains in that state of mind Dellamorte cannot escape the path he is willingly taking. Everett (picked as the lead because of his likeness to the character of Dylan Dog, the fumetti character this film is based on) delivers his lines with a pitch perfect match of dead pan and apathy. A truly astonishing cinematic experience Dellamorte, Dellamore is like George Romero taking on a Grimm Fairy Tale.
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