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Critics Consensus: Cemetery Man will frustrate viewers seeking narrative cohesion or coherence, but this surreal blend of humor and horror should satisfy B-movie fans in the mood for quirk.
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Critic Consensus: Cemetery Man will frustrate viewers seeking narrative cohesion or coherence, but this surreal blend of humor and horror should satisfy B-movie fans in the mood for quirk.
All Critics (27) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (10) | DVD (8)
[it is] far closer to the hermetic enigmas of Last Year in Marienbad and the snowglobe microcosms of Citizen Kane than to more generic fare, and the result is an elegantly eccentric folly - playful, perplexing and paradoxical in equal measure.
This over-rated film has developed an undeserved cult reputation, based on a handful of good elements; ufortunately, there is no plot, so all you need to see is the trailer or, at most, the first fifteen minutes.
"Cemetery Man" (1994) is a quirky blend of romance, lust, surrealism, horror, and black comedy which transcends the work of better-known Italian horror maestros like Dario Argento thanks to its grotesquely humorous bent.
The film leans into modern comedy, but it also passes through moments of genuine longing and even existential crisis.
...[peppered] with one incomprehensible sequence after another...
Its appeal is mostly to an audience that can appreciate its gross-out camp humor and can overlook that it's a pointless exercise.
Monstrosity.
Has a satirical undercurrent that's easy to miss; I think this is where the film is most intelligent.
Like Shaun of the Dead as rewritten by Eugène Ionesco.... Has the surface qualities of a spoof, but none of its comfy core.
a blend of zombie gore, sex scenes, and tongue-in-cheek comedy
Overrated gross-out film. Never too gross, and never too funny.
Gets my vote for the best Italian horror movie I’ve ever seen.
Cemetery Man is a fine comedy horror film that is effectively directed by horror master Michele Soavi, who has made his mark in Italian horror by directing La Chiesa (The Church). Soavi crafts yet another memorable horror film that is a very entertaining and is sure to delight zombie film fans. The film has everything that you'd expect from Italian horror films is here, and the film, though not perfect is a must see for genre fans. The film has enough gore and effective genre elements to keep you interested and delivers something amusing on-screen. Cemetery Man is good for what it is, but it is not the best effort from director Soavi, who has made far better pictures in the 80's. As a whole, take this film as a mindless picture that will manages to overcome its imperfections by giving zombie fans plenty of undead carnage on-screen. The plot may be at times lacking, but with a film like this, the zombies are all that matters and Michel Soavi direction gives viewers plenty to enjoy despite its flaws. Cemetery Man is not the greatest of Italian zombie pictures, but it definitely isn't the worst. This film was deemed to be a Comedy horror film; the comedic tone of the film is flat and virtually nonexistent and the film's material has a much darker tone in retrospect. I enjoyed the film, but like I said, Soavi made far better films, but overall this is an underrated film that deserves to be revisited by genre fans. The film is bizarre enough to make it a worthwhile viewing experience. Cemetery Man is a unique zombie offering, one that is sure to delight fans who are looking for good gore and zombie mayhem.
Super Reviewer
Groundskeeper Francesco Dellamorte works at an Italian cemetery where the major part of his duties is to shoot zombies in the head as they rise from the grave; the normalcy of his daily routine is wrecked when he falls in love with a beautiful widow, sees a vision of death, and has to cope with his mute assistant's romance with an underage severed head. It's a lazy cliche to describe a surreal movie as "it's [insert name of familiar movie] on acid," but I'll do it anyway: DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE is DAWN OF THE DEAD on acid.
"I'd give my life to be dead." Cemetery Man is definitely the weirdest "zombie movie" I've ever seen. Whether that's a good thing or not depends solely on the individual viewer. A cemetery caretaker and his big, mono-syllabic assistant watch over a graveyard where some of the dead have a habit of crawling out of their caskets seven days after they die and attempting to munch on the living. A beautiful widow (seriously, Anna Falchi is stunning in this and fortunately you get to see a lot of her) interrupts the duo's nightly routine of headshots and re-burial, and things quickly get even weirder. Cemetery Man is campy at times, there's lots of old school gore, black humor, murder sprees, a supernatural reoccurring love story, odd characters and shifts in tone (the first half is VERY different from the latter half). Imagine an Italian Army of Darkness meets David Lynch and penis injections (you'll have to see it to understand). Actually, "you'll have to see it to understand" is the best review I can give this movie.
Interesting (if not fully unique) premise, wonderful sets and location shots and a very dashing young Rupert Everett as our "hero". This film knows exactly what it is (slightly creepy, often ammusing and totally cheesey) and just has fun being THAT. No delusions of grandure here.
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