Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)

 

If you're up for a completely surreal trip, where nothing makes sense yet the imagery is so captivating, you can't help but stare at the screen in wonder and awe?

Then have I the film for you!

Oh, and there are also zombies. 

Directed by horrorlegend Michele Soavi, this is the adaptation from a novel by Tiziano Sclavi and like the title suggests, it has a lot to do with ideas and balances between love and death. Heady concepts, to be certain, but you will get those in rather humorous fashion throughout this one instead of drab and boring exposé. Our star is Rupert Everett, who plays Francesco Dellamorte. He is the caretaker of the cemetery in the town of Buffalora. His life would be rather boring, if the dead didn't come back to life after about seven days, which is why Dellamorte has to shoot them in the head to make sure they stay dead this time. He has an assistant called Gnaghi, who only communicates by saying: "Gna!" in various tones. 

Dellamorte is always incredibly bored with his job, but he wouldn't know what else to do. One day, he sees a mysterious woman (Anna Falchi) and he instantly falls in love with her. He tries to win her over, but through some twist of fate it turns out she only gets aroused because of death. But while making love on top of the grave of her recently deceased husband, said husband comes back and mauls her. Francesco is distraught and lays her out in the ossuary, ready to shoot her as soon as she returns. This happens, but it isn't until later that he has to do this yet again that he realizes that she wasn't dead the first time. 

And then things go from bizarre to even stranger, as he now gets a message from an impressive angel of death that the living and the dead are pretty much the same and that he had better spend his time killing the living. He also runs into the mysterious woman time and again, even if she is always someone different, yet they always love one another. And he keeps killing her too.

Yes, it gets rather weird. And then you haven't reached the ending yet.

To say this is one oddball film, would be doing it a grand disservice. It is more akin to a very bizarre dream, yet the cinematography is absolutely stunning and Michele Soavi does cool things with settings and movement to convey this feeling of an otherworldy atmosphere. It's a bit like an arthouse film, only with humour, zombies and boobs. And Ruper Everett on a roll. He is so wonderful as Francesco and you can sympathize with his bored view of life and how the living are basically just waiting to become food for worms in his workplace. It is also weird how everyone keeps referring to him as 'Engineer', but he does engineer some part of life/death in this story. 

There's a fun subplot in how Gnaghi falls for the young daughter of the mayor, who dies in a crash and whose head he subsequently places inside an old tv and talks to her. 

Yes, you read that correctly. 

And then there's the exotic beauty of Anna Falchi, who doesn't get a name in this story. Originally from Finland, her features are not only beautiful but have that exotic quality that adds to her mystery. You never get to know who she truly is and why she does what she does, but she will always be Francesco's love. 

The story is pretty out-there, so if you're looking for a regular narrative, I'm afraid you're pretty much screwed. Oh, and the zombies look supercool and pretty different from most: they have this earthen quality to them, with leaves and roots interspersed with their flesh. They aren't exactly a real threat in this tale, but they do hinder Francesco in his life. 

You also get a group of zombie boy scouts with chattering teeth, which is a lot more disturbing than it sounds. 

To say this isn't for everyone, would be an understatement. The heady concepts, dreamlike atmosphere and completely bonkers' events are sure to test people's patience, but if you are in the mood for something different that is intriguing, captivating and entirely unlike most things you've ever seen, then this is thé film for you.