October Horror Challenge - Cemetery Man (1994)

Today's list prompt is "First Time Watch." I've owned a copy of Cemetery Man  for a few years now, but have been saving it for a rainy day. 

Plot

Along with his developmentally disabled cohort Gnaghi, Francesco Dellamorte works as a cemetery custodian in a small Italian town. The dead buried there often come back as zombies, and its Francesco's unofficial job to stop them. When he becomes obsessed with a beautiful widow, tragedy strikes and he starts a descent into madness and depression.

Review

You might be surprised by this, but despite the description, this Italian horror movie is also a comedy. While it's not a laugh out loud romp, it is full of dark humor. It is loosely based on Tiziano Sclavi's novel Dellamorte Dellamore (the film's Italian title) and his Dylan Dog comics (which were directly adapted into the film Dylan Dog: Dead of Night).

The film itself is beautifully shot. The Italian country side it beautiful and the director takes great advantage of it. The actors all give a great performance. In particular, Rupert Everett's Francesco is the prefect world weary narrator and focus. François Hadji-Lazaro's Gnaghi brings innocence and sweetness to balance Francesco's morose moods. Anna Falchi is beautiful and mysterious and Fabiana Formica is memorable as the mayor's daughter, Valentina. 

While I am very quick to praise this movie, that's not to say its perfect. There are many aspects that could affect someone's opinion and/or be considered problematic. The film isn't super clear about everything. Why do the dead rise in the cemetery. What is the nature before the three women Falchi plays. Also the final shot... As far as problematic things there is discussion of SA, a lead that murders, and a relationship between an developmentally disabled adult and a teen zombie head.

Despite these things, I think Cemetery is an interesting zombie flick. It's not scary. It's not gory. It's beautiful and entraining though and if you haven't watched it, I recommend checking it out.

In Your Game

For each movie this month I want to include new material that can be used with Bloat Games SURVIVE THIS!! game line (particularly with What Shadows Hide/We Die Young/Bloody Appalachia). Pet Semetary one take on a resurrecting graveyard, but the Buffalora Cemetery is another example. A location like it would be a nice addition to most games. The caretaker could even be an ally of the party.

While some of the zombies in the film are the traditional template zombies present in the games mentioned, others movie quickly and seem to have the overall same mental capacities they did while living. That's why I'm presenting a new zombie template, which I'm calling the Buffalora Zombie template.

Buffalora Zombie Template

Buffalora zombie is a template that can be added to any human. Some sort of mystic energy animates these people and gives them a semblance of life, at least compared to traditional zombies.

All Buffalora have the undead trait.

• Undead: Undead are immune to mind-affecting effects, poisons, stuns, being sickened diseases and Critical Hits. 

They gain:

• +1 Hit Dice, toughness +1, +3 to Terror. (Add a 1/2 point to HDE)
• Bite (1d4-1)
• A desire to eat leaving flesh. While they must feed on flesh and often bite at inopportune times, they are not mindless and can control their hunger to an extent. 
• Weak Spot - While they are immune to traditional Critical Hits, an attack roll of a natural 20 is considered a head shot and will put the Buffalora zombie to rest permanently.

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First Time View: 1

Total Watched (Including Non-Challenge Horror Movies):1