wikipedia
Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the cemetery caretaker in the small town of Buffalora, Italy. He lives in a ramshackle house on the premises, constantly surrounded by death, with only his mentally handicapped assistant Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro) for company. Young punks in town spread gossip that Francesco is impotent. He can open up to his only friend, Franco, by telephone, but when they meet in person, have little to say. Francesco's only hobbies are reading outdated telephone directories, in which he crosses out the names of the deceased, and trying to assemble a puzzle shaped like a human skull.
The inscription over the Buffalora Cemetery gate reads "RESVRRECTVRIS", and indeed, Francesco has had his hands full of late. The dead interred in the cemetery rise from their graves on the seventh day, reanimated and ready to assault the living. Francesco, as if trapped in a Sisyphean cycle, is duty-bound as cemetery caretaker, to destroy the "Returners" before they overrun the town.
Buffalora's mayor (Stefano Masciarelli) doesn't just disbelieve the cemetery caretaker's reports, but is so fixated on his campaigning that he seems unable even to hear Francesco's pleas for an investigation. Nor can Francesco surmount the complicated bureaucracy or mountain of paperwork to get assistance. Accepting his fate, Francesco and Gnaghi spend their days tending the cemetery grounds, doing their best to counteract the decay of ages, and their nights planting bullets and shovels into the brains of the walking dead. "This is my business," he says before wearily dispatching a zombie motorcyclist. "They pay me for it."
At a funeral, Francesco falls hard and fast in love, with the beautiful young widow (Anna Falchi) of a rich, elderly man. While consummating their relationship atop the grave, her husband returns, attacks, and mortally wounds the unnamed woman. Francesco having lost his only love and destroying her reanimated body, begins plummeting into a deeper and deeper depression. Furthermore he is visited by the leering figure of death, who tries to recruit Francesco as a fellow reaper.
The inscription over the Buffalora Cemetery gate reads "RESVRRECTVRIS", and indeed, Francesco has had his hands full of late. The dead interred in the cemetery rise from their graves on the seventh day, reanimated and ready to assault the living. Francesco, as if trapped in a Sisyphean cycle, is duty-bound as cemetery caretaker, to destroy the "Returners" before they overrun the town.
Buffalora's mayor (Stefano Masciarelli) doesn't just disbelieve the cemetery caretaker's reports, but is so fixated on his campaigning that he seems unable even to hear Francesco's pleas for an investigation. Nor can Francesco surmount the complicated bureaucracy or mountain of paperwork to get assistance. Accepting his fate, Francesco and Gnaghi spend their days tending the cemetery grounds, doing their best to counteract the decay of ages, and their nights planting bullets and shovels into the brains of the walking dead. "This is my business," he says before wearily dispatching a zombie motorcyclist. "They pay me for it."
At a funeral, Francesco falls hard and fast in love, with the beautiful young widow (Anna Falchi) of a rich, elderly man. While consummating their relationship atop the grave, her husband returns, attacks, and mortally wounds the unnamed woman. Francesco having lost his only love and destroying her reanimated body, begins plummeting into a deeper and deeper depression. Furthermore he is visited by the leering figure of death, who tries to recruit Francesco as a fellow reaper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cemetery_Man
A friend of mine quite a few years ago who was a big horror nut introduced me to this movie, and I was hooked. It was bizarre, funny, creepy, and thought-provoking all at the same time.
Glad to see it finally get a DVD release not too long ago. I need to pick it up ASAP.
