Michele Soavi
Dellamorte Dellamore

It would be very difficult for me to analyze this film from a remotely "composed" perspective; the hurdle to overcome, in this sense, would be refining the initial emotion I felt upon seeing it through a process of cognition of the cause, both current and of the time: unfortunately, I am no longer as cerebral as I once was; therefore, I will opt for "no rating".

"DellaMorte DellAmore" draws inspiration from a book by Tiziano Sclavi; a work that also inspired the comic Dylan Dog; a work, in its film version, truly unmissable... pervaded equally by horror and romance (Cradle of Filth comes to mind), in addition to a dark and poetic humor (and I think of Bret E. Ellis), even though, in itself, it would be yet another zombie film (although, to be fair, we are talking about 1994 when perhaps the genre wasn't as ignominiously inflated as it is today; and this is the recently reissued DVD edition) in which Rupert Everett appears in the role of a mournful (very mournful) cemetery caretaker in the Italian town of Buffalora, rich with pine trees and a provincial, albeit apocryphal, spirit where our hero enjoys a reputation as impotent, and where the only friend, Franco, works in a municipal office (well depicted in all the proverbial efficiency and promptness it enjoys); then there is the character of Gnaghi, a silent Uncle Fester, who, however, showcases the extremely visionary character of this work (I hope W. Blake forgives me). Our Gnaghi is a fundamentally (scraping the barrel) romantic character himself, as will be seen in the second part of the film, where he intends to start a romantic relationship with the head of a deceased... oh, love...

Among the cast, we can count some Italian "flags" like Anna Falchi and Stefano Masciarelli. The former in the role of a femme fatale, later killed by the risen corpse of her husband; once again in the role of the modest wife of the new councilor, and in the role of an easy-going student; and yes, because the film well interprets the concept of "eternal return", not new to readers of Milan Kundera. Another concept examined in the film, in this case ahead of the wave of subsequent works that addressed it, is the boundaries of the country in which one lives, juxtaposed with those of the world (I'm thinking of "Dark City" or "The Truman Show"). All peppered with some typically vampiric scenes, and with breathtaking quips and gags that test the limits of the surreal, which I invite you to discover, and not laugh heartily upon hearing them; or, for that matter, not appreciate the skillful direction of Michele Soavi (a collaborator of Dario Argento, or his heir, for some) against the backdrop of the many sub-themes translated by this film into a perhaps unparalleled gothic jewel. In the recent edition, there is a second DVD with the making of, from which I quote the words of the screenwriter who says that the difference between the protagonist of the film and Dylan Dog is that the latter solves mysteries, while the former is a mystery himself, who commits terrible acts but does not feel the need to explain them to the surrounding world which, in turn, could not take him seriously. So who are the crazies, then, and who are the "returnees" (or zombies)? More than physical death, says the director, it is the death of feelings that is frightening; (perhaps that's why I've never loved Dario Argento).

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