“The living dead and the dying living are all the same.”
Ah, Dellamorte Dellamore, one of the best zombie flicks of the 90s… and sadly one of the few zombie flicks of the 90s. It’s a perfect blend of art house and spook house. 30 years after first catching a midnight showing at the local rep cinema, I still love its strong existential hilt and absurdist touches, they give the film a dreamlike Lynchian or Jarmuschian quality.
Michele Soavi’s take on the Dylan Dog comic side-character is a sexy, surreal and gory allegory about that emotional languor one feels when facing a dead end in life. That feeling of being trapped in a Sisyphean purgatory. We’ve all been there. It manages to be both darkly funny and heavily melancholic – and Rupert Everett sells every forlorn moment. Not to mention that every frame is absolutely gorgeous, to the very last.
I’m surprised at just how underground this title still is, so if you haven’t had the pleasure of spending time in this cemetery, I definitely recommend digging this up.