Friday, March 20, 2009

Dellamorte Dellamore (1994) Explained




I recently rewatched this cult horror classic, also known as Cemetery Man. There's so much more to it than meets the eye. Here's an explanation I wrote a few years ago on imdb. Read it right after you've watched the film.

SPOILERS AHEAD

There is a man named Franco. He used to be an engineer. His family-matters didn't go well, so he cheated on his wife with a hooker he fell in love with. He couldn't comprehend why she didn’t reciprocate his love and killed the whore out of jealousy of her clients. After the murder of the one he loved, he went insane and went out on a killing spree (7 pedestrians and his family). He is now in a hospital in a coma (an attempted suicide) and his mind tries to work out death and love (morte e amore).

This is where the movie starts. Everything takes place in Franco’s head. Franco's hospital room has no doors and no walls; he lies in the dark. This represents the coma he’s in, Francesco’s world, Buffalore.

Francesco represents Franco’s dark side, the murderer, who has taken over Franco’s mind. Gnaghi symbolizes Franco’s good side. Gnaghi likes it when the sun shines; Francesco thinks that's when the weather's gone bad. Gnaghi can complete the skull puzzle (a metaphor for death) – he understands and accepts death; Francesco cannot. Francesco is obsessed by this incomprehension, marking the phonebook up. Gnaghi burning the phonebook could be seen as his trying to help Francesco deal with death.

The ‘returners’ in the movie attack those people who can't understand death. E.g. the Mayor being eaten by his own daughter (he wanted to exploit her death to get reelected), the girl who comes to see Claudio (to ask him whether he loved her or not), ‘She’ being bitten by her husband (for having sex above his grave), Francesco being bitten by his dead girlfriend. Only Gnaghi can have a meaningful relationship with a zombified head.

The returners also symbolize Franco’s inner demons (feelings of guilt) which haunt him and which he tries to fight off. Every time Francesco is on the phone with Franco, returners appear - his guilt surfaces. ‘She’ is his worst returner – she keeps coming back, killing her was his biggest mistake. His love and lust for her brought all these problems upon him/Franco, so he wants to get rid of his wiener.

Franco denies his friendship with Francesco - he denies the existence of his dark side. When Franco tells Francesco to 'GO AWAY', he immediately leaves town. “Where do you think you're going if you haven’t yet realized the difference between life and me?”, Death tells Francesco. So he travels down the road, trying to leave Buffalore and death behind him. After they pass a tunnel (a common symbol for near-death experiences), the road ends and off its edge is the afterlife. The coffin falling over the edge reinforces this symbolism. Realizing there is no escape from his greatest mystery, death, he loads two bullets into the gun, says a prayer, and is about to kill both himself and Gnaghi, when Gnaghi awakens. Gnaghi doesn’t want to die because death isn’t a mystery to him. Therefore, he takes the gun and throws it off the edge - the good side takes over Franco’s mind. Gnaghi can now talk, Francesco can only murmur. Their positions in the snow globe switch. Now Franco has sorted out his demons and can sleep in peace.


© Oct 25 2005

31 comments:

  1. Wow. Thanks mate! I just saw this brilliant film tonight. Loved it, but didn't understand what was up and what was down. I think I need to watch it again after reading this. Thanks again!

    PS: This comment might have seemed dead to you after all this time with no-one commenting. But hey! Now it's a returner! Better put a bullet through it (or post your own comment to make your peace with death... :) )

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had posted this on imdb back in the day and still get a few responses to this day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here's another. Thanks for a brilliant write-up!

      Delete
  3. Jesus Christ this movie is probably my second favourite ever and I had absolutely no idea that this was about Franco. Are you sure about it, did the director confirm this or is it just pure speculation ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just watched the film, really interesting take on it and very illuminating, if you are still there, is that just from your own interp, or is that from the novel?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just my take on it, and there are a lot of interpretations of it online. It's not the dumb zombie movie people think it is though. I'm sure we are not overthinking it. But we won't know how accurate they are until Soavi confirms.

      Delete
  5. This was a brilliant film. I think that Delamorte has died in the end accepting death and his good side has now taken over so he can die and accept his murders. My theory is he murdered the mayor because his wife was cheating on him. as well as others in the film. thank you so much for explaining this movie to me it was my all time favorite on the Genre

    ReplyDelete
  6. The old school character of the movie, as well as the intriguing plot with the random killings and the same lady he keeps falling in love with and Gnaghi, ohhhh Gnaghi... :) made me laugh a lot!
    Though I haven't seased the signification at all during the movie, I thank you for clearing it a little bit up.
    I don't entirely agree with all the elements of your interpretation, but it certainly is one proper analysis. Cheers ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. the citizen kane interpretation. it's cool to see that this movie touched a few other people as deeply as it did me, it doesnt get a lot of hype despite clearly being a buried cult classic.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i wish you kept going with this blog, or at least left a forwarding address.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got sidetracked. Honestly I completely forgot about this blog until I googled myself today :)

      Delete
  9. It's definitely not a zombie movie. It's much more than that. The direction is damn good but sadly, it's an underrated flick. I like your Interpretation and I very much feel the same about the movie.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Haha! I think I read this blog a few years ago. I rewatch this movie every year or so. It's truly one of my favorites.

    The humor, the mystery, the horror etc. - just special. I really like your take on it. I think of it in a similar way.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh my... Lots of things just passed me through. It´s more complicated than I thought so!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What do you think the significance of the cloth (white, black, red) were? I thought they were possibly indicative of whether we were seeing reality of not (she is covered in white cloth when Francsco unintentionally murders Her in the ossuary, white page of phone book when he murders street punks, white sheet over Her when he burns her to death, white room dividers curtains when he slaughters the hospital staff. Any thoughts on this?

    ReplyDelete
  14. nice analisis
    just saw it
    yeah it could be

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  16. That's really well summed up. Thanks. I think my attention span has definitely got worse since the 90s. I'm missing things. I need to ween off the distractions and retrain my brain.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I just Watched it. And here to understand the film. Oh dear! it is one of the finest film ever I watch. Thank You for such great explaination.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The movie was amazing, thanks for explanation!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Replies
    1. Thank For The explanation. it's crazy that after all these years you still reply the comments. Do you have a channel or social media with more reviews etc ? Ty.

      Delete
  21. Thanks for the explanation. Good work.

    ReplyDelete