Dellamorte Dellamore - Anna Falchi

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Cemetery Man" or "Demons '95")

directed by Michele Soavi
Italy/France 1994

The residents of Buffalora cemetery don't stay dead for long. They have a tendency - unexplained by voodoo, radiation, or chemical spills - to rise from their graves in search of human flesh, and it's up to cemetery caretaker Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett, THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS) - and his sidekick Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro, THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN) - to put them back in the ground with a bullet in the skull or a shovel in the brain. Dellamorte is content to live a lonely, isolated life - with everyone in the village under the impression that he is impotent - until he meets a breathtakingly beautiful, death-obsessed widow (Anna Falchi, THE DRAGON RING); however, their assignation atop her husband's grave is cut fatally short when hubby rises and takes a bite out of his wife. Dellamorte has no time to mourn, however, since a collision between some bikers and a busload of scouts makes the cemetery a very busy place. Dellamorte is then shocked to meet her double in the form of the mayor's virginal secretary; but there relationship is more traumatic than tragic. When Death appears to Dellamorte and tells him that the only way to keep the dead from rising again is to kill the living, it is difficult to tell if Dellamorte has snapped or if it's just business as usual in Buffalora.

Based on the comic by Tiziano Sclavi, DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE was director Michele Soavi's fourth film and his first after a near-decade-long collaboration with Dario Argento that found him working simultaneously as an actor, assistant director (on TENEBRAE, PHENOMENA, and DEMONS) and second unit director on OPERA, as well as an assistant director and actor on Lamberto Bava's films (Bava had been first assistant director on TENEBRAE). His directorial debut was STAGEFRIGHT/AQUARIUS - produced by Joe D'Amato's Filmirage and scripted by actor George Eastman/Luigi Montefiori - followed up by two higher-budgeted films produced by Dario Argento: THE CHURCH and THE SECT. In 1988, Soavi worked as assistant director on Terry Gilliam's Italian-shot THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, and Gilliam's winged specter of death was an obvious influence on the chilling apparition that appears twice to Dellamorte in this film. Soavi has also carried over visual motifs of owls, feathers, and water from his previous films. Soavi's wife Barbara Cupisti - who had prominent roles in STAGEFRIGHT and THE CHURCH - plays a prostitute here, and American actor Mickey Knox (who went to Europe after getting blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy era) had also previously appeared in STAGEFRIGHT. Actor Roberto Caruso, who played an ill-fated biker in THE CHURCH, worked here as a set decorator. From his Argento-produced films, Soavi brought onto this project production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng (THE STENDHAL SYNDROME) and Argento's regular editor Franco Fraticelli (SUSPIRIA). Prior to DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE, Everett's looks had already provided the visual inspiration for Sclavi's other comic book protagonist "Dylan Dog" (whose adventures were more recently adapted into the unsuccessful DEAD OF NIGHT.)

Eric Cotenas

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Theatrical Release: 25 March 1994 (Italy)

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DVD Comparison:

Medusa Home Entertainment - Region 2 - PAL vs. Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Shameless Screen Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!

(Medusa Home Entertainment - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Shameless Screen Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Medusa Home Entertainment Region 2 - PAL	Anchor Bay Entertainment Region 1 - NTSC	Shameless Screen Entertainment Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	1:38:48 (4% PAL speedup)	1:43:20	1:43:00
Video	1.74:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.48 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.41 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.67:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.85 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Medusa Home Entertainment
Bitrate: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Bitrate: Shameless Screen Entertainment
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo; Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo	English Dolby Digital 5.1; English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround	English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo; Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles	English, Italian, none	none	English, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Medusa Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.74:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by director Michele Soavi and writer Gianni Romoli (in Italian) • Making-of featurette (4:3; 17:44 - no subtitles) • Biographies • Cast List • Crew List DVD Release Date: Amaray Chapters 20	Release Information: Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.62:1 Edition Details: • Death is Beautiful - featurette (4:3; 28:16) • Trailer (16:9; 2:23) • Michele Saovi Biography • Trailers for FREAKED, BAD DREAMS, VISITING HOURS, and WARNING SIGN • Liner Notes Booklet DVD Release Date: 13 June 2006 Amaray Chapters 16	Release Information: Studio: Shameless Screen Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.67:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by director Michele Soavi and writer Gianni Romoli (subtitled) • Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 2:16) • Photo Gallery • Shameless Trailer Park (VENUS IN FURS, THE FRIGHTENED WOMAN, WHO SAW HER DIE, THE DESIGNATED VICTIM, • OASIS OF FEAR, BABA YAGA, FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON, SATAN'S BABY DOLL, THE BEAST IN SPACE, STRANGE • VICE OF MRS WARDH, ALMOST HUMAN, and DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING • Start-up trailers for FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, • Liner Notes Booklet by Alan Jones DVD Release Date: 27 February 2012 Amaray Chapters 12

Comments

Although it does not appear to be an NTSC-PAL conversion, Shameless' disc runs at the 24fps timing of 103 minutes (compared to the near-99 minute timing of the OOP Italian release form Medusa, as well as the uncut 1996 Entertainment in Video UK VHS edition). While there are none of the usual NTSC-PAL interlacing artifacts, the progressive image is nonetheless marred by fine horizontal lines around the edges of objects and people even in static shots. The transfer is brighter than Medusa's version, but not overly-bright like the Studio Canal-licensed Anchor Bay edition (also out of print); however, it seems to favor a cooler tone than the Medusa and Anchor Bay transfers.

Like Medusa's disc, Shameless features a commentary track with the director and writer; however, Shameless have provided English subtitle translation. Shameless has also subtitled the Italian trailer; unfortunately, they have not ported over the making-of segment (which featured English comments from actor Rupert Everett, but was otherwise not English-friendly). The Anchor Bay disc had a featurette interviewing director Michele Soavi, writer Gianni Romoli, actress Anna Falchi, and effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, but the translated commentary track puts the Shameless disc on equal footing in terms of extras. A liner notes booklet by Alan Jones is also part of the package, but it was not included for review.

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus
(Medusa Home Entertainment - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Shameless Screen Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Medusa Home Entertainment - Region 2 - PAL - TOP vs. Anchor Bay Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. Shameless Screen Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)