Rating: 3.5/5
Oh My Horror 2025 | 27/52 | 90s Horror
Wet, buff, and in a towel, Francesco answers a call from Franco. Before he can speak, however, he hears a knock on his door. At the door is an Italian man carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit. Oh, and he’s the risen dead. Francesco puts a bullet in the man’s skull before returning to his call with Franco. After the call, he carries the body to his assistant Gnaghi, and the two walk into the cemetery to rebury him. Another undead rises, which Francesco calls a Returner, before they can finish. All in a night’s work.
Francesco is a caretaker for Buffalora Cemetery, living next to the cemetery for which he cares. This cemetery is unusual in that people buried there often rise from their graves on the seventh night after their death. It wasn’t always this way, but Francesco still stops them all the same. With few technical skills, and as the village outcast, he doesn’t have much of a choice if he wants to get by.
The film follows Fransceso’s journey through love, death, and everything in between. As the living dead problem grows each night, Fransceso might have to reconsider his methods.
Nothing happened. Nothing ever happens.
I’ve enjoyed everything else I’ve seen from Michael Soavi. This movie capitalizes on a sense of humor that his other films have hinted at but never outright stated, “comedy.” The melodramatic touches are amusing, with the romance between Francesco and the widow he falls in love with.
Sergio Stivaletti and the team’s effects are great for 90s Italian horror — it’s grotesque without being nauseating, if that makes sense. I’m also really into floating flame balls, or “ignis fatuus.” The visual style, like Soavi’s other movies, has moments of transcendence. The cinematography seems to match whatever genre the film is engaging in at that moment: melodrama, comedy, or abject horror. It’s a bit disorienting, especially as the film devolves, but those moments where it works are pretty memorable.
Rupert Everett’s Francesco has a tragic appeal reminiscent of Lee Pace in Pushing Daisies. He can’t seem to catch a break, and even if you’re not in love with the guy, you want something good to happen for him. That his favorite reading is the phone book is an amusing joke, but it pushes believability in a movie about a guy who kills zombies.
The Gnaghi character is… unfortunate.
The 1990s certainly loved their horror comedies! I’m not complaining, but it’s hard for them to feel special when they’re in such ample supply. That said, Italy wasn’t exactly at the forefront in this market. This movie has its charms, and I get why some folks love it.