1990s Zombie Comedy Secret Classic Dug Up And Revived

Just what is Cemetery Man about, exactly? The plot concerns a cemetery caretaker in Italy who wants nothing more than to do his job and find a great girlfriend. Unfortunately, plans for both his career and his love life keep getting derailed for the simple fact that the dead people in the cemetery just won’t stay down.

Even though most modern horror fans haven’t heard of it, Cemetery Man made quite a splash when it came out. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie currently has a 61 percent critical rating (meaning it’s “certified fresh”) and a 78 percent audience rating. Perhaps most impressively, legendary director Martin Scorsese dubbed Cemetery Man one of the best Italian films made in the ‘90s.

Now, this film directed by Michele Soavi has gotten a loving 4K restoration from Severin Films. The first disc features the main attraction: the 4K presentation of the film along with commentary from both Soavi and Cemetery Man screenwriter Gianni Romoli. This disc also features trailers for the film that will help you remember the horror heyday of the ‘90s and generally get you hyped to watch this silly zombie comedy.

The second disc features a Blu-Ray version of Cemetery Man with the same commentary along with an archival “making of” featurette. On top of that, the disc features interviews with the writer and two of the actors. If you like interviews, however, it’s the third disc that really takes the cake.

Disc three features interviews with several of the key figures in this film, including the screenwriter, cinematographer, and multiple actors. There are also interviews with the set designer and special FX artist, allowing you to dig deeper into this undead classic than ever before. The fourth disc is the soundtrack to the movie, and the entire set is rounded out by an “Exclusive Booklet By Claire Donner Of The Miskatonic Institute Of Horror Studies Wrap and Slipcase Artwork by Eric Lee.”

Honestly, we love to see Severin Films and other organizations doing such loving restorations of lesser-known horror films like Cemetery Man. Horror is a fairly big tent, and it contains many classics that would be easy to miss. This restoration does its best to bring this creepy comedy classic to mass audiences, and we’d love to see this film get a well-deserved boost in popularity.

If nothing else, we encourage you to buy your own copy of Cemetery Man because physical media is slowly dying, and unlike cinematic zombies, it’s not likely to come back to life. Fan support of Severin Films restoring these hidden gems may mean the difference between us experiencing a renaissance of horror classics or us seeing these films forgotten altogether. Plus, let’s be real here: this zombie comedy is worth buying because it packs more entertainment into its 100-minute runtime than the last four seasons of The Walking Dead combined.

Source: Severin Films