In the small town of Buffalora, Francesco Dellamorte is the guardian of the local cemetery with his friend Gnaghi, a funny man unable to express itself with words. The cemetery is subject to a strange phenomenon: the dead , called by Francis "Revenants", seem to resurrect seven days after being buried. The two friends, who are forced to intervene, have the task of re- kill all the "Revenants" and not allow them to escape from the cemetery, burying them again. But during a patrol, Dellamorte ends up killing the only woman he ever loved, a widow known during her husband's funeral. The doubts and uncertainties caused by this event will invade the mind of the young dark guardian who will fall in a tunnel of death (and love) until they realize that he cannot escape from his condition.

Michele Soavi was born in Milan. As a teenager, Soavi enrolled in creative arts classes and developed into a talented actor. He took acting lessons at Milan's Fersen Studios, but his greatest talent was working behind the camera. Soavi's directorial career began when he was offered an assistant director job by Marco Modugno after appearing as an extra in Modugno's 1979 film “Bambule”. Soavi continued to act in films such as “Alien 2 on Earth” and Lucio Fulci's “City of the Living Dead”, and served as an assistant director to Aristide Massacessi (Joe D'Amato), and occasionally appeared in bit parts in some of D'Amato's films. Soavi later came into his own when he started his collaboration with famed Italian horror director Dario Argento, who used him as second assistant director on the film “Tenebrae”. Soavi continued to work with Argento for several years; with his first credit as director being the documentary “Dario Argento's World of Horror”, followed by a pop promo for Bill Wyman. He directed his first feature film with 1987's “Stage Fright” for producer Joe D'Amato. He worked as assistant director to Terry Gilliam on “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” in 1988, and followed this with his second feature film as director, 1989's “La Chiesa” (The Church). His third feature, “The Sect” (aka The Devil's Daughter), followed in 1990.

Soavi has been credited as almost single-handedly continuing the traditions of Italian horror in the 1990s, directing the acclaimed zombie love story “Dellamorte Dellamore” (aka Cemetery Man).The film was based on Tiziano Sclavi's novel of the same name, and the author was also known for being the creator of the successful Italian comic book Dylan Dog, and "Dellamorte Dellamore" starred Rupert Everett in the lead role.