Zeder : Les Voix de l'au-delà

I love this movie. It is a real thriller/horror but with a particular scent of Italy. Nothing is taken very seriously, or not? You end up hissing "COS-TA" to everybody. It also displays a very young Gabriele Lavia, already gloomy and spooky.

Avati's 'Zeder' is true maturity when reflecting on the Italian horror genre. This film does't deliver close-up shots of pig entrails, nor does it steal cannibal stock footage to liven up the pace. Instead, it relays a story that was conceived by a genius, and allows the viewer to piece together the puzzle in his or her mind. The old marketing campaign, which displayed a decaying zombie exploding over a sewer drain, was definitely used to lure in sales and deceive buyers. This was no fault of the producers or director, but of typical American greedy distributors. If your the type to not judge a book by its cover, you may find a gem. Besides, anyone that sees this film as being 'pointless', 'dull' and so on should probably stay watching Speilburg Hollywood Schlock! Oh yeah, have you noticed this film's plot is similar to that of King's 'Pet Semetary'? Many speculate one may have plagiarized the other. In truth, Avati filmed and released his product over a year before King wrote his book. This film is a thinking man's horror film. Check out Avati's House with laughing Windows if you like Zeder.

Pupi Avati's ZEDER, is a different take on the undead genre, but is not a zombie film outright. Rather than being all out 'dead rising from the graves and feeding on the flesh of the living' the film takes its time to build up tension and atmosphere, that adds a genuine sense of creepiness to the films tone. A young journalist, given a typewriter as a present from his girlfriend discovers some text written on the ink ribbon, and threw this mysterious text he uncovers a past story of a scientist called Paolo Zeder, who discovered areas of terrain that can revive the dead. The journalists investigations lead him to a group of outlaw scientists who are attempting to reconstruct these experiments in the present day. Avati clearly goes for atmosphere over gore, though there are a few scenes where we see the aftermath of some murders, the film doesn't show any bodily mutilation, and instead the films builds up tension and dread through suggestion and use of sound, and characters reactions. It's a clever and excellent choice of direction that makes ZEDER stand out as an intelligent and if slightly obscure and offbeat entry into the living dead cycle.

A young journalist buys a second hand typewriter and finds that he can read the imprints on the ribbon,revealing what was last typed on the machine.He pieces together the story of the scientist Paolo Zeder,who discovered K-Zones,areas in which the dead are restored to life.Stefano later encounters a group of scientists who are trying to prove Zeder's theories."Zeder" was directed and co-written by Italian maestro Pupi Avati,whose "House with the Windows That Laugh" is often regarded as one of the masterpieces of Italian horror.In "Zeder" Avati masterfully mixes a genuinely creepy atmosphere with intriguing metaphysical concepts.Unlike Lucio Fulci's gorefests it features little if any gore.There is plenty of an ominous atmosphere of unsettling dread throughout,even when not much is happening.You seldom see zombies,except in occasional glimpses.Overall,"Zeder" is weird and unusual enough to hold interest.A must-see for fans of Italian horror.8 out of 10.

To my knowledge this was not supposed to be a zombie film nor was it marketed as a gory zombie, living-dead-type picture as some people may think. It IS a scary, atmospheric ghost story that builds slowly but very effectively. There are creepy sequences throughout the film and the only liability is the guy's voice who dubbed lead actor, Lavia. Otherwise it's one of the few movies from the 1980s from Europe or elsewhere that really stands up as far as creating an atmosphere of supernatural dread. Has a similar feel to some of the latest Japanese horror films such as Hideo Nakata's RING and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's CURE, SEANCE and PULSE. Well worth seeing, especially if you love horror films. Also check out director, Pupi Avati's latest ARCANE ENCHANTER, a great period ghost story. Unfortunately, Avati's scariest film, THE HOUSE WITH WINDOWS THAT LAUGHED is extremely hard-to-find in the U.S. in any form.