I did a search here and could not find any discussion of this lost Italian masterpiece directed by the inimitable Pupi Avati. Released in the U.S. in 1984 with an extraordinarily misleading ad campaign which tried to make the film look like a Romero zombie film, "Zeder" tells the story of a writer who discovers an old typewriter ribbon with details about the existence of places on the earth, K-Zones, where a dead body will come back to life. The Catholic Church is also involved, and, of course, it's all bad...
This movie really seems to divide the few people who have seen it. Some think that it is exceedingly slow and bloodless, too arty to be a horror film, while I am with the crowd that thinks it is very, very scary and brilliant. There is one scene in particular where the priest-scientists try to re-animate a dead priest and place a camera in his coffin. It is just creepy as all heck, and you will never forget it. Avati does more to terrify with shadows and noises in the darkness than most directors do with buckets of blood and gore. If you read Stephen King's 80's study of horror in the media, "Danse Macabre," you will see that he lists "Revenge" as a favorite film. Then when you read "Pet Sematary," you will see that King takes the whole concept from the film and uses it in his novel. (I'll charitably call it an "homage." ) If you are a 70's movie fan, Avati's "The House with Windows that Laugh" (1976) is just as scary and has one of the best twist endings in movies.
Anyway, both films were released on DVD by Image as part of its long-abandoned "EuroShock Collection." Sadly, "Revenge"/"Zeder" is a terrible transfer, all dark and muddy. I am sticking with my Dutch VHS copy.
The great horror films of Pupi Avati... See them, and you will never again feel the same way when you walk home through a graveyard late on a moonless night with the wind whistling at your back. Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
I just knew it! I'm the only one who has seen this thing!
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Never heard about this one, they never released it here. But it sounds pretty interesting.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
aTomiK, if you like creepy, atmospheric scares--and I think that you do--check these two out. I am an extremely jaded horror film fan--nothing really gets to me anymore, but these two films really did. Pupi Avati is a master at setting up psychologically scary stuff. I love these! My dream is to one day personally introduce Avati's films at a horror film convention, preferably in the wee hours of the morning and then watch people twitch in their seats.
Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :
Never seen it, but you make a good salesman Crash.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
) If you are a 70's movie fan, Avati's "The House with Windows that Laugh" (1976) is just as scary and has one of the best twist endings in movies.