Apr 27, 2022
Zeder (Revenge of the Dead, 1983)
"More than three billion people die every sixty years. Three billion, Meyer, imagine it. The concept of life is based on this certainty. Death is necessary, old friend, and we could not do without it. Death isn't some kind of treatable illness: it is a definitive, permanent event."
#zeder#revenge of the dead#1983#italian cinema#horror film#pupi avati#antonio avati#maurizio costanzo#riz ortolani#gabriele lavia#anne canovas#paola tanziani#cesare barbetti#bob tonelli#ferdinando orlandi#enea ferrario#john stacy#alex partexano#marcello tusco#aldo sassi#enrico ardizzone#first thing's first: awful poster‚ but it was that or an even worse one under the unforgivably crass US title Revenge of the Dead (yeuch)#but then Zeder isn't a great title tbh and does little to clue you in on what exactly this film is about; a recurring issue it would seem#as both the original Italian trailer and 88 Films lovely new blu ray would paint this as a gory zombie splatter flick; it really isn't but#what it is is in many ways superior. an exercise in pure‚ horrible suspense; an occult horror shot with all the sensibilities and style of#golden age giallo (and a fat dose of conspiracy thriller). a thoughtful‚ developed‚ sickening study in approaching terror that simply keeps#coming; inevitability and the dread of the inevitable. Avati's direction is beautiful‚ shooting mostly in bright daylight but still finding#those requisite deep dark shadows to conceal the truth. nightmarish and unfathomable‚ and with an ending that's as horribly inevitable as#it is beautifully set up. as far as 80s italian horror goes you'd be hard pressed to do better than this. still that really is a bad poster#oh and as always Ortolani provides a killer score. an unsung gem of a film.
