Zeder
1983, Italy, Directed by Pupi Avati
Colour, Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD, Region 2 (Italy), Fox, Video: Anamorphic 1.82:1, Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Given a second-hand typewriter for birthday celebration by his girlfriend, Stefano, a budding author of macabre fiction, accidentally jams it up. Trying to fix it he unravels the cartridge and discovers some intriguing text ingrained on the ribbon prior to his own words: babblings about K zones, areas where the laws of space and time (and therefore, death itself) are ostensibly impotent. Becoming enthralled he sets out to investigate the source of the text, its author Paolo Zeder, leading him to am off-limits derelict building where an organisation appears to be conducting their own research into K zones. Inside he finds that they’ve fitted cameras into the coffin of someone recently deceased in scientific anticipation of the corpse’s expected return from the dead.
Pupi Avati only made a small number of excursions into the genre (Zeder, House With Windows That Laugh, and Arcane Enchanter), which is a pity because his work was both idiosyncratic and exemplary. Zeder is a zombie film like no other, working to build up a tangible atmosphere and utilising little gore during a period when its abundance was common. It comes across almost like a Giallo with a couple of walking corpses thrown in. The awakening of the priest, seen on video monitor equipment, is quite creepy and the morbid final scenes resonate with the viewer long after. A film that’s not that been easy to come across it’s definitely worth seeking out for an unusual and grimly atmospheric adventure.
As with House With Windows…, Zeder was released by Fox in Italy (hard to believe that a company like Fox releases films like this in European territories, the lucky Euro-swine!), the picture has been properly mastered and looks brilliant. The audio is a genuine 5.1 remix and adds significant impact and envelopment to the offbeat and attention-grabbing score by Riz Ortolani, also helping with general ambient effects while keeping the dialogue firmly centred. For the subtitle-shy (and the English subs are perfectly coherent) there is even the English dub (albeit in mono) included, plus the original Italian mono track for purists. Personally I think the 5.1 track is the best way to watch. There have been grossly inadequate budget US releases of Zeder (apart from a reasonable Image disc several years ago) but, while the extras are unfortunately only in Italian without subtitles, the film presentation here is so good I’m only too happy to own this and it remains the most respectable way to enjoy this intelligent gem of a movie.