22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 STARS FOR THE FILM, NOT THIS TRANSFER., November 20, 1999
A rare and mysterious gem, ZEDER is a wonderful find for discriminating horror fans. Subtle, serious, atmospheric, intelligent, and woefully underrated, the film is one of the best kept secrets of the horror genre, largely due to its having been deceptively marketed on home video. Hidden behind moronic gut-muncher zombie box art, it disappointed those in search of cheap, bloody thrills, and was passed over without a second glance by most who could have appreciated it.
After one of the best prologues to be found anywhere in fantasy cinema, ZEDER never degenerates into genre cliche. Maintaining a palpable aura of mystery to the end, it owes more to Borges and the smart supernatural investigation stories of M.R. James than it does to Stephen King. King's 'Pet Sematary' inevitably comes up in discussions of ZEDER due to their suspiciously similar conclusions: I don't know who got there first, but ZEDER has a permanent place in my collection, and if I never see 'Pet Sematary' again it will be too soon.
So can someone explain to me why this DVD release, that was so welcome and so unexpected, is not only full frame, but appears to have been mastered from the ugly videotape of the butchered American version, 'Revenge Of The Dead'?
Glad as I am to be able to add this film to my DVD collection, this edition is a real disappointment: honestly, if you're going to release a film like this one, in this format, wouldn't it make sense to keep in mind who its likely audience is, and what their expectations are likely to be? There really is no excuse for this kind of thing when Anchor Bay has been showing us how it should be done for a number of years now - though rarely with a film the calibre of this one. Making this even more disappointing is the fact that there has since been a European DVD release that reportedly contains a glorious widescreen print.
Having said that, it would be a mistake to miss ZEDER.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Film - Lackluster DVD, June 16, 2000
... --this is truly a great little horror picture...one of the most underrated in euro-horror cinema. It is literally creepy and the unravelling of the narrative is way more mysterious and thrilling than "Pet Sematary" which later covered some of the same territory. Unfortunately, when this film was originally released on video in the US it was retitled "Revenge of the Dead" and was marketed to appear like a gut-munching zombie picture. Many viewers may have been disappointed when they found out there was no blood or gore and instead they were watching a stylishly unique and intelligent thriller that required them to pay attention. At least this new DVD retains the original "Zeder" title and markets it for what it is.
That said, the DVD is quite disappointing in this full-frame release with no extras. The film also looks very grainy (the old video release looked better!) and, most startling, there are some slight horizontal "video stretch" marks in some of the later scenes! (I have checked 2 separate DVDs of this title and they are identical). Could this transfer have been taken from a video master? It sure appears to have been considering such video drop-out. Still, I must say it's a required purchase, flaws and all. "Zeder" on DVD....this is truly an amazing period for euro-horror fans.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Kai-zons", the Living Dead Return!, December 1, 2004
*Plot/ending analyzed*
This is a very un-typical horror film which makes it quite refreshing and interesting. For most of the beginning I was quite enthralled by the pacing and the effort of the protagonist to reach some sort of conclusion. The start of the film shows us a house in Italy in the early 1920's and it is haunted by some horrendous and malicious ghost who has recently killed an old hag, next comes a clairvoyant and a scientist who walk into the basement where the girl clairvoyant assumes the identity of the dead man from a previous life. Once they find the bones of the man, they find a wallet and it reveals that the man was 'Edward Zeder', an albino, lunatic-philosopher who had believed in "Kai-zons", areas which were places where death had no value, this is an ancient idea which stems from the Persians and the Greeks.
Arrive in Italy in the 1970's where a struggling writer who smokes too much is using a typewriter and he finds that the ribbon has some used text upon it and he types up a few papers from what he finds and has a mystery upon his hands. He goes through the usual odds and ends in an attempt to crack the mystery of the "Kai-zons" and he visits a small village where there is a cemetery and all sorts of weird people. The end of the film, in which his girlfriend dies and he takes her to a "Kai-zon" to bring her back, is a result from the lack of his willingness to have loved a living creature while she was alive and it is quite expected when she eats his neck. This is a very good film and the director is quite capable of pushing a story of interest along. For those of you expecting a zombie film, this isn't it.
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