ZEDER aka Revenge of the Dead

(Pupi Avati, 1983)

A writer named Stefano (Gabriele Lavia) receives a used typewriter from his girlfriend as a birthday present. He discovers that it formerly belonged to a priest who had used it to record findings on mysterious "K-Zones", places where time and the laws of life and death do not exist. Stefano is inspired to write a novel based on the idea, and sets out to track down the priest. His efforts, however, are severely hampered by a conspiracy of lies, false identity, and knife-wielding scientists intent on keeping their macabre experiment a secret.

...So, back in the day (when I was slightly younger) I found a horror VHS, titled "Revenge of the Dead" in the corner video store. I had no idea at the time that it was actually the retitled version of Zeder disguised as a zombie flick. On the cover there was a zombie tearing it's way up through the ground. I read the synopsis; by all appearances it was an old zombie movie I hadn't yet seen. Enthusiasm for the film dropped considerably, though, within the first 15 minutes or so. No zombies. Little gore. No scares that could compete with the gore-soaked horror and slasher movies that my brothers and I regularly rented. Everyone watching fell asleep, myself included. It wouldn't be until I was aware of Italian horror as a whole that I tracked it down again, for a second viewing.

The second time around I had no expectations, but was not disappointed. I found it a bit slow and talky, but was quite impressed by Avati's stylistic approach. Practically every other scene in Zeder is set in the dark, with minimal lighting, This, paired with the stringy sci-fi synth soundtrack by Riz Ortolani (and a lot of oldschool shrieks and moans) creates an otherworldly dark ride of a horror film.

My complaints are few: the dialogue, acting, dubbing, and special effects are, as expected in these situations, terrible. The story itself seems to be a rework of the concept for Stephen King's novel "Pet Sematary", which was also released in '83. The film is also incredibly low-budget, though Avati does manage to wring every drop of atmosphere and suspense from it, and with little need for excessive gore. I don't recommend Zeder for anyone who has no attention span, but for the few remaining who do, I say give it a try.

PROFONDO ROSSO aka Deep Red

(Dario Argento, 1975)



I cannot stress enough the importance of this film within the realm of gialli, Italian horror, and horror films in general. It was huge in Italy upon its release, and an astounding worldwide success for Dario Argento. Some (myself included) believe this to be his most accomplished film technically and artistically.



The story follows Marcus Daly (David Hemmings, of "Blow Up" fame), a jazz pianist who has the misfortune of witnessing the brutal bludgeoning death of renowned psychic Helga Ullman, who had at an earlier conference picked up "twisted" thoughts from an unseen murderer in the audience. Marcus later believes that something in the apartment might have been moved or is slightly different, a clue that may lead to the killer's identity. Thus he begins his own investigation with reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi), a firm supporter of womens' lib. The list of suspects is long, and the clues in between cryptic and stretched to the point of incredulity.One would, however, be hard-pressed to correctly identify the killer before the end of the film.



The story is one of Argento's best-written, and the characters among his most quirky and memorable. Care was taken to develop them, which is a a rare occurrence in the bulk of his work. This does add quite a bit to the running time, but the scenes between Marcus and Gianna are never boring and add dimension. Marcus' friend Carlo is also well-rounded, and even after the revelation that he is a closeted homosexual who is seeing a transvestite he is never portrayed as mincing and effeminate (as they so often are in other Italian films from around the same time).



Okay, enough about the story! The real star of the show is Dario's INSANE compositions, lighting, and camerawork. He uses dark, muted color schemes and stark, atmospheric lighting throughout. His camera glides over the sets, lingering on knives, dolls, and closeups of red-rimmed eyes. A hundred screenshots from this film could be printed off and framed as art. Indeed, the whole affair DOES feel like a murder mystery by way of art house flick, with a few healthy doses of all-out horror. The murders, though spaced out, are extremely violent (especially considering when this came out) and well-filmed. Finally, there's the music to mention. It's by Goblin. Need I say more? One of their absolute best soundtracks, too. I give Deep Red 10 out of 10, and recommend it as one of The Top 3 Italian horror films to check out. Like now.



Buy It