Thanks for the memories!

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Don't be fooled by the fairly high 6.2 average. Non-American (horror) films nearly always get higher ratings than they deserve. Besides, as of this writing, only about 800+ people voted, and that's a small hence unreliable sample. (IF you care what the masses think – and you generally shouldn't.) Most of these 800+ consist anyway most likely of patriotic Italians (much the way British IMDb users overrate bad British horror films), and the occasional non-horror fan who gets scared by his own shadow, let alone a cheesy-looking Italian-flick zombie which does in fact have more blood on him than a shadow. The eeriness level - unlike what is bafflingly claimed here by many reviewers - is at absolute zero, and we're talking -273 here. There isn't one scene that is even remotely scary or even vaguely spooky, much like "City of the Living Dead" for example (in spite of its abundant gore). In fact, this lack of scariness is a common disease, a regular characteristic of Italian movies and one can only guess why that is. (Sloppiness and laziness might be the key.) People who described this movie as "scary" or "spooky" in their reviews most probably hadn't seen anything scarier than "Vertigo" – or even "Dumbo" – prior to renting this out. When the scariest thing you've ever seen is a blood-donor's bag of fresh blood or a broken finger-nail or a Marilyn Manson video, then it's no wonder you find "Zeder" to be a "scary, atmospheric ghost story". There is more atmosphere on the Moon.But for us jaded horror fans who have witnessed stuff such as "Hostel" and "L'interieur", this little zombie flick comes off as an almost cute Mickey Mouse effort. You could almost let little kids watch it.There is very little going on here horror-wise. "Zeder" is essentially a complex mystery with a supernatural premise and just a few zombie/horror scenes thrown in at the very beginning and the very end. Speaking of which, it was predictable both that the journalist would bury his girlfriend – and that he would get attacked by her a little later. This is the mark of some truly naïve writing. Again, not naïve but ideal writing for film fans that have seen only 3 horror films (including "Monster House") prior to this one.The setting up of the mystery isn't bad, i.e. the movie is not dull, but the story ultimately makes little sense, the ending being incomplete and leaving a few loose ends. What happens with this mystery organization that investigates resurrection? Is their boss – who's been funding the experiments for many years - still having qualms about resurrecting the dead? (Especially when they always wake up grumpy, re-joining the world of the living with only one goal: to butcher and devastate. This "little" flaw seems to have eluded the attention of these "brilliant" scientists.) Not to mention the logic holes and other absurdities (so typical of Italian horror films). How could the journalist possibly FORGET that he left all that important stuff with the fake priest, and then blame his friend for it having gone missing? How is it possible that the doctor they visited in that other city actually KNOWS the journalist's girlfriend from when she was still a small girl? (Is Italy just a collection of 5-6 small villages in which everyone knows everybody? 50 million people, and these two bump into each other - and the doctor JUST HAPPENS to be one of the key bad guys. Duh.) This was a huge coincidence, far too absurd to be anywhere near acceptable; an almost brian-de-palmian/dario-argentian moronic plot-device used just to throw the viewer into further confusion – which is in essence OK to do, but not at the expense of logic.Even the alternate title, "Revenge of the Dead" makes no sense at all. What have these zombies got to be angry about? What's this revenge related to? If anything, the move should be called "Ungratefulness of the Dead" or "Extreme Confusion of the Dead"; just look at how the journalist's girlfriend "thanks" her man for bringing her back to life. She tears off half the ligaments in his shoulder-neck area, in what can best be described as a very ungrateful and highly absurd vampiric attack.

Admittedly The Italians managed to maintain a successful movie industry for 30 years by keeping up with the standards and box office hits from the other side of the Atlantic. Occasionally these imitations of American hits surpassed the originals and sometimes they led to the creation of entire sub genres that flourished for years (like the spaghetti westerns or the previous sword and sandal craze of the 50's). However Zeder is solid proof that every now and then an original movie with a fresh concept would surface.The first 3/4 of the movie rely more on mystery than horror as the story slowly but steadily unfolds its twists. Pupi Avati (of The House with Laughing Windows fame) opts for a story-driven piece here and thus forgoes all the gruesome (and much beloved) trademarks of early 80's Italian horror and instead focuses on atmosphere and suspense. As a footnote, the core of the plot isn't as original as one might think. The telluride zones of power which supposedly cover the surface of the earth and provide healing or regenerating powers of various sorts have been researched for a long time now. Supposedly all ancient places of importance (such as temples, obelisks, oracles or pyramids) are built on these zones and serve as antennas that amplify this geological kind of power. The Avati brothers cleverly combine this theory with a living dead subplot and in the process craft a very unique take on the zombie mythos.However Zeder is far from your typical flesh eating romp. Most of the murders are off screen and the focus is strictly on atmosphere, mystery and the supernatural than graphic violence. In my opinion this slightly hampers the effect of the film. A full blown zombie apocalypse near the end would flow naturally from the story AND provide that extra oomph! that would propel Zeder to a different level. There's a beautifully crafted climax near the end, complete with top notch camera work and some genuinely chilling visuals that actually begs for a climax larger in scale, that is sadly not materialised. It would just feel right. Avati opts for a "romantic" closure instead of full blown zombie mayhem or even an iconic zombie moment like the closing of Zombi 2 with the zombies marching towards the city."What if"s aside, Zeder is a success. It might seem relatively tame in comparison to Zombi 2, yet in the same time infinitely classier than your average Italian z-grade zombie flick of its time (Virus I'm looking at you). It comes with an interesting concept, a story that is actually interesting and suspenseful enough to hold your attention as it unfolds and some genuinely creepy moments and imagery. The script needed a little more polishing to flesh out the story better, but Zeder is clearly ambitious and I can't fault it for that. It deserves to be watched by open-minded fans. Just don't expect a zombie movie in the vein of Fulci or Mattei.

This movie is horrible. I have never seen a more boring film in my life, and I know that boredom is the draw for many horror purists to examine this film and dissect it for some level of substance that the short attention span-having trash-lovers may have missed. Yes, this is a zombie film, but it's a thinking-man's zombie film, I guess. But I must be ridiculously stupid, because I missed the point.This film is just seriously a bad time. The first few minutes are good enough, with a good film score. From the start, you begin to sense that this is an atmospheric film that may lose you in its boredom sometimes but still maintain enough of an edge to hold you for the near-2 hour running length. Fulci gets a lot of credit for "atmosphere", and I have to agree: Even when his films lacked a plot or a point, movies like Gates of Hell were just amazing because they gave off this weird, uncomforting feeling. Being able to get away on just feeling and not actually substance is one of the greatest achievements I've ever seen. You manage to make your film good, even if it isn't good.Well, indeed, this film is atmospheric. However, that hardly makes up for the sheer boredom of the whole thing. When you look at the box of this movie, you expect something in the way of zombies, zombie action, at least some mention of zombies. However, there is approximately two minutes of any zombies being in the movie at all. Sure, there are dead bodies, but hardly any zombies. I want ZOMBIES! I think that perhaps this film is some kind of experiment to make the viewer feel like a zombie. Watching the immense amounts of talking and little else, I just stared on and on and on, waiting for something to happen. And people kept talking and talking. Uh... yeah. Horrid.

Ignore Grade Z,he gave Blair Witch a good rating,any true genre fan didn't even waste their time w/ that dreck.But if yer big into Bava,Argento,Soavi,Baino and the like this film will knock you out.Genuinely creepy in a Very Italian way.American directors just can't get the atomosphere like these guys can.An incredible film that deserves to be Much more widely seen!!!So if Deep Red,Blood and Black Lace,House w/the windows that laughed and Cemetery Man are yer thing,ya gotta check this out!