In 1956 there have been a few mysterious deaths in Chartres, France. Dr. Meyer (Cesare Barbetti) arrives at an old estate with a young girl, Gabriella (Veronica Moriconi) to investigate. Gabriella is a psychic. Dr. Meyer plans on using the girl in an experiment. During the night unusual noises alert the doctor. He takes Gabriella to the basement where she locates an area in the dirt floor where she falls to her knees and begins digging into the earth. Dr. Meyer runs upstairs for help leaving the girl alone in the basement where she is attacked. Gabriella is rescued but ends up losing her leg from her injuries. Back in the basement they find the decomposing body of Paolo Zeder. This is when Dr. Meyer realizes that the house was built on what is known as a K-Zone and that Zeder was buried there on purpose.
In modern day Bologna, Alessandra (Anne Canovas) buys a used typewriter for her novelist husband, Stefano (Gabriele Lavia), for their anniversary. When Stefano goes to use the typewriter he sees that the ribbon in it has been used and he can read the words written on it. Stefano copies down the words from the typewriter ribbon and realizes that the writing represents two things. One is a sort of report, and the other is part of a letter. The report refers to areas that Zeder believes are places where death ceases to exist. The areas are called K-zones. Zeder believed that bodies that are buried in one of these K-zones can come back from the dead.
Stefano is intrigued by the report and thinks that it could be the plot of his next book. He launches an investigation to find out more about Zeder and his theories. He visits his old mentor, Professor Chesi (John Stacy). The professor tells Stefano about Dr. Meyer and his search for Paolo Zeder and the K-zones which were ancient areas that defied the laws of nature. People buried in these zones were said to be in a state of suspension, neither alive nor dead.
While researching the essay Stefano runs into people that try to block his research. This spurs him on more. Before long Stefano is knee deep in murder, conspiracy and a missing priest.
“Zeder” AKA “Revenge of the Dead” was released in 1983 and was directed by Pupi Avati. It is an Italian supernatural horror mystery film.
There is a lot of atmosphere here and quite a bit of mystery, but it has a tendency to just trudge on. It’s not a bad movie but it can be a little confusing at times. Information is doled out piecemeal to the point where I lost track of some of the threads and had to re-watch portions of the film. It is often looked at as a zombie movie, and there is a zombie or two but they’re more of a plot devise. The real story is the mystery behind how the zombies came to be.
It is more reminiscent of films like “Pet Semetary” 1989 than any Fulci or Romano style zombie movie. It’s also somewhat of a supernatural paranormal film. If you’re looking for your standard zombie movie, this isn’t it. The focus is more on the mystery of those responsible for the zombie manifestation than on any actual zombies. The investigation and the conspiracy are the focus.
The American version was released as “Revenge of the Dead” and suffered from some bad editing.