Zeder's Revenge!

Image originally released Zeder, a.k.a. Revenge Of the Dead, on DVD in fullscreen as part of their Euroshock Collection way back in 1999.  But in 2002, when 20th Century Fox(!) reissued it in Italy in widescreen with the superior Italian audio track and removable English subs, I was very happy to upgrade.  More recently, when Code Red announced this title, I was excited at the prospect of this film making its HD debut, but only if it was the uncut version (there have been a couple budget releases - this one and this one - from a label called Cydonia missing a decent chunk of footage) with the Italian audio and English subtitles.  Thankfully, they came through.

Update 8/20/24: It's Day 4 of Update week 2024, and here's one that's been conspicuously absent since its release in February: 88 Films' new and improved Zeder!  And that's not all.  This is an all-horror Update day, wherein I've also added three additional DVDs of Night Of the Living Dead and House On Haunted Hill apiece.  And since I've got plenty more updates to come.  This Update Week may unnaturally extend an extra couple of days.

The first thing you should know about Zeder is that the Revenge Of the Dead box art is very misleading.  If you're expecting anything Hell Of the Living Dead or Nightmare City, forget about it; zombies never crawl out of manhole covers or anything like that.  I mean, there are a couple cool scenes towards the end that you could maybe connect to the cover image at a stretch, but this is really more of a giallo with a supernatural twist than a traditional zombie film.  Gabriele Lavia is a young writer who buys a used typewriter and realizes the old ink ribbon reveals the last things the previous owner wrote with it.  This leads him into a strange conspiracy involving mysterious references to something called a "K Zone" and life after death.  Zeder is a smart, brooding film about secret messages, following clues, hidden passageways and a pool scene surely influenced by Val Lewton's Cat People, all written and directed by Pupi Avati (Story of Boys & Girls, The House With Laughing Windows).

And this is why fans cared so much about getting the original Italian audio with this film.  Yes, like almost all Italian films, it's all dubbed either way; but in Zeder's case, the Italian's a much better performed, naturalistic track.  And that wouldn't be so important for your typical Italian zombie film that's just out to dazzle you with eye candy and gut munching gore.  Heck, sometimes the bad dubbing can even add to the experience of the wilder cases; but here I think it really spoils it.  Here you've got great locations with atmospheric lighting and people that need to involve you in their struggles, not sound like cartoon characters.

All that said, I really appreciate Code Red releasing it with the Revenge Of the Dead artwork.  It's an iconic VHS cover from its day, and I have... fond? memories of renting it and falling asleep to it several times when I was too young to appreciate its craft.  And I like that Code Red's motif is to hold to those old American video days with their covers.  I mean, come on, if they're already released L'ossessa as The Eerie Midnight Horror Show, they've gotta go with "Revenge Of the Dead!"

1) 2002 IT Fox DVD; 2) 2017 US Code Red BD; 3) 2024 UK 88 BD.

The first two discs look pretty similar, apart from the added clarity of Code Red's HD.  It still looks a little soft, which I imagine goes back to the film itself, but it definitely sharpens up the DVD and nicely clarifies all the edges.  The framing tightens in just a smidgen from about 1.82:1 to 1.78.  Despite being anamorphic, Fox's disc has a bit of window-boxing around all four sides that I'm glad the blu dispenses with.  Guys, let's never bring back TV overscan, okay?  Anyway, Code Red's packaging also specifically points out its new, exclusive color correction, and it looks quite good.  But again, it's pretty similar to Fox's DVD, just a bit more subdued, which is appropriate.  Compare the skin-tones in the comparison below to better see where they've improved things.

But things have improved a second time with 88's disc, which is is taken from a fresh 2k scan of the original camera negative.  Colors are more natural and the contrast especially is more subdued.  Grain that was smoothed over is now present, albeit still a little light in some areas, fine detail and edges are sharper.  It feels like another step forward, equal to how the Code Red advanced on the DVD.  In fact, flipping between screenshots from all three, I'd even say it's greater.

1) 2002 IT Fox DVD; 2) 2017 US Code Red BD; 3) 2024 UK 88 BD.

Now, to be clear, all three discs do offer that inferior English dub in addition to the Italian track, if you want it.  It's nice to have as a curiosity piece if nothing else.  And yes, all three releases have English subtitles.  But not everybody's entirely happy with Code Red's subs, so let's get into that.

There are a couple issues going on.  One is just the look.  Slightly outlined white vs. yellow with black bars behind them.  The first are less distracting, but the second are easier to read, which as a glasses wearer, I appreciate.  Second there are some translation differences, but I don't understand Italian well enough (or at all) to argue which are more accurate.  Code Red's subs match the English dub more closely and are likely what we foreign film fans like to call "dubtitles," while 88's are traditional subtitles, as they specifically translate the Italian track.  And third, I think the most controversially, is the fact that the Code Red subs are captions for the hearing impaired, which means besides transcribing the dialogue, they also include sound effects like "[door opens]."  It isn't too distracting once you get used to it, though.  There isn't a "[tap] [tap] [tap]" for every footstep or anything; it's just the key sounds.  So I get why some people are a little underwhelmed, and I agree the 88, or even Fox, subtitles are preferable - I'm glad 88 has finally given us the better option in HD.

Moving on to the special features, the Fox DVD did actually have a few.  Not a lot, but some pretty cool stuff.  Unfortunately, though, none of it had English language options.  So there's a well-edited 15 minute featurette including interviews with Avati, Lavia, producer Antonio Avati and composer Riz Ortolani, plus trailers for Zeder and House With Laughing Windows.  They're just not English friendly.  It's always killed me that that featurette wasn't subtitled.

Code Red doesn't have any of that stuff, but instead come with their own special features package.  First and foremost is a terrific, half-hour interview with Pupi Avati, which you can watch either subtitled or dubbed (the latter created presumably because the subtitles on this extra, for some reason, are super tiny).  There's also a brief, but all new interview with Gabriel Lavia, and a fun Revenge Of the Dead teaser trailer which tries so hard to mislead you into thinking it's a different type of flick that it doesn't even show you any footage from the film.  The blu also includes reversible artwork, which is fitting, as you can go with a Revenge Of the Dead cover or a Zeder cover, though I'm not a big fan of their newly commissioned Zeder art (I never like these comic book-style covers the cult labels insist on going with these days), as well as a slipcover with the new Zeder art.

And 88 doesn't have the Fox or the Code Red extras, but that doesn't stop it from having the best features package of them all.  First of all, it has two audio commentaries, both by experts, which are fine but not great.  One's by Kim Newman & Sean Hogan and the other's by Barry Forshaw and Eugenio Ercolani (the later of whom has done several of 88's Italian titles now).  Both are on the casual side, but not bad if that's the sort of thing you're after.  Much more crucially, then, we come to the interviews.  There's no need to be disappointed they don't have Code Red's Avati and Lavia interviews, because they've conducted new ones with both.  The Lavia one is longer, so they get to go more in depth, and the Avati subtitles are far more legible.  Then they also have exclusive interviews with actor Steno Tonelli (this one's quite interesting) and Pupi's brother and professional collaborator, Antonio Avati.  They've also got the trailer and their own Revenge Of the Dead reversible artwork; and the first pressing also came with a double-sided poster, slipcase and 40-page booklet.

So hey, the Code Red was nice for its time.  It looked good, was uncut with all the important language options and some some great extras... which for the first time ever, we could understand.  But 88 has definitely raised it up further to contemporary standards.  Better picture, better subtitles and considerably more special features.  And Zeder is a really cool movie that deserves it, so long as you're prepared for something subtle and calmly paced without a lot of gore or zombie action.