MovieChat Forums > Zeder Discussion > I wish I'd had imdb.com in my life when ...

I wish I'd had imdb.com in my life when I rented this.

posted 17 years ago by LookAtTheBlood
11 replies | jump to latest

I might have enjoyed this movie ...
...if I wasn't an awkward 13 year old hunting the shelves of my video store for sensless zombie action when I found this movie back in 1996.

Like many I was fooled by the box art shamefully used by the U.S. distributor who decided that the best course of action was to market this as a film that it clearly wasn't trying to be. I might try to give it a chance now that I have a broader range of what I enjoy (not just trying to watch as much shock as possible).

Because of my age at the time and the missleading box art and the clear memory of how betrayed and angry I was when the movie finished, this film ranked under my list of worst movies ever made until just recently. I even wrote a paper naming it THE WORST MOVIE I had ever seen. Thinking back to that paper, it made me sound like an irratioinal and childish pre-pubecent gorehound (which I was when I saw it).

I never even thought about the similarities to King's "Pet Cementary."

The only possitive memory I have of this film is the

::SPOILER::

Waking up in the coffin scene that was UBER creepy.

::End Spoiler::

Nowaday's you can look up a film's title before viewing it and/or allowing yourself to be fooled my the marketing team. It truely is a blessing.

[–] dtsolomo 16 years ago

The same thing happened to me! I was confused.

[–] lordinfernus_2001 16 years ago

I had even worse happen to me. This came to my local theatre when I was a teenager, and I too was suckered by the poster art. I talked a whole group of my buddies into going and seeing it, when they really wanted to see Beverly Hills Cop! Needless, to say they never let me live down, how bad this movie was!! One of them to this day, will say where's my $3.50 for Revenge Of The Dead!!

[–] Diestro_Consone 16 years ago

I was also suckered in by the artwork alone!!!

I was about 11 when I saw this at my local store. I loved the cover art! I thoght it was going to be just a bad ass zombie flick. I even passed on renting it because it looked too scary and instead rented other zombie movies until I had the balls to rent Revenge of the Dead. Needless to say, my friends and I were also dissapointed after watching it.

Cool box cover though.

You were born a pig farmer.
You'll always BE a pig farmer.
And now, you will DIE a pig farmer.

[–] LostintheDarknessofNight 15 years ago

*beep* You ripped the words right out of my mouth. I just saw it mentioned (perhaps unfairly, or perhaps correctly) on a list of the top 20 zombie films ever made, and I immediately got pissed off, and researched it.

I, too, was a teenager rummaging through my local Blockbuster during my zombie movie craze, and was so severely let down, that I have never forgiven it. But now I might have to check it out again, now that I have a much wider palate when it comes to movies now.

I might have to scratch this one off my "Worst Movies of All Time" list!

[–] slouchingpoet 14 years ago

I was let down thirty seconds ago. I totally don't understand this movie. And not just because I don't speak Italian.

[–] filmscholar35 13 years ago

I WORKED in a movie theater that showed this film in the summer of 1984.

We showed a lot of Italian B-movies at the time. Fulci's "The Gates of Hell" and "Seven Doors of Death" played there, as well as "Make Them Die Slowly" and "Pieces". "Burial Ground", with the famous dwarf kid, also played there later on, in 1985.

Anyway, the original theatrical one-sheet poster looked exactly like the video box art you guys were talking about. Also, the theater ran HUGE ads in the city's local paper, that looked just like it. They even ran radio spots that made it sound uber-scary. AND, to finish that off, for some inexplicable reason, they decided to run the film as "Not rated", but did NOT allow anyone under 17 to be admitted into the theater! Even with their parents! They treated it as an X rating! We had shown a couple of actual 'X' films before, and we had shown Unrated films and treated them as 'X' before (Gates of Hell, Pieces, and Burial Ground didn't admit minors). But, at least you could underastand it on certain films, they had extreme gore or explicit sex or uncomfortable subject matter. But, this particular film was barely an 'R' film, in my opinion. It was just a slow, arty creepy ghost story, with some paranormal science thrown in. There was little language, no sex or nudity, and very little blood or violence.

Man, you should have seen the crap we that worked at the theater had t deal with from pissed-off patrons that opening weekend!

They heard the radio, saw the paper, came to the theater and saw the poster, saw the restrictions, everyone was carded, and they lined up in droves to see the film. The promise of shock, gore and splatter would draw huge Friday and Saturday night adult crowds back then.

THEN... they would come out really, REALLY complaining. People were asking for their money back and stuff.

It was marketing genius to get them there, but it was downright dishonest and misleading. And we that worked there had to listen to it.

[–] venusboys3 13 years ago

The reverse happened to me... I'd avoided watching this movie for years because it looked like another typical Italian gorefest zombie movie. I figured the name was some play on 'zombie' + 'deader' = 'Zeader' mispelled as 'Zeder'... whatever.
I'm glad I finally got to watch it.

[–] saint-21 12 years ago

yep, never forget June of 1984, saw the ad in the local paper. i had to see this movie. It looked awesome.. I really thought it was gonna be killer. i didnt get a chance until fall of 85 when i rented it at the local video store, and wooooo what a huge let down. i think i ended up fast forwarding most of it.. Agree, a great marketing tool. almost like blair witch before its time..

[–] alucardvenom 8 years ago

The reverse happened to me... I'd avoided watching this movie for years because it looked like another typical Italian gorefest zombie movie. I figured the name was some play on 'zombie' + 'deader' = 'Zeader' mispelled as 'Zeder'... whatever.
I'm glad I finally got to watch it.

Same happen to me. I didn't want to watch it because I only remember it's VHS cover which was so obviously marketed as something this movie is not. Looking at VHS cover, you would think it's your typical italian zombie movie, one of many that followed after Fulci, but this was actually more in line with something like Dead & Buried then Zombie Flesh Eaters (Zombi 2)

But hey, hey, misleading VHS artwork covers of the past. ;)

[–] Falconeer 12 years ago

Watch "Zeder" again, as an adult you will most likely appreciate the extremely well-made film that it is. I just saw this as an adult, and thought it was an intelligent, and very artistically-shot film. None of these things can be appreciated by kids looking for a zombie flick. I can understand why that audience would hate this, and think of it as garbage.. See it again if you get the opportunity.

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

[–] steelba 7 years ago

I saw this as a kid, but was warned by my moms friend it was nothing like the cover and no good. I just rewatched it now on youtube and the movie isn't very good. Being a huge horror fan as a child and still being one, this film is a 5/10. Not a lot going on and the plot is ridiculous. If someone is buried in a "K zone" they reanimate. Just burying them there is enough, but there is no historical evidence of that despite the site being a mass graveyard. Really absurd stuff. The lead characters wife was smoking hot though and was rockin that bikini. Highlight of the film was the wife in the bikini.