- Actors: Maria Thayer, Michael Cassidy
- Director: Kyle Rankin
- Format: Subtitled, Widescreen
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: Unrated
- Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
- Release Date: September 6, 2016
- Run Time: 84 minutes
Zombie movies
are so outplayed that even the idea of a zombie romantic comedy is somewhat
derivative at this point. There have been Blockbuster releases such Zombieland, foreign imports like Shaun of the Dead, zom-rom-coms with a
love story between human and monster (Warm
Bodies), a break-up rom-com (Life
After Beth), and even adaptation of classic literature with zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). Night of the Living Deb offers a mildly
clever title and a comedy with none of the typical dramatic stakes found in a
zombie narrative. This isn’t a parody of the zombie horror film so much as an
indi comedy utilizing the popularity of the sub-genre.
Your patience
with Night of the Living Deb is
entirely dependant upon the ability to endure the endless quirky dialogue, most
of which is spearheaded by the title character, Deb (Maria Thayer). Deb is
awkward in every way. She dresses oddly, blurts random things out from moment
to moment, and her character is treated as an annoyance and burden for much of
the film. This is primarily because Deb somehow ends up with a wealthy and
traditionally handsome guy on the night the zombie apocalypse spreads. As much
as Ryan (Michael Cassidy) wishes that he could get away from his drunken
mistake, the unlikely pair is forced to rely on each other for survival.
The interaction
with zombies is understandably limited, leaving far more time to focus on the odd
couple pairing of Deb and Ryan. Even less of the horror elements are present
when additional human survivors are added to the narrative, including Ryan’s
superficial girlfriend (Syd Wilder), his overbearing father (Ray Wise), and his
vulgarly macho brother (Chris Marquette). As these characters are stuck with
each other in an attempt to survive, they mostly all just act irritatingly in
the name of humor. Ryan is stuck playing the straight man to a cast full of
character actors trying to get as many laughs as the oversimplified plot will
allow.
Night of the Living Deb is mostly
inoffensively bland entertainment, limiting the blood and gore of the genre. A
bit more edginess may have made the film more memorable, but then again, so
would an original idea for the screenplay. The high definition of the Blu-ray
offers little visual enhancement for the low budget film, though it does come
with a commentary track, bloopers, and a behind-the-scenes featurette. The
commentary includes Cassidy, Thayer, writer/director Kyle Rankin, co-writer
Andy Selsor, and editor Tony Copilillo.
Entertainment Value:
4/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4/10
Historical
Significance: 1/10
Special Features: 3.5/10
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