Gay Zombies - Everything you wanted to know about Otto (aka Up With Dead People)
With all the subtextual grist being heaped on the zombie film: racism, consumerism & conformity, terrorism, etc., I’m not alone in expressing surprise that there hasn’t been a gay zombie film up until this point. Perhaps there has. Either way, Toronto iconoclast Bruce La Bruce has already gotten a bit of a reaction with his new zombie film (which features hardcore gay sex - um, there is your *NFSW* warning for the trailer linked below…). I think it takes a certain mind-frame to enjoy a Bruce La Bruce film, one not necessarily in synch with the modern version of the Sundance film festival (Land of the Little Miss Sunshines, Son of Rambows and Junos). I also love the fact that the director describes this as a melancholic gay zombie movie.
A young zombie named Otto appears on a remote highway. He has no idea where he came from or where he is going. After hitching a ride to Berlin and nesting in an abandoned amusement park, he begins to explore the city. Soon he is discovered by underground filmmaker Medea Yarn, who begins to make a documentary about him with the support of her girlfriend, Hella Bent, and her brother Adolf, who operates the camera. Meanwhile, Medea is trying to finish “Up with Dead People,” the epic political-porno-zombie movie that she has been working on for years. She convinces its star, Fritz Fritze, to allow the vulnerable Otto to stay in his guest bedroom. When Otto discovers that there is a wallet in his back pocket that contains information about his past, before he was dead, he begins to remember a few details, including memories of his ex-boyfriend, Rudolf. He arranges to meet him at the schoolyard where they met, with devastating results.
Either way, if you are willing to step waaaay off the beaten path for your zombie fare, I think Otto is one to look for. Lots of links and trailer below.
Otto Official Site
Bruce LaBruce’s Sundance Blog (Which has his reaction to the two screenings of Otto)
Daily GreenCine’s Sundance Coverage
Bloody Disgusting’s “0 out of 10″ review
Kurt’s TIFF 2004 reaction to The Raspberry Reich (a film which has admittedly grown on me since the initial viewing)
***NOT SAFE FOR WORK, Some Scenes flirt with Graphic Nudity and Sexuality***
Now is as good a time as any to query what those in the Third Row think of the avalanche of zombie films over the past four years or so. Discuss.
Up with the Undead!
Comment by Colleeny — February 4, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
It’s interesting to note that the surge in Zombie films (at least in the mainstream) has come at the cost of vampire films. And I don’t really think “I Am Legend” counts since the vampires are hardly in the movie.
Comment by Marina Antunes — February 4, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
Comment by Kurt Halfyard — February 4, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
Comment by Marina Antunes — February 4, 2008 @ 2:00 pm
Comment by Dave Becker — February 4, 2008 @ 5:32 pm