Night of the Living Deb

Dir: Kyle Rankin

2015

**

Kyle Rankin's Night of the Living Deb feels like it was written in a hurry and I wonder if it really was. The 'Rom-Com-Zom' (a genre title coined and stolen from Shaun of the Dead) launched on Kickstarter in March 2014 with the first 16 pages being displayed online to entice would-be zombie fans to back the project. Cameras started rolling within two months of them reaching their target. That's pretty fast for a crowdfunded film, no matter how organised they were. The film does look a little rushed in places to be fair and a little too farcical, even for a farcical comedy. It is low budget film making but the makers have enough experience for it to be better than the final and rather amateurish product. The film was sold on its premise, and it's a good premise at that; girl (Deb) wakes up in a stranger's house without much memory of the night of drinking that came before but all awkwardness is suddenly overshadowed when the couple realize they are the sole survivors of a Zombie apocalypse. It's a great set up but that's about it. There are some charming quirks and rather witty observations regarding the Zombie genre but these are far and few between and certainly don't make up for the downhill story that followed such a promising start. Maria Thayer is quite good in the title role as Deb and she pretty much carries the film throughout. Unfortunately her co-stars are pretty weak, Michael Cassidy plays her love interest and is about as cardboard as you can get. You could argue that his subdued performance enhances Thayer's but the truth is she is several leagues ahead. The film is sold as America's answer to Shaun of the Dead but it is nowhere near as good, it's not even close. A Rom-Com-Zom should have a convincing romantic chemistry between the leads, should be funny and should of course have some original, inventive and exciting Zombie action. Night of the Living Deb has none of these. You could be forgiven for forgetting it’s even a Zombie film at times, with the Zombies themselves being the least terrifying ever seen in film. It's worse than a missed opportunity, it's 85 minutes of missed opportunities.