Night of the Living Deb (2015)

Movie: Night of the Living Deb (2015), directed by Kyle Rankin

Watched on: Shudder, but it’s also on Amazon Prime

Ran: 7.04 miles, 8’52”/mile, 01:02:24 (bad-day recovery run)

 

So I had kind of a day, if ya know what I mean, and thus I bailed on my original plan to run long and slow over a meditative viewing of Argento’s Suspiria, because my mood would have ruined the experience. Instead I first went looking for something irredeemably violent and evil in hopes of catharsis, but after passing over a half-dozen perfectly suitable candidates without much enthusiasm, I realized what I really needed was something to make me laugh.

 

If you spend any time among horror fans you may encounter the occasional dude (it’s pretty much always a dude) who insists that there’s no such thing as “horror comedy,” that comedy has no place in horror because if you’re laughing you must not be scared. That seems like a sad way to go through life, but hey, it takes all kinds—and my kind just happens to like the occasional chocolate in my peanut butter and peanut butter on my chocolate. And the mix can indeed go a lot of ways; for instance, I don’t think anyone’s going to deny that Evil Dead II is both scary as hell and also achingly funny at times. But tonight’s flick is Night of the Living Deb, which is… not that.

 

It’s important that I make this crystal clear: NotLD is pretty much a straight-up lighthearted romantic comedy with zombies running around. It is not scary. At all. I mean, maybe if you literally never watch anything even close to horror you might be a little freaked out to see zombies lurching around and getting hit by cars and decapitated by shotgun blasts, but at no point in NotLB will you ever feel that the protagonists are in danger, nor are you supposed to. If you have a problem with that, by all means, move along.

 

That said, while NotLD doesn’t horrify, I still consider it to be a horror film (and I guess Shudder agrees with me). It mines much of its humor from the well-known tropes of the zombie apocalypse, so open-minded horror fans might get a few more chuckles than someone unfamiliar with the oeuvre, but I do honestly feel that anyone in the mood for a mellow romcom would enjoy this movie. You wind up with lines like “Why do you have coconut water? Is this Maine, or Gilligan’s Island?” alongside “Dude, why are you eating a foot?!”

 

The setup is a simple one. Deb is a super-awkward but spunky redhead—redheads in movies are either spunky or sultry… or witches, I guess—who musters enough courage to chat up Ryan (Portland, Maine’s Prettiest Man™) in a bar on Independence Day Eve. Cut to the next morning, when Deb wakes up in Ryan’s bed and doesn’t remember anything about the night before. Ryan seems just as confused but clearly feels the evening was a mistake. That might have been the end of Deb-and-Ryan (Reb? Dyan? Debby Ryan?), except, oh no! A zombie apocalypse has descended in the night! To make matters worse, it’s increasingly clear that Ryan’s tree-hugger ways clash with Deb’s down-to-earth sensibilities, but this reluctant odd couple thrust together by circumstance must work together to fend off the horde, get to Ryan’s dad’s mansion, and escape Portland with Ryan’s brother and his UH-OH, FIANCÉE in the governor’s helicopter. Oh, did I mention that Ryan’s dad’s company started the whole zombie outbreak in the first place? Hijinks ensue!

 

Let’s not mince words: NotLB could have been appallingly awful. It could have been a “hey, I thought of a punny title, let’s make a movie” movie. But you could say the same of Shaun of the Dead and that’s a modern classic, so who’s to judge? Well, I’ll tell you: me. I’m to judge. And while NotLD isn’t the love of my life, it’s definitely the fun acquaintance with whom I’d gladly while away an evening in the bar. Mostly this is because of Deb, who is perfectly portrayed by Maria Thayer (oh my GOD, it’s Tammi Littlenut from Strangers With Candy! Jeez I’m old). I could watch and listen to Deb all night, awkwardly spouting movie quotes and Longfellow poems. But the real key is the chemistry between Deb and Ryan—not so much romantic, but comedic. The bickering between them is perfection and there’s little I appreciate more than good characterization and snappy dialogue.

 

This was my second viewing of NotLD, and I regret nothing. I’ll probably watch it several times more. It would go well with Shaun of the Dead and both Zombieland movies if you were looking to do a Zombie Romcom evening, but just keep in mind that this is the romcommiest of the four.