REVIEW: Already Dead (2016)

- By Lisle Henderson

“15 years after a zombie outbreak (ZE Day), Zombies live among us, working 9-5 jobs, holidaying in Barbados and living ‘life’ to the fullest. A documentary crew have been given exclusive access to a group of Zombies’ day to day ‘lives’”

‘Already Dead’ is the brilliant new short comedy horror from Posh Dinosaur Productions. Written and directed by Michael James Dean, this film takes us on a trip into a world – post zombie outbreak - where an element of harmony has been restored and highly medicated zombies live among us.

I love a zombie movie/tv show, so I was excited to get this film to review. I was keen to see where this genre could be taken. I wasn’t disappointed! What do you do with the undead when you want to try and get society back in order? Well through a combination of therapy and the use of overpriced ‘Zombenzene’ you can help a zombie live a relatively normal life….kind of!

So our dedicated and sensitive documentary team interview some recovering zombies, and we get to understand how life is for these people fitting into a rather unwelcoming society. George who lives alone is a sweet guy. If you imagine Prince Charles talking after copious amounts of alcohol, that’s George. Well, I say sweet, but he does have the odd brain craving ‘slip up’ to use his words.

While filming, the documentary team encounter some hostility towards the recovering zombies….here is where the film cleverly puts a zombie spin on modern society. ‘Zombie Scum’ seems to be the opinion of some of the living. No cover on the NHS because they are not actually alive, so forcing our undead into poverty while they pay for overpriced medication to only ‘reduce’ their hunger for human flesh.

There is no doubt this film puts out moral and political references….but fear not…this is a full on comedy. I laughed out loud at this film, in fact I had a silly smile all the way through. One scene in particular with a soon to be married couple is just genius, but I won’t give anything away.

The acting in this film is fantastic! Superb performances by everyone involved. The film looked sharp and slick. The script? The script is just brilliant! I could have handled this being a feature length movie for sure.

In a time where zombies are all over our screens, it’s hard to see what fresh (or should I say flesh..ha ha) approaches can be taken. But this definitely hit the mark. Nothing negative to say about this film whatsoever!

It’s a must watch.

Lisle Henderson