Popcorn Frights Film Festival Coverage
There’s a Zombie Outside review
Meta-horror gets taken to the next level in There’s a Zombie Outside.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
There’s a Zombie Outside
Directed by Michael Varrati
Written by Michael Varrati
Starring Ben Baur, Phylicia Wissa, Danny Plotner, Ty Chen, Tiffany Shepis, Francisco Chacin, William Lott and Joshua Grannell
There’s a Zombie Outside Review
There’s a Zombie Outside takes meta-horror down a fascinating and unexpected path. It has more in common with Wes Craven’s New Nightmare than Wes Craven’s Scream. Something that should excite people looking for a meta-horror story focused on something fresh. It doesn’t come without some challenges…but There’s a Zombie Outside ultimately forges its own path in a subgenre that can often feel like it rehashes the same tricks.
Our story begins with four friends having a birthday weekend. The birthday boy Adam (Ben Bauer) is a struggling writer. His boyfriend Ollie (Ty Chen) senses his distress and feels like he’s being kept at arm’s length. Friends Louis (Francisco Chacin) and Zeke (William Lott) are trying to liven up the party…but Adam is too distracted. That’s before he sees a zombie loitering outside the window.
The opening scenes of There’s a Zombie Outside include a more comedic tone than most of the movie does. The group has a fun dynamic. Even Adam’s downer attitude can’t fully depress the party. His friends don’t believe his zombie story. They really wouldn’t believe what happened next. Adam heads outside to confront the being…and they begin to kiss and then have sex. Yes…with a zombie. It’s a wild moment. It’s followed by another one.
Ben Bauer wakes up in the same house alone. Officer Findlay (Tiffany Shepis) is questioning him about his presence in a house that isn’t his. He has no answers. He doesn’t know how he got there or why. Bauer, who played Adam in the opening, is now playing a version of himself. An actor who starred in the movie There’s a Zombie Outside. This is where the New Nightmare vibes come from. Unlike later meta-horror, New Nightmare turned its camera inward to look at the effects horror movies have on the people that create it. It’s a tactic that has largely been ignored by the genre since. Once Scream came around two years later…meta-horror mostly looked to comment on the horror genre itself.
Bauer’s career isn’t going the way he wanted. He’s struggling to get work. His agency makes clear that it’s his fault for portraying too many queer characters. That’s the work he wants to do…but they believe he needs to play broader roles to get more opportunities. Lines between reality and fiction fully blur for Bauer when he sees a zombie outside once again.
Bauer runs into fellow actor Danny Plotner…who we have seen playing a jogger inside of the fictional There’s a Zombie Outside movie. The film was a critical flop. All anyone seems to remember is that Bauer’s character had sex with a zombie in the woods. Plotner talks about the lack of importance his character had to the story…revealing he didn’t even have a name in the original script. Meanwhile…Bauer is still seeing that zombie outside. He’s the only one who can.
With his career going down the toilet and his life becoming consumed by a monster from his most public flop…Bauer has a lot on his plate. Writer/director Michal Varrati makes a voice cameo to deepen the illusion. They have an interesting conversation that seems to purposely comment on the state of the movie we are watching at the time. There’s a Zombie Outside feels like it loses its direction after a while. The actor (Bauer) calling the writer (Varrati) to discuss how to end a horror story is some next level meta goodness.
There’s a Zombie Outside sees its comedy largely dry up outside of its opening. I would be lying if I said that the rest of the story wouldn’t have benefited from a bit more of it. It certainly helps the world outside of the movie feel different…so the purpose is clear and executed well. There is, however, ample space to fill once Adam’s story ends and Bauer’s story begins. The commentary on the industry and Bauer’s place in it is interesting. The climactic choices are fun. Perhaps letting the zombie in a little earlier would have added a bit more to the mix.
Scare Value
There’s a Zombie Outside brings some strong ideas to the meta-horror table. It tackles something different than most. Ben Bauer is great in a dual role that asks him to play himself most of the time. The opening of the film is fun in a way that, frankly, you’ll miss once it’s gone. There’s a happy mix between the campy fun of the movie inside the movie and the stark reality full of interesting ideas that follow.
