This is my first time writing a review for a short horror film, but shorts are becoming more popular (especially with websites like YouTube and Vimeo) so it seems high time for me to write about one. In the short film “Over My Dead Body,” by director Timothy Plain, we see Marie (Karina Wolfe) getting ready for her blind date. Much to Marie’s surprise her blind date, Richard (Jeremy Mascia), turns out to be a zombie.

There are so many great qualities to this short film. The most important for me is they manage to fit a complete story into a mere 7 minutes. It has everything you expect to see in a feature-length romantic comedy. The script by Zergog Sebastian Tovar made me laugh many times. Blind dates are awkward enough on their own; add the fact that your date is a zombie, and things get even more uncomfortable! I especially loved the bad jokes Tovar incorporated into the script. Most guys try to make jokes to make an awkward situation more comfortable. Poor Richard’s jokes only seemed to make things worse, which made everything more hilarious to watch.

Another great aspect of this short is the attention to detail. These are little things that you may not even notice the first time you watch the short, but they have a big impact. One of my favorite scenes consists of one of these small details. When Richard first arrives to the blind date he gives Marie a bouquet of dead flowers. The gesture of a dead guy giving his date dead flowers made me laugh so hard. This scene reflects the short as a whole: cute, clever, morbid, and completely hilarious.

Richard’s makeup was very fitting because while the character is a zombie, you still want the viewer to see Richard as someone who is dateable. If they had gone for the full “Walking Dead” treatment, no one would want to date that zombie! The only downside to this makeup is that it didn’t necessarily extend beyond the face. It would have been nice to see the pale complexion and dark veining wherever zombie skin was showing.

“Over My Dead Body” really has everything you could want from a romzomcom. It’s funny, it has a zombie, and it has a very sweet story. Now, consider the fact you get all this in a 7 minute short, and that is pretty impressive. This short film is something that can not only appeal to people of many different ages, but to non-horror fans as well. You can even watch it on a break at your day job (like I did) or pull it up on Vimeo on your TV. Either way, be sure to check this short out.

OVERALL RATING: 4.5/5 (Since it’s a short it seemed appropriate to use a smaller rating scale!)