SNAPSHOT
Already Dead is a short mockumentary about recovering zombies. Fifteen 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 Zombie’s day-to-day “lives”. But have we truly come to accept Zombies or are we still living in 2001?
Already Dead is a reflection of modern society and the prejudice that individuals struggle with each and every day. (synopsis via AlreadyDeadtheMovie.com)
Mockumentaries are wonderful things.
Tiptoeing on just the right side of absurdity, just close enough to the truth of an issue to lend the satire that is their narrative bread and butter the right edge of critically humourous observation, they are a joy to watch.
In Already Dead, a 15 minute horror comedy produced by Posh Dinosaur’s Michael J. Dean, the satirical target is a very serious one – the growing trend in modern society to discriminate, and do so volubly thanks to social media, on a range of people who don’t fit the “norm” (itself a worrying rubbery concept prone to all kinds of interpretation):
“Hatred and prejudice towards race, religion, sexuality and gender are all strong subjects in today’s society. Thanks to the Internet it has become far easier for those to spread a message of hatred to the masses. Already Dead is about a group of individuals struggling to live in a world that is unable to accept them for more than what they can see, much like migrants today who are victimised because of the main stream media and misrepresented stereotypes.” (source: AlreadyDeadthemovie.com)
It’s a tack that has been used to great effect in shows like In the Flesh to illustrate how utterly illogical, hurtful and destructive these kinds of unthinking, oft-repeated attitudes are, and how they benefit no one, creating nothing but division in society.
And it works a treat in Already Dead, according to Popcorn Horror:
“The film’s style is reminiscent of both candid Louis Theroux documentaries and the hilarious Spinal Tap style of absurdity.”
Using humour to attack these virulently cancerous attitudes is an effective one, the whole spoonful of sugar approach helping people to hopefully reconsider why these attitudes exist, how pointless and nasty they are, and how best to combat or let go of them.
Already Dead screened at FilmQuest 2016 and will hopefully be making its way to a short film festival soon near you and me.