Deb Clarington (Maria Thayer) is an odd, off-beat young woman who works as a camera operator for the local news station in Portland, Maine. She’s celebrating the Fourth of July with best friend Ruby (Julie Brister) when she sees an attractive guy, Ryan Waverly (Michael Cassidy), at the bar. In an awkward encounter she discovers that Ryan has a fiancee, Stacy (Syd Wilder). However, the couple are having issues and suddenly decide to break up—Stacy was upset with Ryan for not taking a job at his father Frank’s (Ray Wise) company. And so Deb swoops in and she and Ryan end up having a one night stand. When they wake up the next morning, neither of them can remember what happened the night before, but Ryan quickly realizes he’s made a horrible mistake.

Ryan is a straight-laced, tree-hugging, bicycle-riding, zero-emissions, cord-cutting, recycling type of guy—the kind of person who only eats organic fruits and vegetables and strange kale shakes. He’s trying to rebel from his wealthy family upbringing and wants nothing to do with his father’s morally- and environmentally-unethical water company. Deb’s life is even more of a mess—she dresses oddly, has no social life, and pretty much lives out of her car, an old gas guzzler that barely runs. The two couldn’t be more opposite, and while Deb is obsessed with Ryan and will do anything to will a relationship to happen, Ryan wants absolutely nothing to do with her, but Deb is clingy and refuses to leave. The pair soon discovers that overnight everyone in town has become zombies, and so now Ryan must stick with Deb in order to survive, and make his way through miles of zombies to his father’s house to figure out what to do next.

Night of the Living Deb centers around the premise of “What would make an awkward one night stand even worse? A Zombie Apocalypse!” This is such a great premise that is ripe for humor, and I think the film is mostly successful at this. The cast is really great and have a lot of chemistry—there is a lot of improvisation in this film, and these actors come up with some really funny lines. At times the character of Deb veers a little too closely to being annoying rather than endearing, but she has undeniable chemistry with Ryan, and I eventually found myself rooting for the couple. Deb’s craziness plays well to Ryan’s straight man, and both characters also have some hilarious scenes with Ryan’s father and Ryan’s brother Chaz (Chris Marquette). It’s a really fun ensemble cast that works well together.

The process of making this film began back in March 2014 with Kickstarter, which raised $100K of the film’s modest budget. Principle photography was completed in July of the same year. Now, two years later, the film has made its way to Blu-ray. While it was evident watching the movie that this wasn’t a big Hollywood blockbuster, it never felt like a low budget film. Rather than taking on large-scale effects the budget couldn’t handle, the filmmakers utilize camera tricks and sounds to make some of the action take place off screen. But the zombie effects we do see are actually really well done.

Night of the Living Deb plays well as a zom-rom-com. Instead of going for the tone of a darker, bloody zombie flick, it embraces a lighter, happier feeling. While there are still people dying, it’s always done with a smile or a joke. And all of this leads to a really enjoyable, delightful ending.

The Blu-ray picture quality looks great, but I found the audio mix to be a little sub-par. While the music and effects sound really good, these are sometimes a bit too overbearing and drown out the dialogue, making it difficult to discern what it being said. The Blu-ray disc contains a 10-minute blooper reel, a 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, and a cast/filmmaker commentary. I think I enjoyed the film even more the second time around with the commentary.

What’s Included:
Film: (1:24:29)

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.00:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English PCM Lossless 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

• Audio Commentary (1:24:29)
  Entertaining feature commentary by writer/director Kyle Rankin, actor/producer Michael Cassidy, actor Maria Thayer, writer Andy Selsor, and editor Tony Copolillo. You can really sense the joy this cast/crew has for this project—they feel like a family. The participants recount a lot of fun and interesting production and behind-the-scenes stories throughout the film.
• Bloopers (9:46)
  A fun gag reel that finds the cast flubbing and improving lines, prop malfunctions, dealing with pedestrians and smiling zombies ruining takes, and just cracking themselves up. It seems like actors Maria Thayer and Michael Cassidy aren’t all that different from their characters!
• Behind The Scenes (29:46)
  The cast and filmmakers give viewers an fun and entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film. They talk about the premise of the film, the cast, the crew, doing the stunts, using Kickstarter to fund the film, shooting in Portland, and more. Those interviewed include director Kyle Rankin, writer Andy Selsor, director of Photography Thomas E. Ackerman, assistant director/producer Chad Nicholson, and actors Michael Cassidy (“Ryan Waverly”), Maria Thayer (“Deb Clarington’), Chris Marquette (“Chaz Waverly”), Ray Wise (“Frank Waverly”), Syd Wilder (“Stacy”) & Grant Garry (“Brent Masters”).
• Trailer (2:31)

Final Thoughts:

Night of the Living Deb is a fun romantic comedy set during a zombie apocalypse. The ensemble has great chemistry and use improvisation to add humor and a more natural feeling to the dialogue. Even though this is a low budget film, it doesn’t feel like one when it comes to the effects. The Blu-ray’s video presentation and bonus features are solid, but the audio presentation makes some dialogue a little difficult to discern. However, overall, this film is worth checking out if you’re looking for a light, fun zom-rom-com.