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It’s universally accepted that the man I previously referenced is the trailblazer for morphing the zombie film into the socio-political commentary vessel that it is today. Along the way, other talented filmmakers like Edgar Wright, Zack Snyder, and Andrew Currie learned the ground rules well enough to break them down, bend them, and rework them to adhere to their respective creative visions. While this works for a time, after a while you begin to realize that many of the zombie films you see are lazy rehashings of the established classics (did we need 28 Weeks Later?) or mind-numbing concoctions diluted by the genres they blend (I’m looking at you, Resident Evil). There seems to only be a revolving door of options.

Then there’s Otto; or Up With Dead People.

Otto doesn’t just take the pre-established conventions and break them down; Otto breaks them down, turns them over, sets them on fire, and then has sex with them. Gay sex. You see, Otto (Jey Crisfar) is a gay zombie who thinks, talks, and debates whether he even wants to eat humans. His memory before his zombification is hazy, but he gets spontaneous flashes of himself romantically involved with another boy. Unable to sleep and uncertain of his own past and future, Otto wonders aimlessly from town to town until, while fleeing from some hooligans, he runs across a poster for an open casting call of a zombie film—“Up With Dead People.” The filmmaker is Medea Yarn (Katharina Klewinghaus), a death-obsessed lesbian who intends her low budget, gay zombie film to comment on the capitalistic, fascist society in which she lives. Through the filmmaking process, Otto begins to learn more about himself and his past.

If Romero is known for politicizing zombie films, then Bruce LaBruce should now be known for lampooning them. Medea’s fervor for making a socially relevant zombie film knows no bounds as she lashes at society with countless “isms” like they’re going out of style. In her, LaBruce has taken the blatant commentary underlying such films and brought it over the top to hilarious effects. By doing so, he’s been able to put the focus on the comedic elements while subtly planting his own intentions. In Medea’s zombie film, the reanimated dead are all homosexual and hunted down mercilessly because of it. The undead are not destroyed because of their blood lust, but because of their sexual orientation. While widespread intolerance is being practiced, we have Otto at the heart of the conflict struggling with his own identity, and essentially, his own sexuality. LaBruce also recruits a motley mix shooting techniques and a soundtrack that would make Nurse With Wound say “what the hell?” in order to create a trippy, yet truly creatively original piece of cinema.

But I won’t go so far as to give Otto; or Up With Dead People a ringing endorsement. While I’ll admit the film is paving new ground, it also treads in familiar LaBruce territory; the territory that includes films such as The Skin Gang and Give Piece of Ass a Chance. The film features numerous scenes with graphic homoerotic action that may make some audience members uncomfortable. The inclusion of those scenes bothers me not because of the homosexuality, but because the border line pornographic material badly contrasts with the dark comedy that surrounds it. It’s hard to get into the vibe of a satiric zombie film when you’re confronted with scenes of wound penetration and oral sex. I have absolutely no problem with gay cinema or the filmmakers who uphold it—I’m in awe of the films of Van Sant, Haynes, and Vachon—but when the material is interjected in such a way that the flow and tone of the film is sacrificed, it has to go. LaBruce has no doubt crafted a unique piece, but the too present footprints of his past work disable Otto from crossing the line into subversive and keep it low brow.