FULL DISCLOSURE: I was an Executive Producer on the film so Im very biased with my opinion on Joseph Scrimshaw’s crazy feature debut but you know what? Fuck it. Im so proud of what these talented punk rock filmmakers did to make a high concept horror film on a micro budget but damn if they didn’t pull it off. Loved the joyful, geeky tone Scrimshaw injects into the film (and the film within the film, NIGHT OF THE LURCHERS, which I would totally watch), along with some humor, heart and some genuinely effective suspense and scare scenesIt’s like a bastard child of Charlie Kaufman and Sam Raimi, or JUMANJI meets THE BEYOND or CARNIVAL OF SOULS. You may never watch Physical Media special features the same way again. Support indie horror and check this fun flick out!
Dead Media is a fun, nostalgic throwback to the days when physical media ruled our attention spans, before streaming left us with endless options. Its cozy setup of three friends and an uncle talking about a movie surrounded by mythology reminded me of when an obscure film could become the entire event for an evening. The blend of horror and love for physical media doesn't quite come together as seamlessly as the film hopes, but it's still an entertaining ride with plenty of charm. It's an imperfect movie, but one that's clearly made by horror nerds for horror nerds.
Alright, I feel seen beyond seen. Uncle Heppy Sloke (Sam Landman) is the crazy relative we all wish we had, someone who has every movie on bootleg, sneaks us beer when we’re in our teens, and stays friends with us when we grow up and grow away from them. His niece Maggie (Sammi-Jack Martincak) just wants to unwind with a quick stream, but one text to her uncle brings him over with a DVD. It’s Night of the Lurchers, a fictional horror flick, but instead of just settling in for a movie, Maggie triggers a hidden Easter egg on the disc. Suddenly, the boundary between the movie and reality dissolves. They aren’t just watching the horror; they’re trapped in it. They’re getting pulled into special features, interacting with the director and running for their lives from the titular Lurchers. It’s a meta-horror nightmare that treats the DVD menu screen like a gateway to hell. It’s going to put Heppy and Maggie face-to-face with one of his heroes, Dr. Sven Rendall (James Urbaniak), as well as the actor who plays him, Guy Leopold. The movie has some wild rules, as every menu on the DVD becomes another part of reality. Director Joseph Scrimshaw—who you might know from his work with RiffTrax and his podcasting history—clearly understands the rituals of the movie-watching experience. The film is a satire of how we let pop culture dictate our lives, but it also genuinely loves movies.The coolest trick in the bag? The way the film plays with the actual mechanics of a DVD. It’s not just monsters in the house; it’s about the frustration of commentary tracks, the weirdness of behind-the-scenes featurettes and the idea that some movies are just too dead to stay on the shelf. If you’ve ever felt like your collection was starting to stare back at you, Dead Media is for you.I also enjoyed how it fleshed out Maggie’s friends, Daniel (Antonio Teodoro), and her landlady/potential lover, Brenda (Jessica Fenton). They feel like real people, so when horrifying things happen, we feel for them, unlike so many of the slashers all over my shelves. Obviously, Scrimshaw loves horror, too. There’s a director who locks everyone in the theater and an owl-masked serial killer right out of Stage Fright, a theater set that feels like Demons, and plenty of Romero zombie feel. There’s a push to something beyond, as the Lurchers steal movement, which is a great scientific explanation for why characters in Fulci films just freeze while spiders eat their faces.Uncle Heppy is someone who makes me look at myself. As someone surrounded by walls of DVDs and missing the past — a 20-minute burst of watching old music videos last night both made me happy and depressed — I know his ending, even if the film doesn’t reveal it to us. Other than being a little long, this movie is pretty great. There’s a great twist, decent effects and kills, and Dead Media accomplishes what so many larger movies fail at: mixing funny and frightening. It has heart, which is more than I can say for most movies made after the 1980s.
