OFFICE OF THE DEAD

Tagline: "And you thought your job was bad".

A brief pre-credits sequence has office employee Mike (Wayne Robbins) sat in a soundproofed room trying out a new electronic device that has been developed by his bosses at the controversial Life Corp laboratories. It is claimed that the system can manifest his last great memory - but instead it has a worryingly monstrous effect on the unfortunate.

Sir John (David Goldman), the founder of Life Corp, is predictably undeterred when he's later interviewed by a cable TV news channel to promote his company. Does he worry about the ethics of playing God by advancing technology so profoundly? Of course not. Do his company really have the right to make unhappy people happy through synthetic means? Absolutely.

Little does Sir John know though, but Mike's ill reaction to his fledgling "happy" device is worse than anyone's letting on. Specifically, because two of his office workers - software engineers Ben (Teddy Chen Culver) and his best friend Raj (Shawn Parikh) - conducted the experiment on the new technology illicitly.

Truth is though, Mike is showing zombie-like tendencies. And before long, thanks to the hapless meddling of Sir John's yes-men, so are many of the minions in his sedate white offices of Life Corp.

The bulk of Matthew Chung's feature debut is then dominated by Ben, Raj and their sexy boss Liz (Christina July Kim) finding themselves trapped in an office block full of marauding zombies and looking for an escape route.

Along the way, the trio encounter business streams of their office that they'd never mixed with before - a wise decision, as it happens - and Ben's bickering with Liz slowly gives way to a mutual attraction.

But will the couple see it through the film to come out at the other end as lovers? Will Sir John get his comeuppance for creating zombies by way of technological negligence? And, will the presenters of Noogle News (the fictional cable TV station that appears at frequent intervals to give us futuristic updates on the wider picture, a'la ROBOCOP or STARSHIP TROOPERS) ever shut the fuck up?

Though principally billed as a comedy, OFFICE OF THE DEAD elicits slight chuckles rather than belly laughs. Which is okay, because the cast are an affable bunch and the pace is brisk enough - the entire film is over within 72 minutes - to ensure it's never dull.

Don't envisage this as a cousin of SHAUN OF THE DEAD. That it most certainly is not. Although there is one sequence where the office workers must fend off the undead with computer keyboards that does play like a (very) cut-rate version of the twatting-the-undead-landlord-with-pool-cues scenes from the former. That aside, this a lot less funny but no less agreeable in its own, considerably less polished, right.

As a drama, I found the film worked surprisingly well. Because the characters are likeable, it was easy to become immersed in the action. As mentioned above, it's not as daft or joke-reliant as the premise or title suggest, so the fact that the film had a hook in the drama department was a definite bonus.

Horror-wise, OFFICE OF THE DEAD is lacking. But as sheer entertainment it undeniably delivers, so the fact that it's not scary and seldom gory doesn't really matter. It's good for the film though that it will cross over into horror fan circles, as they are the ones who are most likely to tolerate its meagre production values.

Sets are sparse, acting is so-so, camera work is largely handheld and a lot of the lighting is natural. You know the drill. If you're into it, you could argue that it lends the film a sense of immediacy. If you're not, you'll no doubt say it looks like a bunch of mates having a crack at making a film in their spare time. Either way, you'd have a valid point.

Anyhow, this screener disc is a very basic affair and no doubt not indicative of what will hit the stores. There were no extras or even menus (or chapters) on offer. Just the film.

For what it's worth, the film was presented uncut and looked pretty good in a 16x9 enhanced picture. Though not the best film to showcase colours, the spectrum offered was fair and images were relatively sharp given the films shoestring lineage.

The English 2.0 audio track was perfectly fine throughout.

OFFICE OF THE DEAD is released by Big Bite Entertainment in America on August 10th 2010. I'd recommend it to those who are into zombie comedies, who don't require lashings of gore to get their kicks, and who don't mind the trappings of a tiny budget. Matthew Chung is a competent writer and director who, given better means, could go on to bigger things.

For more information, check out RSquared Films.

Review by Stu Willis