Eating Roadkill to survive
Otto; or Up With Dead People is a 2008 independent film directed by Bruce La Bruce, with the acting talents of Marcel Schlutt, Katharina Klewinghaus and introducing Jey Crisfar as Otto. The movie tells the story of a handsome teenage zombie that awakes from the dead and roams the city trying to make a living.
Tropes:
- Bleached Underpants: Despite of the few pornographic scenes, which are short and kinda softcore, Bruce La Bruce has directed straightforward pornographic films, and compared to his previous works, this looks pretty tame. Marcel Schultz is a recognized gay porn actor.
- Bury Your Gays: Subverted. Many gay characters die, both before and during the film...but as it's a zombie film, death doesn't mean they're out of the story.
- But Not Too Gay / Hide Your Lesbians: Averted: the film features explicit gay and lesbian content
- Cute Monster Girl: Otto is a rare male example.
- Fauxlosophical Narration: Medea provides such speeches in her movies.
- Le Film Artistique:
- The films that Medea Yarn directs are straight examples.
- This movie features very long shots with static cam, anachronic order, creepy music, seemingly unconnected scenes and other common associated tropes.
- Gorn: Quite literally.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Medea Yarn and her girlfriend, Hellabent.
- Looks Like Cesare: Otto, though his hairstyle is rather sleek instead of shaggy, but he has the black hair, pale-white skin, dark rings under his eyes and black clothing to pull it off.
- Manly Gay: Most of the actors starring in Medea's movie are, Fritz is the most prominent example.
- Mind Screw: Very much at first, but at the end everything is explained -somehow.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Averted, Otto refers himself as a zombie.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's implied Otto may not actually be a zombie, but just have a mental disorder that makes him act like one. Although, he bit a guy earlier in the film who thus turned into a zombie, so...
- Our Zombies Are Different: The zombies in the film have a conscience and keep part of their personality, but their memories of the time they were alive are blurry.
- Perky Goth: Hella, but Medea has her moments
- Porn with Plot: As a typical La Bruce film, but with more plot than porn
- Pretty in Mink: Medea wears a black fur coat when she meets her girlfriend.
- Prima Donna Director: Medea.
- Random Events Plot
- Retraux: Hella has a weird atmosphere that makes everything around her to look like a black and white.silent film
- Rummage Sale Reject: Otto's outfit, he is mistaken for goth in-universe, but on the internet has been classified as either punk or emo. He is dressed with skinny jeans, combat boots, a striped gray and black sweater, a white shirt, black necktie and a black hoodie.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Vegan Zombie — Otto was vegetarian before turning zombie, and now has mixed feeling about eating meat. He survives primarily by eating roadkill, but he eats the guts of a human being in one occasion.
- Zombie Apocalypse: The zombies in Medea's film try to invoke this for the sake of their queer-zombie revolution, but is Deconstructed quickly.
- Zombie Gait
