Otto; or, Up with Dead People
Otto; or, Up with Dead People
| 19 January 2008 (USA)
Otto; or, Up with Dead People Trailers

A young zombie named Otto appears on a remote highway. He has no idea where he came from or where he is going. After hitching a ride to Berlin and nesting in an abandoned amusement park, he begins to explore the city. Soon he is discovered by underground filmmaker Medea Yarn, who begins to make a documentary about him with the support of her girlfriend, Hella Bent, and her brother Adolf, who operates the camera. Meanwhile, Medea is still trying to finish Up with Dead People, the epic political-porno-zombie movie that she has been working on for years. She convinces its star, Fritz Fritze, to allow the vulnerable Otto to stay in his guest bedroom. When Otto discovers that he has a wallet that contains information about his past, before he was dead, he begins to remember details about his ex-boyfriend, Rudolf. He arranges to meet him at the schoolyard where they met, with devastating results.

Reviews
Cubussoli

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

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Solemplex

To me, this movie is perfection.

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CommentsXp

Best movie ever!

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Zandra

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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cmp4x

This IS a serious film. If you get past the gay porn and the expectation that this will be some zombie thriller (stumbling blocks that seem to have gotten in the way of many of the reviewers here), then it becomes quite clear that this is NOT primarily a gay politics film, and NOT a thriller.For me, the relevance of this film comes through with full reference to Lacan and Zizek, who both discuss the different types of desire/drive that motivate the human subject. Most of us are stuck in the subjectivity of desire, pursuing our love objects--and losing them--but always in the grip of the idea that somehow we can have IT. The subject of desire is always motivated by 'lack' and the attempt to fill in the lack; but the subject of drive is motivated by excess and the weariness of always having 'too much'.In the film, Otto had IT, but as is clear in the scene when he re-meets his old love, the guy really wasn't all that worth it. But this does not lead Otto to attempt to replace his lost love; instead he has the realization that his lost love is infinitely replaceable by any of the clones out there pursuing mindless connections. The scene with his lost love comes late in the film, but it suggests that some structural aspects of it were behind Otto's becoming a zombie in the first place. There is a realization that leads Otto to lose his 'desire' and become a zombie--he lives with the curse that the object of his desire is endlessly repeatable--he is condemned always to having this realization, which essentially makes him neither alive nor dead.The end of the film suggests that Otto achieves a different kind of jouissance than that merely had by the 'subject of drive'--but it is only a suggestion, and Labruce goes no further with it than that. This is where I think the film falls short: it is an excellent expose of the emptiness of desire and of the flatness of desire's corollary, drive. But the film does not satisfactorily navigate what lies beyond the desire/drive deadlock.Nevertheless, this film is far beyond most film-schlock of the moment that never even rises to a decent consciousness of the chains of desire. It is a great exploration of the subjectivity of displacement and intimates that that is an aspect of ALL of our understandings, whether we perceive it or not. I agree with the reviewer who calls this an "entirely original work of art."

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manjodude

A very "different" zombie movie. I mean, this could have been a critically acclaimed one if not for the downpour of gay porn in every other scene!The idea of a zombie with tender feelings & thoughts are all nice but all that eating of body parts and graphic gay sex almost made me puke. They could have been done more aesthetically. And too much talking! The female director(actor Katharina Klewinghaus) yaks, yaks & yaks to glory.Nothing special to say about any of the cast. All are average.Verdict: Soft-core gay porn movie. Dead or alive!

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jonb-29

This movie is a masterpiece on several levels. The acting was excellent, cinematography compelling, script very good and the score fantastic. Otto is a multi-faceted gem and each bit shines. The black&white silent film era girlfriend is so delicious you could eat her. (That's such an original and well executed idea.) There is a lot of gayness, but that adds to the overall effect rather than detracting from it. Dr K (spouse) loved this movie even with the full-on intestinal sex bits. The flash-backs to Otto's previous life are so bright and happy it really accents Otto's current "un-life". The female director was slightly overdone but still hilarious. This has made our year movie-wise, and we'll be looking for more Bruce Labruce...

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rumblefish80

OK, I am open minded, I love filmmakers that think out of the box and I love when genres are messed about with. I love going to the cinema, especially to film festivals where you can discover gems that no one else has seen yet. Sadly this film was not a gem. It did not shock me, it did not thrill me. I found it all a bit amateurish and before you attack me and say it was low budget and therefore excusable then don't waste your time. I don't believe in negative reviews, I like to look at the good and the bad, no doubt I will get eaten (no pun intended) by the super fans. The acting was pretty terrible to be fair and the camera work was at times clumsy. The sexual scenes sometimes seemed to interrupt the films flow, as if they were slotted in there because that is what his fans expect and want. It is important that films like this are made though and the have an audience of die hard fans but I'm just letting other horror fans in particular zombie fans know that this is more of a porn film than a zombie film.

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