Deb Clarington (Maria Christina Thayer), a young woman in Portland, Maine, is preparing to spend the Fourth of July weekend alone when, with her friend Ruby persuades her to chat up Ryan (Micahel Cassidy), a handsome man in a bar. The next morning she awakes to him trying to hustle her out of his house, anxious to forget what happened between them. However, as the two of them slept, the city has been overtaken by zombies. Now thrown together, Deb and Ryan must find a way to get out of the city alive and get the story out to the world before a sinister corporation can cover it up. Night of the Living Deb is a romantic comedy with zombies (a romzomcom?), in the vein of Shaun of the Dead. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny as the latter, and I was about to type that it focuses more on the romance side of things, but that's only true if you are talking about the romance between Shaun and his girlfriend rather than the bromance between Shaun and Ed. But I digress... Night of the Living Deb is a fun romp, with most of its charm coming from the adorable Maria Christina Thayer as Deb, with her retro 80s clothes and irrepressible optimism. She reminded me a lot of Felicia Day (Buffy, The Guild and Mystery Science Theatre 3000:The Return).
This film is probably not for hardcore horror fans, since it is never really scary. There is explicit language and sexual references, but very little gore for a zombie film. There is comedy, a decent plot and quality performances. Also, refreshingly the heroine stays fully clothed for the entire film and doesn't have magically perfect hair and makeup while fighting to stay alive.
Night of the Living Deb is a fun romantic comedy with added zombies. It would make a decent movie for a date night, provided your your date isn't really squeamish.
