Zombies at the Water Cooler

In the fall of 2008, in hopes that the Tallahassee Democrat would once again host a short horror film contest, I decided to produce another horror film. This time, I had the luxury of a month to plan, prepare, and properly shoot and edit the film. I had a lot of fun buying horror props, such as a bloody severed arm and sticky, goopy fake blood, to use in the film.

I waffled for several weeks attempting to solidify a concept for the movie - I only knew that I wanted the film to feature zombies, because there is one guy at my office that I have always thought would be a PERFECT zombie in a horror movie (tall, gangly, amazing facial features). This coworker saw my first short horror film (from 2007) and loved it. He was probably the movie's biggest fan leading up to the production of Horror Movie '08. He wanted to be in the movie, and I was certain that he would make a great lead zombie.

My original idea for the movie was as follows: I wake up from bed, late for work, and rush to the car. I slam the car in reverse and back over a homeless guy walking down the street (played by my coworker). Since I am late for work (and apparently have no discernable conscience), I drive away. In summary, he shows up later that day at my office in full zombie form and eats my brains. It was a grand idea - there was only one problem. When I asked my coworker to play the lead zombie, he refused. In fact, he stated that he wanted nothing to do with the film and wouldn't even accept a small cameo role. (To this day, I still have no idea why he suddenly balked at the idea of super zombie stardom).

So I trashed the idea and instead decided that I wanted to film a comedic zombie apocalypse at work: basically, it was the Night of the Living Dead in an office (since office drones are mindless zombies already, according to Dilbert, I thought the subtle irony would be perfect).

We had a blast shooting this film, and I think it's pretty evident in the final product. Frankly, this is probably the movie of which I am the most proud - not because it features my best editing or anything like that, but simply because it was so fun to make, and I really feel the viewer will see our gleeful stupidity shining through. (On a side note, when I couldn't think of a proper name for the short film, one of my coworkers, who reminds me of Squidward from the show "Spongebob Squarepants," drollfully stated that I should call it "Random Acts of Stupidity." He's a really great guy.)

So here it is -my favorite movie: "Zombies at the Water Cooler."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwGw-8V5bhg&feature=channel_page

P.S. In a shout-out to "An Affair to Dismember," look for the return of:1) the really-fake-cell-phone-ring; 2) the terribly overused "plot twist" in the final 30 seconds; 3) loud, percussive organ solos; and 4) Oscar-worthy performances coaxed out of mere civilians.