From the opening scene–a young couple in a parking garage on the run from zombies–Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness is obviously well made. Rosenthal’s direction ably toggles between humor and gore, not to mention the gleefulness at getting to give Meaghan Lehrer comic book dialogue. Lehrer only has one lengthy dialogue delivery but she delivers it perfectly. Thanks to her, disbelief is suspended.

And then things get crazy. Rosenthal brings in the second part of the homage, with a Deadite zooming through the parking garage to the young lovers. There’s a great punchline.

All of this stuff happens before David VonHippchen even arrives, doing a great Bruce Campbell impression.

Rosenthal isn’t really doing anything new here, but he’s mixing the franchises so perfectly–with such reverence to the Evil Dead films in particular–the short is a joy from start to finish.

It’s a lot of fun.

Highly Recommended

CREDITS

Directed by Brian Rosenthal; written by Rosenthal and Eli David; music by Karl J. Anderson; production designer, Shay Dahlburg; produced by Duke Stephenson and Rosenthal.

Starring David VonHippchen (Ashley J. Williams), Michael Angel Colon (Logan), Eli David (Peter) and Meaghan Lehrer (Gwen).