Marvel Zombies Vs. Army Of Darkness Fan Film Is As Good As Indie Shorts Get (But It’s Not Online Anymore)
UPDATE: I was in the middle of writing this story recently about a fantastic fan film inspired by the comic book Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, and Marvel decided to screw the world by forcing the filmmakers to take the video down. Below you can find their polite and hopeful video response, followed by my original write up of the short, which will hopefully be back online before too much longer. Cross your adamantium claws.
You guys have heard of Marvelle Comics, right? What? Oh, Marvel, I mean. We don’t get into talking about them much here at GFR, though James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy has given us a (hopefully) great reason to. Considering the above is a completely unofficial short film inspired by the comic Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, I guess we’re technically talking about the comedic YouTube video group WTFLOL, and not Marvel, but you know what’s up. What’s important is, we can all hail to the kings of well-crafted fan films, for this one takes the cake. And eats it right out of your stomach.
While these guys have only recently established themselves as creators of offbeat art, this video definitely solidifies their craftsmanship and attention to details that lots of other indie comedy groups just can’t match. I expected the slightly cheeseball acting and the on-the-nose dialogue, because they’re almost necessary to keep the homage from straying too far into parody, but I didn’t expect it all to be so damned cool in the end.
Directed by Brian Rosenthal, from a script he wrote with Eli David, the short has a plot that is summed up in the title, featuring a goon-faced Peter Parker (David) and Gwen Stacy (Meaghan Lehrer) coming under attack from a zombie—or should I say zom-Bub—Wolverine (Michael Colon). Damn, nobody can beat an invincible undead superhero, right? You forgot about Ash fucking Williams, you primitive screwheads. Granted, it’s not an easy fight for him, and it takes a certain mystery item to give him his only advantage besides all-around awesomeness. And given Williams, played by David VonHippchen, is the most comparable to his source material, it’s impossible to make a fuss about any shortcomings the video has.
This goes right up there with the Dredd fan film as proof that studios are far from the only ones with good ideas for established franchises.
Just in case the video doesn’t come back up immediately, take a peek at a couple of other WTFLOL videos that are sure to make you laugh. And when you’re done, write to your local Congressman/Marvel employee and tell them you want this short film back online.
