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Jim doesn’t know how he died or why he’s back from the dead. He does know that he needs to water the plants, take out the trash, and figure out what the missing piece of his to-do-list says before he rots away or his killer kills him again.

2006 s16mm 12minutes

REVIEW FROM FILMTHREAT.COM
"5 STARS"
Jim has returned from the dead and has no idea why. The only clue to his unnatural resurrection is an incomplete “to-do” list that includes such mundane tasks as watering the plants and taking out the trash. With time ticking away (corpses tend to rot, after all), Jim must piece together the events following his last memory: winning the Lotto. Maybe his friend Reggie, the one with the mysterious brand new scooter, could help?

“Recently Deceased” is a hell of a short film: quickly paced, well acted, and smartly written. See it with someone you trust not to kill you.

From Pete Vonder Haar for Film Threat
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REVIEW FROM SXSW AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY SCREENING
A definite highlight, MFA UT Austin student Chris McInroy’s Recently Deceased offered an impressive addition to the growing genre of zombie comedy. The zom-com short stars Jim, a recent lotto winner killed by his friend Reggie while writing a to-do list. He rises from the dead to finish his chores and to figure out the cause of his death. Luckily, Jim’s revivification occurs on Halloween, so his parents think his gray pallor and rotting body are part of a particularly realistic costume.
Though the recent glut of quirky comedies has left many jaded, there’s something refreshing about Recently Deceased‘s unexplained absurdity. Jim’s oddball nemesis Reggie lives in a black-and-white world where everything is labeled; even his Halloween costume is a t-shirt that says “costume.” Jim’s parents are equally well-drawn gems, and this little comedy offers a pleasantly absurd vision of the world (and its many misunderstood ghouls and goblins). (AS)

from Anita Schillhorn for PopMatters
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REVIEW FROM NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
And there were the couple of blood drenched crowd pleasers… Story Of The Dead and Recently Deceased are a pair of flicks that couldn’t be more opposite, but both came with their A-game. Story Of The Dead is a pulse pounding zombie flick about three twenty-somethings traveling cross country to a concert. Their relationship seems friendly, but one of the two guys has a secret crush on the other’s girl. This uncontested secret rivalry winds up pitting the friends against each other once they become trapped in a house filled with ravenous zombies. Where Story Of The Dead is an unrelenting nail-biter, Recently Deceased is an unyielding laugh fest. These horror events are often filled with unimaginative parodies that simply poke fun at the genre clichés by rehashing them with wide-eyed glee. Recently Deceased, however, takes the clichés and sets them on their head, resulting in a highly original comedy – one with genuine laughs! Jim (the recently deceased in the title) is dead, but that’s only half the problem. He still has a to-do list that hasn’t even been started. So Jim shakes off the dirt from his shallow grave and heads out to fetch the groceries, water the plants, take out the trash, and get a headband. No one seems to notice Jim’s condition, since it’s Halloween. But when his friend Reggie (who neurotically labels everything in his sterile white house) sees his pal walking among the living, he’s a bit distressed. That’s because he killed him the day before. Director Chris McInroy could’ve easily dropped the usual zombie-comedy chestnut on the heads of the audience, but instead he delivers some fresh comic material in this ingenious farce.

by Barry Meyer for Penny Blood Magazine
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REVIEW FROM NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
A young man’s lotto dreams are dashed when he is murdered by a former friend in a Michael Bolton T-shirt. Before he passes on, he desperately scrambles last instructions in his to-do list…and then all goes black. But because this is horror, some time later the ground rustles…and a gnarled hand bursts forth..clutching said list of chores. Because when the to-do list ain’t done, the dead will walk the earth!

This (wait for it) deadpan horror comedy has its own bizarre style and energy and is entertaining from start to finish. Jim, the resurrected slacker, continues down the list of chores for his parents (who absolutely love his ‘zombie costume’) while slowly coming to the realization (via repeated hilarious blows to the head) that he was done in; it all may have to do with the fact that formerly broke pal Reggie has a new Scooter, and a bakery enterprise in the works…and just what is that last missing chore torn from the page?

This short creates its own little world of bizarre touches and timing, from acid-wash jeans on the zombie to the 80’s-pop tribute soundtrack to evil Reggie’s domain, a sterile bleached-white house where everything is labeled “Property of Reggie” from the oven mitts to ninja throwing stars. The director grounds the weirdness and shoots in a relaxed style (in 16mm!) that keeps it from going over the top. The cast is a lot of fun, and it runs just the right length. Any film where a character blurts a random excuse to flee as “I’ve got pumpkin seeds in the oven” and he actually DOES is all right in my book. A very funny, surreal short. More like this, guys!

by Adam Barnick for Entertainment Insiders
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REVIEW FROM NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
If there was ever a film that just happened to work - based on the mood of the crowd, the potential for a laugh in someone's gut - Recently Deceased was a prime example of a short that made the most of its screening by timing alone. Its a silly horror film that thrives off comedy more-so than the violence that occurs, and where other zombie comedies have failed, Recently Deceased took a partially buzzed horror audience that had sat through almost 40 minutes of footage previous to its screening and lit them on fire with laughter. Director Chris McInroy was kind enough to mail me a screener - and upon watching it in a dark home minus the spirits from behind the bar - it was smirkable, and got a chuckle or two out of those that watched it. But at the NYCHFF - where the timing and audience were randomly perfect for its showing - I hadnt heard a crowd crack up outloud so repeatedly at anything else the past two years, and that's saying quite a bit. Im a zombie fan - and NOT a fan of the horror-comedy in general - especially when you involve a creature that I have mass macabre respect for in the genre. But where Ana Djordjevic's "Dead Shift" dropped the perverbial ball by annoying me with a dancing zombie in a 7-11, Recently Deceased cracked me up with its wit and charm, overpowering any off-set I normally have watching a ghoul make people laugh in a horror film festival. Kudos to McInroy for injecting such a successful, light-hearted laugh inducer at the country's premiere festival of death, murder, and mutilation.

by John Marrone for House of Horrors
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REVIEW FROM NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
The tag line for this zombie comedy should be "Being dead is no excuse." When Jim is murdered, he rises from his own death in order to finish the items on his "to-do" list inclduing help his parents prepare for Halloween. Unfortunately, the last item on the list is partially missing. How will he finish his chores?

Any film that has a zombie making fish sticks and personalized throwing stars (This is the Property of Reggie), you know it's going to be fun. James Wan said on the commentary for Saw that young directors should make their lack of budget work for them. And this Chris McInroy has done, by making it into a joke. Thus the low budget look of the film doesn't detract from the film, but actually supports it.To me this movie was the zombie Napoleon Dynamite.

by Bunni Speigelman for Icons of Fright
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BLURB FROM NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
This one delivers a lot of laughs on a low budget, not to mention a zombie in bleached jeans, which I haven’t seen since, like, 1989 maybe.

by Jane Rose for Pretty Scary
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