It's Complicated
2017 · 17m · South Africa
Directed by Grant De Sousa
Genres: comedy, horror, romance
Tones: darkly comic, humorous
Schlubby flatmate Nigel's comfortable life is upended when his meek, uptight roommate Andy brings home a date — a disconcerting woman who may or may not be one of the living dead. A cross-genre zombie rom-com horror.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A zombie rom-com told as a flatmate sitcom is exactly the kind of "wait, what?" premise that makes consensus scouts squirm — and De Sousa commits to the bit so completely that the genre collision becomes the whole point, not a gimmick that collapses under its own weight.
The film's deadpan tone walks a formal tightrope between horror convention and romantic comedy rhythm, though the structural debt to British sitcom traditions occasionally overwhelms its genre ambitions rather than synthesizing them.
The choice to treat zombie courtship as pure romantic awkwardness — playing every undead gesture with the same flat affect as an anxious roommate housewarming — is the decision that transforms a one-liner premise into something that actually lands.
Reviews
SA short film It's Complicated keeps on winning — taking Best Comedy at the LA Shorts Film Festival and earning a school of Shark Awards at Kinsale, including Best Direction.
Grant De Sousa on his zombie rom-com that's wowing the festival circuit.
Festivals
- LA Shorts International Film Festival 2017, Best Comedy
- Kinsale Shark Awards 2017, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Performance
- Shnit Worldwide Short Film Festival 2017, Winner
- Leeds International Film Festival 2017