Otto; Or Up With Dead People

By: Lawrence Ferber
In-House Review - Dec 04 2008

Otto (Jey Crisfar) is a really cute twink -- who happens to be undead. When not feasting on roadkill or staggering around Berlin, Otto ponders his existence. Soon he finds a purpose with a role in a queer zombie movie directed by a would-be revolutionary lesbian filmmaker. Otto's fellow cast members are amused by his "method acting," and a few find him hot -- actually, zombies are fetishized in LaBruce's queer universe -- but there's more to this story than meets the jaundiced eye. Otto made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival (where a few audience members bolted from the theater during an outrageous scene tellingly dubbed the "gut fuck"), and while it contains the Canadian provocateur's signature themes of explicit sexuality, dark humor and formalistic flourish, it also represents an artistic evolution for him. With an emotional core, superb music (including a melancholy song by Antony & The Johnsons) and many nods to genre influences like George Romero and Carnival of Souls, Otto rises high while remaining proudly, bloodily lowbrow. (English and German with English subtitles)

By: BCinPA

I am usually "on the fence" about Bruce LaBruce's films; but, this is by far the best work he has ever done. This film proves to be charming, unsettling, and touching all at the same time. Any erotic expectations aside, this is a really good story about a really good character. Otto is a mystery, a metaphor, and a moving indivdual. This is a story about a boy who happens to be a zombie and his quest for self-discovery and identity and it is well worth watching...bravo!!!

By: Green Giant

Otto is a young gay zombie who happens to wander into Berlin as a
female film maker is shooting a film about gay renegade zombies.
of course she hires Otto. witty premise rather uneven execution. La
Bruce's last film RASPBERRY REICH was filled with cum shots and
hard-core sex. on the down side OTTO contains no cum shots and all the hard-core sex on view occupies maybe 35 seconds of screen time
out of a 95min. film. has LaBruce gone soft?

By: Patrick

This film is easily my favorite Bruce LaBruce work to date. Everything about it is more than I had expected and left me totally satisfied with my new LaBruce fix. A unique storyline and soundtrack - superb timeless costuming - beautiful locations around the city of Berlin - it all came together for a sometimes humorous and very touching gay Zombie story and their gay Zombie sexcapades. The bonus stuff include the Director's insightful commentary - deleted Zombie sex scenes (equal to those in his feature "Skin Gang") - alternative campaigns and the original theatrical trailer. What more could I want? Bruce has brought together a group of talented Bohemians to create this work of art as only Europeans can provide. Needless to say I love it. Six Gold Stars.

By: Amos Lassen

"Otto: Or Up With Dead People"

Bruce Labruce's Gay Zombie

Amos Lassen

There is something about Bruce LaBruce's films--they are semi-porn, they are, in many cases. overlong, and they have a certain charm. "Otto: Or Up With Dead People" fits those characteristics. "Otto" is also fun and highly original-it shocks, it makes you laugh, it has sex and it is movie you will not so forget.
Otto is German and a handsome and sensitive guy with an identity crisis. He is a Goth zombie who wanders the streets of the city, never . One day he finds himself on a remote highway and has no idea of where he came from or where he is going. He manages to hitch a ride to Berlin and settles in an abandoned amusement park. He begins to explore Berlin is discovered by Medea Yam, an underground filmmaker. Medea wants to make a documentary about Otto and enlists her girlfriend, Hella Bent, and his brother, Adolph to help. Medea believes that Otto represents the personification of the effects of consumerism on modern society. "Up with Dead People" is to be an epic political-porn-zombie movie starring Fritz Fritze whom she convinces to allow Otto to stay in his guest bedroom. Otto suddenly discovers that he has a wallet that contains information about his past before he was dead and became a zombie and he begins to remember facts about his ex-boyfriend, Rudolf, whom he agrees to meet but the results are devastating.
Bruce Labruce is, by no means, an average film maker. "Otto" is an unusual movie and should not be taken seriously. Labruce makes fun of everything in the film and he ridiculers consumerism. He manages to give us porn and violence at the same time but neither is overdone. In fact the sex scenes are quite funny. I have heard that the film was meant to horrify the audience but it amuses and is someone moving instead. The plot is interesting in that it is both linear and convoluted; it is a movie within a movie and therefore standard plot development is not here.
There are a lot of politics here.
Gays seem to love zombies and I can't help but wonder why it has taken so long to have a gay zombie movie. Labruce claims that his inspiration for the movie came from a former boyfriend, a Shia Muslim. It seems that Shias are obsessed with death and they mourn the dead for the first six weeks of each new year and Labruce's boyfriend remarked that he felt that he was already dead.
Labruce wanted his zombie to be sympathetic and so he created Otto as a rebel and outsider who has legitimacy. Labruce's filming technique is often referred to as shoddy and the movie does wander. There are graphic and titillating sex scenes. "Otto" is an interesting look at a new genre in film making.