Category: Comedy

A gay filmmaker is stalked by the undead in the clever horror-comedy ‘There’s a Zombie Outside’

A clever meta blend of queer horror and comedy, There’s a Zombie Outside follows Adam (Ben Baur), a budding young gay filmmaker whose identity is intertwined with cult cinema.

During a camping trip with his hunky boyfriend Ollie (Ty Chen) and his best friends Louis and Zeke (Francisco Chacin and William Lott), Adam finds his imagination bleeding into his mundane reality.

Spotting what appears to be a decomposing zombie lurking near their cabin, he’s sent into a panic. His friends dismiss his claims as stress-induced paranoia, but when Adam returns to Los Angeles, the zombie continues to stalk him, causing chaos in every aspect of his life.

A sharp horror from writer-director Michael Varrati, one of the most compelling queer voices in contemporary genre cinema, There’s a Zombie Outside tells a clever, meta tale about one man’s struggle to stay in control of his own story… no matter how terrifying it gets.

Watch the trailer for There’s a Zombie Outside below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo – just in time for Halloween!

Mismatched roommates become unexpected allies in the sly British dramedy ‘Makeup’

When two people are brought together from completely different walks of life, it can make for awkward circumstances, especially when they both have their secrets.

Making his feature debut, writer-director Hugo Andre also stars in the film Makeup as Sacha, an introverted French food critic who travels to London. Moving into a rented room in a house belonging to Dan (Will Masheter), a well-respected stockbroker, they fall into a classic “Odd Couple” dynamic.

As time goes on, Dan attempts to hide his aspirations of becoming a burlesque dancer from those who perceive him as an alpha male. Despite their differences, Sacha and Dan soon become pillars of support in each other’s lives.

A winner of 15 different awards at film festivals around the globe – including ‘Directorial Debut by a Young Film Maker’ at the London International Film Festival – Makeup is a stirring drama about the unlikely friendship that forms between the hidden personalities of two distinct characters.

Watch the trailer for Makeup below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Short Film Spotlight: Many Happy Returns

André (Vitor Rocha) is about to turn twenty-five years old. Extremely worried about his future – and about the uncertainties of life in general – he’s not even able to celebrate.

At his birthday party, before blowing out the candles, he wishes for time to stop passing. To his great surprise, his wish comes true. The next morning – and over the next several – he finds that the day has repeated. It’s still, perhaps always, his twenty-fifth birthday once again.

Suddenly André finds that he has eternal youth, the absence of problems and the liberty to do just about anything he wants without the fear of consequences. When he learns, however, that time has stopped passing only for him, what seemed to be a dream come true morphs into a nightmare.

Now he must go back in time – one last time – and correct his past while learning how to enjoy the present without worrying too much about the future.

Taking obvious inspiration from Groundhog Day, Many Happy Returns is a clever short musical comedy about learning to appreciate the time you’re in – no matter how old you may be.

Watch the trailer for Many Happy Returns below. The short film is now available on Dekkoo.

Check out the short works of filmmaker Tristan Scott-Behrends this month on Dekkoo!

This month, we’re shining a much-deserved spotlight on the short film work of auteur writer/director Tristan Scott-Behrends.

His films – funny, eclectic and packed with bold visual style – have been making a splash on the queer film festival circuit since the debut of Curtain Down in 2017. A 25-minute short, he wrote, produced and stars alongside Margaret Cho in this love story from director Emett Casey. The film takes a surreal but tender look at gender, identity and aging as our lead character is forced to choose between art and love.

Only Trumpets, his directorial debut, following an outsider navigating love and sex in the digital age, made it’s world premiere at the 2018 Outfest Film Festival, where it was selected as ‘Best of the Fest.’

Our four-film collection also includes The Man of My Dreams, which follows two gorgeous, magnetic male lovers as they traipse around the streets of New York City enmeshed in a dreamy romance.

Finally, Lilac Lips, Dutchess County, a reimagining of Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus, stars Joey Hardy Gray as nymph-like protagonist, navigating the complexities of relationships in a maze of his own making.

Exploring themes of identity, gender, isolation and sexuality in the most delicious ways possible, Tristan Scott-Behrends is a filmmaker worth keeping an eye on. While he’s currently hard at work developing a script for a feature film version of Only Trumpets, you can now enjoy some of his most stylish and provocative shorts right here on Dekkoo.

Don’t miss the acclaimed gay romantic comedy ‘Perfect Endings’ – a new Dekkoo Exclusive!

Following up his crowd-pleasing, critically-acclaimed 2014 romance The Way He Looks, Brazilian writer-director Daniel Ribeiro returns with the endearing, sexy and far more grown up sophomore feature Perfect Endings.

Perfect Endings stars Artur Volpi as João, a struggling filmmaker who is fresh off of a 10-year-long relationship and ready to dive back into single dating life.

With the support of his hilarious besties, João rides the oh-so-relatable rollercoaster of emotions as he tries to find himself and his voice as a filmmaker while navigating the ups and downs of hook-up culture and rebound romance.

João begins to take charge of his destiny, intermingling the scenes from his dating life into his screenwriting and swiftly blurring the lines between the two. But can we really write our way to a perfect ending? Or do we have to surrender to serendipity? His earnest search for fulfillment through love and creativity’s battlefield leads us on a heartwarming journey to an unexpected, sweetly satisfying and very erotic ending that lives up to the title.

Watch the trailer for Perfect Endings below. The film is now streaming exclusively on Dekkoo!

Don’t miss the romantic comedy ‘Who Wants to Marry an Astronaut’ – A new Dekkoo Exclusive!

David (Raúl Tejón Sánchez), a marriage-obsessed gay man, is forced to choose between his matrimony-adverse boyfriend and the stranger who agrees to simulate a spur-of-the-moment Vegas wedding.

As the universe doles out destiny, everyone in David’s orbit gets swept up in the adventure. Egged on by his best girlfriend and a mother who is so hands-on that she has a fake Grindr profile to track his movements, David takes the leap, booking his flight from Barcelona to Vegas.

The trip is only meant to be a lark – a way to satisfy his matrimonial fever so he can settle into his 15-year relationship. But when he meets potential fake groom Esteban (Raúl Fernández de Pablo), downtrodden David’s future becomes as bright and chaotic as the Vegas strip itself.

Esteban’s joie de vivre and generous attention gives David the confidence that he has been lacking. Suddenly realizing that he is worthy of love, he begins to see a new version of himself through Esteban’s dreamy eyes. Now all he has left to do is decide with whom he’ll be walking down the aisle.

Loosely based on true events, Spanish director David Matamoros’s Who Wants to Marry an Astronaut is a heartwarming and splashy ode to classic romantic comedies.

Watch the trailer for Who Wants to Marry an Astronaut below. The film is now streaming exclusively on Dekkoo.

A queer filmmaker visits a sleepy seaside village in the French rom-com ‘My Life with James Dean’

Still pining for his ex-boyfriend, aloof filmmaker Géraud (Johnny Rasse) has travelled to a seaside town along the North Coast of France to present his newest experimental feature.

The only person keen on seeing Géraud’s new film, however, is Balthazar (Mickaël Pelissier), the local theater’s young projectionist, who becomes increasingly more smitten by the handsome director.

With charm, sex appeal, a fondness for slapstick humor and a subtle homage to the films of Eric Rohmer, this sophisticated romantic comedy from writer/director Dominique Choisy follows several different characters through hotel rooms and nearly empty movie theatres across Normandy as they go to ridiculous extremes in the name of passion. With great reserves of optimism and hope, they keep chasing their romantic feelings, even when the results aren’t entirely what they expected.

Watch the trailer for My Life with James Dean below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

Two slacker best buddies start to wear out their welcome in the new queer comedy ‘Rent Free’

Best friends since childhood, Ben and Jordan (Jacob Roberts and David Trevi̱o) are two young men living in a rapidly changing Austin, Texas Рwhere they navigate low-paying jobs, fraught relationships and their own emotionally codependent relationship.

When they suddenly lose their apartment, they come up with a last ditch plan to spend the rest of the year ‘rent free.’

The boys soon set out on a tragicomic journey across the couches, floors and guest rooms of their friends while desperately trying to save up enough money to leave behind a city they no longer recognize and flee for the promised land of New York City.

Made with effortless humor, sharp timing and a talented ensemble cast, Rent Free is a high-anxiety comedy about a generation on the edge, as well as a poignant exploration of male friendship and a city in flux.

Watch the trailer for Rent Free below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.

A Halloween party takes some wild turns in the gay romance ‘Love Bites’ – a Dekkoo Exclusive!

Just out of their teens, Liam and Anatole (Lyad Smain and Roman Freud) were in the throes of an exciting new relationship… until they had a small fight and Anatole ended all contact.

With Anatole having almost completely disappeared, Liam finds himself confused and heartbroken. He simply can’t accept the breakup. And, since his boyfriend doesn’t reply to his calls or text messages, he decides to sneak into a Halloween party organized by one of Anatole’s friends to try and patch things up.

The wild night that ensues will test the true feelings of both young men while forcing them to confront some hard inner truths once and for all.

Winner of the Memorial Award for ‘Best Love Story’ at the ReelOut Film Festival, Love Bites – originally titled Dracula is in Love – is a winning comedy-drama from French director Lameo Flores. It’s also one of the rare Halloween-set movies that delivers tons of seasonal fun and aesthetics without all those pesky scares.

Watch the trailer for Love Bites below. The film is now streaming exclusively on Dekkoo.