Zom-Com Hits Sundance

Mainstream Hollywood never has had a problem taking inspiration from indie movies. But this year, the trend is being reversed, with indies borrowing from Hollywood's most popular genre flicks. Zombies, vampires, ghosts, even aliens -- they're all turning up in Park City.

Director Jeff Baena, for starters, has a rom-com (or zom-com?) in competition titled Life After Beth, about a lovesick boyfriend (played by Dane DeHaan) whose deceased girlfriend (Aubrey Plaza) returns from the grave as a pasty-skinned zombie. Think (500 Days) of Summer meets The Walking Dead. There's also Jamie Marks Is Dead in competition, a coming-of-age ghost story directed by Carter Smith -- he made The Ruins for DreamWorks -- about a teenage track star (Cameron Monaghan) who becomes obsessed with a bullied boy (Noah Silver) after his dead body is discovered in a river.

Read more