He's baaack!

Contentious filmmaker Bruce LaBruce last came at us with The Raspberry Reich, which focused on gay "terrorists". Now, LaBruce turns his iconic eye to a seemingly unrealistic, and quite timely, topic: zombies.

Otto; Or, Up With Dead People revolves around the titular, undead Otto (Jey Crisfar), who's trying to find his place in a world where zombies have become common place. While humanity has learned to cope with invasive flesh-eaters, they're none-too-happy to learn that the latest wave's a bit lavender.

Endangered, confused and fighting his zombie urges, Otto falls in with a Medea, who's making a flick about revolutionary gay zombies fighting back against roving anti-gay militias. The movie, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance, represents a huge step in LaBruce career, which started with Queercore fanzines and a little movie called No Skin Off My Ass.

Unlike some independent filmmakers, LaBruce's career has only grown in recent years, which affords him higher budgets and more intricate aesthetics - designer Rick Owens did all the costuming for Otto, which artist Terence Koh co-produced. Despite his success, LaBruce stays true to his message: assimilation sucks. The director widens his directive in this offering, however, taking on a broader consumerism and corporation-saturated society.

Our editor spoke with LaBruce this weekend and the gents hit the obvious talking points - conformity, the devolution of gay activism - but also get deep into some other issues, like Internet-based bitchey, where LaBruce stands on bareback porn and how the Canadian government may soon start hampering films like Otto.

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