‘Rigamortis’, or, If ‘Dr. Horrible’ Were a Zombie Musical Love Story

Zombies have been done. A lot. So have online musicals. But to our knowledge, no one has combined the two until now. Yesterday Rigamortis launched on YouTube with a three-parter almost tailor made for Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog fans. (Which, incidentally is still holding strong on iTunes.)

It’s a pure indie project, without of course Dr. H’s star power or Whedonverse, but there are some seriously ample musical chops here. Maxwell Glick (lonelygirl15, GOLD: Night of the Zombie King) stars opposite Lisa Musser as two of the last remaining zombies after a failed zombiepocalypse. Their nemesis is a spot-on Nathan Fillion type, Boston Stergis, who is essentially humanity’s hotdogging hero zombie killer, belting his greatness in a walk-and-sing that would make Captain Hammer proud.

Creators Jenny Stolte and Dave Dewes, both from the Chicago area, are taking their first stab at an original web series with Rigamortis, which they shot up in Wisconsin last November. The story itself is a rather simple love triangle, but the highlight are the original songs, with sharply written lyrics that had me watching twice just to take them all in.

I’m sick and tired of running, being hunted,
chased by angry mobs with objects blunted.
Just take a look at what’s the world has done to you
Your skin’s rotting away…
…but I look thinner…
A victim of decay…
…no need for dinner…
How can you feel with no heart beating, haven’t got a soul is it death who’s cheating?
You must have misgivings about unliving too…

All three parts were released simultaneously, and the team plans to screen it live as well next week in Los Angeles. Original songs still tend to perform better in online video, and come with an added re-watchability, but this musical faces a much more crowded playing field than 2008 when Dr. Horrible popped on to the web scene. It had a magical concoction of timing, star power and novelty that still no other web series has quite been able to capture.