Filmmaker Cyril Abraham Dennis on his debut, ‘Watusi Zombie!’

When debutant filmmaker Cyril Abraham Dennis’s movie Watusi Zombie! premiered astatine the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) successful 2024 successful the Malayalam Cinema Today category, it was an actualisation of a imagination helium had since people XII. The diagnostic began arsenic a abbreviated movie intended to beryllium changeable connected a handheld camera.

Watusi Zombie!, acceptable successful a pre-pandemic Kochi, is astir Grindset Gabriel, whose assemblage is ambiguous. A regular performer astatine the unfastened mics successful the city, Gabriel is accused of badmouthing a chap performer. The absurd satire, narrated successful chapters, weaves successful Gen Z slang and sensibilities passim the film. Watusi Zombie!, streaming connected YouTube since December 2025, further explores however Gabriel, played by Abdul Ahad, deals with this situation.

“We had a hard clip uncovering organisation owed to immoderate method problems with the rights involved. So, we thought putting it retired connected YouTube would marque it accessible and springiness it maximum visibility,” explains Cyril, implicit telephone from Mumbai.

“I was inactive successful schoolhouse erstwhile I wrote the script. It was purely instinctual. I hadn’t work oregon seen enough. I adopted galore elements into the movie conscionable due to the fact that I recovered them cool. Whatever happens successful the film, it has happened to maine oregon idiosyncratic I know,” says Cyril, who wanted to conception the movie with an episodic structure.

“More than the plot, I gave value to moments. The crippled is not this film’s appeal. It’s astir acquisition and the characters. The crippled we wrote successful the publication isn’t what we shot. What we planned portion shooting wasn’t what we edited. During the edit, we changed the movie’s structure.”

The movie was made by a formed and unit each of whom were 25 years aged oregon younger. The movie offers a retro interaction successful its visuals, with its colours and textures inspired by the photochemical film. “I was inspired by the American New Wave films of the ‘70s. When I started watching satellite cinema, I noticed however a movie changeable connected movie successful the ‘70s oregon 2015 feels the same. There’s thing timeless astir its texture. Our DOP Rohan Muraleedharan and I designed movie emulation together,” says Cyril, a connection plan pupil astatine ISDI School of Design & Innovation, Mumbai.

The movie begins with the opus ‘Watusi Zombie’ by Jan Davis. “It was an instinctual choice. I was truly into surf stone euphony portion I was penning the script. I loved the mode the opus went. We person utilized the aforesaid colours of the song’s medium screen successful the film.”

Watusi Zombie! tips the chapeau to “a simpler time” successful its characterisations. “When I look around, my friends and I person a definite yearning for a simpler signifier of living. There is simply a batch of worldly astir societal media that is harmful and however it changes socialising, but much than that, being progressive connected societal media is astir identity. The archetypal happening a level asks america erstwhile we articulation is, Who are we? We are truthful obsessed with defining ourselves.”

Recently, renowned Malayalam writer NS Madhavan commented connected the movie, “Watusi Zombie! announces itself framework by framework with assurance that feels autochthonal to Gen Z: digitally fluent, visually alert, bushed aware. Nothing feels tentative; the trade is instinctive.”

Cyril says helium didn’t expect the movie to scope the fig of radical it has. He adds, “It's precise encouraging to spot radical similar NS Madhavan penning astir the movie and calling it the accomplishment of thing new. I ne'er imagined idiosyncratic similar him to ticker the film, fto unsocial bask it. Overall, I’ve gotten a much encouraging effect erstwhile the movie was made disposable connected YouTube.”

The movie is streaming connected watusi zombie! YouTube channel.