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It can be hard to make new friends—to find the people who share some of the same interests and are fun to be around. So in The Loneliest Boy in the World, when one awkward kid is faced with meeting some new friends, he ends up resorting to some desperate measures.
The Loneliest Boy in the World tells the disturbingly whimsical story of Oliver (Max Harwood), a sheltered young man who’s trying to figure out life on his own following the accidental death of his overbearing mother. His social workers are concerned about his ability to live on his own, though, and give him a deadline either to get out and make some friends or return to a psychiatric facility. But Oliver struggles to make friends, so he decides to dig them up from the town’s cemetery—and he soon creates his own happy zombie family.
Though you might expect a film about a kid who digs up corpses to be his new family and friends to be incredibly dark and eerie, that couldn’t be further from the case here. Instead, it’s completely playful and quirky—from the over-the-top pink ‘80s décor of Oliver’s home to the oh-so-wholesome undead family that Oliver digs up to Oliver’s overall personality. This isn’t an angry, violent kid with plans to take over the world with an undead army. He’s just a sweet, lonely, well-meaning young man who loves watching soap operas and Alf—and who just wants to be a part of the perfect TV family. And that makes the film completely bizarre—and, admittedly, sometimes pretty creepy, too.
With the help of his new family and his undead BFF, Oliver finds the courage to stand up to the local bullies—and even to go out on his very first date. It’s all strangely lovable—apart from the fact that his family is dead and frequently losing body parts—and it plays out like a delightfully weird mix of Weekend at Bernie’s, Shaun of the Dead, and Leave It to Beaver. It’s definitely a different take on the typical October thriller—but if you have a twisted sense of humor, you’ll enjoy this demented undead adventure.
If it weren’t for the zombies, The Loneliest Boy in the World would be a sweet story about a lonely kid learning to get on with his life after tragedy. Instead, it’s an amusingly warped tale of a kid who will go to any lengths to create his happy suburban 1980s life. If you’re looking for something different for this year’s Halloween viewing, this is definitely it.
You can dig up The Loneliest Boy in the World in theaters starting on October 14, 2022—or on digital beginning on October 18, 2022.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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