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

When debutant filmmaker Cyril Abraham Dennis’s film Watusi Zombie! premiered at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in 2024 in the Malayalam Cinema Today category, it was an actualisation of a dream he had since class XII. The feature began as a short film intended to be shot on a handheld camera.

Watusi Zombie!, set in a pre-pandemic Kochi, is about Grindset Gabriel, whose profession is ambiguous. A regular performer at the open mics in the city, Gabriel is accused of badmouthing a fellow performer. The absurd satire, narrated in chapters, weaves in Gen Z slang and sensibilities throughout the film. Watusi Zombie!, streaming on YouTube since December 2025, further explores how Gabriel, played by Abdul Ahad, deals with this situation.

“We had a hard time finding distribution due to some technical problems with the rights involved. So, we thought putting it out on YouTube would make it accessible and give it maximum visibility,” explains Cyril, over phone from Mumbai.

“I was still in school when I wrote the script. It was purely instinctual. I hadn’t read or seen enough. I adopted many elements into the film just because I found them cool. Whatever happens in the film, it has happened to me or someone I know,” says Cyril, who wanted to construct the movie with an episodic structure.

“More than the plot, I gave importance to moments. The plot is not this film’s appeal. It’s about experience and the characters. The plot we wrote in the script isn’t what we shot. What we planned while shooting wasn’t what we edited. During the edit, we changed the movie’s structure.”

The film was made by a cast and crew all of whom were 25 years old or younger. The film offers a retro touch in 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 world cinema, I noticed how a movie shot on film in the ‘70s or 2015 feels the same. There’s something timeless about its texture. Our DOP Rohan Muraleedharan and I designed film emulation together,” says Cyril, a communication design student at ISDI School of Design & Innovation, Mumbai.

The film begins with the song ‘Watusi Zombie’ by Jan Davis. “It was an instinctual choice. I was really into surf rock music while I was writing the script. I loved the way the song went. We have used the same colours of the song’s album cover in the film.”

Watusi Zombie! tips the hat to “a simpler time” in its characterisations. “When I look around, my friends and I have a certain yearning for a simpler form of living. There is a lot of stuff about social media that is harmful and how it changes socialising, but more than that, being active on social media is about identity. The first thing a platform asks us when we join is, Who are we? We are so obsessed with defining ourselves.”

Recently, renowned Malayalam writer NS Madhavan commented on the movie, “Watusi Zombie! announces itself frame by frame with confidence that feels native to Gen Z: digitally fluent, visually alert, rhythm aware. Nothing feels tentative; the craft is instinctive.”

Cyril says he didn’t expect the film to reach the number of people it has. He adds, “It's very encouraging to see people like NS Madhavan writing about the film and calling it the arrival of something new. I never imagined someone like him to watch the film, let alone enjoy it. Overall, I’ve gotten a more encouraging response once the film was made available on YouTube.”

The film is streaming on watusi zombie! YouTube channel.