The Adams Family’s dark comedy horror take on contemporary America: The Glorious Dead is chilling, gruesome, and all too real.
I don’t think it is nostalgia that gives me a rose-tinted view of life even five years ago. 2026 has turned out to be a massive shit-show that’s shaping up to be even worse. Christian nationalism, open fascism, global aggression, cost of living crises, and the blatant propaganda machine of the GOP is served up every day before you’ve even had a chance to have a coffee and take it all in. Toby Poser and John Adams’ The Glorious Dead takes the hellscape of everyday life in America and makes it literal. The end of days has come and anyone who wasn’t swept up in a Pentecostal rapture is left with one mother of a mess and there’s no way to even make a cup of coffee.
In a small town in upstate New York recently widowed Sheriff Deb McCloud (Toby Poser) is awoken on a Sunday by her deputy Mikey (Zelda Adams) despite it being Deb’s only day off. Someone has asked for a welfare check on their estranged parent and no one else at is at the police station to do anything. Phone lines and electricity are out. It’s a very cold day, snow is falling. There’s no heating, plus a neighbour has also called for Deb to take a look at her sink despite the fact she isn’t a plumber – that was her husband Hank’s (John Adams) job. It’s already a crap day for the good-natured Sheriff and it is about to get a (w)hole lot worse.
Thus begins one of the finest commentaries via genre (mystery, thriller, horror) on the state of things that you’ll see all year. A full review is imminent but in the interim Toby and John give us the goods of The Glorious Dead.
Writer and Director: Toby Poser and John Adams
Cast: Toby Poser, Zelda Adams, Judith Roberts, John Adams, London May, Lulu Adams
Cinematography, Editing, Sound Design: John Adams
Practical and VFX: Trey Lindsay
Nadine Whitney had the delightful opportunity to chat with the very generous Toby Poser and John Adams.
The Glorious Dead is having its Australian premiere at Monster Fest in Melbourne on Saturday October 3. Click below for tickets and more information:
https://www.cinemanova.com.au/films/mf26-the-glorious-dead
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