WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Dead Don't Die, in theaters now.
The Dead Don't Die is a silly take on the zombie genre, but some of the most consistent jokes in the film come at the expense of the fourth wall that typically separates fictional stories from the audience. The jokes throughout the film tease the cast, director and even the entire genre.
Unlike something like Deadpool, which leans fully into the meta-narrative bit, The Dead Don't Die manages to not overwhelm the film. Here are all the ways the film pokes fun at the fourth wall.
The Dead Don't Die
"The Dead Don't Die," by country-western singer Sturgill Simpson, is the film's theme song, helping set the tone in the opening moments. It's also featured frequently throughout the movie, with other characters like Zoe (Selena Gomez) purchasing a CD.
It's even openly called out as the theme song by Ronnie (Adam Driver) when Cliff (Bill Murray) notes how familiar it sounds. Listening to the song frequently throughout the movie eventually exhausts Cliff. When Ronnie tries to turn the song back on after the zombies appear, an annoyed Cliff pulls out the CD and throws it out the car window.
Ronnie's Star Wars Keychain
When Zelda (Tilda Swinton) comes to the police headquarters, she notices a Star Wars chain hanging from Ronnie's keys. She notes how it's an entertaining film series, which becomes funny once the ending reveals that Zelda has some kind of connection to an alien race herself. A ship even returns to pull her out of the climax. The idea of an alien enjoying sci-fi has been a good gag in a number of sci-fi films, and it makes a soft, subtle appearance here.
The bit also resonates because of who it is targeted at. Ronnie is played by Adam Driver. Driver is one of the stars of the current batch of Star Wars films. He plays Kylo Ren, the morally conflicted villain of the sequel trilogy. His keychain is even a replica of the Star Destroyer that Ren is frequently seen on.
Called It
Ronnie is keenly aware that he's living in a zombie film. Right from the first murder, he accurately predicts that the cause of death is a zombie attack. He even refers to them as "ghouls," which was the word George Romero used in Night of the Living Dead. His predictions are initially cast aside as outlandish, but the rest of the cast is eventually forced to admit that he's correct.
Ronnie isn't even the only one to correctly assume they're trapped in a zombie story. Both Hermit Bob (Tom Waits) and Bobby (Caleb Landry Jones) assume as much. Hermit Bob observes them from a distance and also refers to them as ghouls. As a film buff, Bobby is initially knowledgeable about the creatures. This helps keep him and Hand (Danny Glover) alive through the first waves of the undead. Ultimately, though, only Hermit Bob proves to know enough to just outright avoid them. By the end of the film, he's the only one of the three still alive.
Ronnie Read The Script
During some scenes between Ronnie and Cliff, it's almost as if the pair has begun improvising. Cliff complains about it at one point, asking Ronnie if they're just vamping and going off-script. But that's nothing compared to the completion of the running joke, "This isn't going to end well."
Throughout the film, Ronnie comments on the situation by saying, "This isn't going to go well." When he and Cliff are trapped alone in a squad car in the climax, he says it again. Surrounded by zombies and at the end of his rope, Cliff angrily yells at Ronnie to shut up. How can he know how things are going to go? Ronnie frankly tells him that he knows because he read the script.
The rest of the scene is essentially Murray and Driver breaking character and chatting as actors instead of characters. Apparently, Murray only ever got his scenes and never saw a completed script. This annoys him to no end, and he's quickly complaining about director Jim Jarmusch, who Murray has worked with previously. He calls the director an asshole, in a funny extra bit of meta comedy.
Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, The Dead Don't Die stars Bill Murray, Selena Gomez, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Austin Butler, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Sara Driver, Carol Kane, Iggy Pop, RZA and Danny Glover. The film opens June 14.