Woke Up Dead: Jon Heder’s Online Zombie Series

Looks like Woke Up Dead start Jon Heder has seen better days

Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder stars as a reluctant zombie in this comic look at the downside of being undead

Now that season two of AMC’s The Walking Dead has shambled off into the sunset, recent converts to the zombie genre may find themselves in need of an undead fix to hold them until the drama returns for its third go-round.

While there are more than a few options, those who like their gore diluted with a bit of dark humour would do well to consider Woke Up Dead, a Crackle.com original web series from 2009 that has picked up some serious street cred since its debut thanks to the subsequent success of some of its stars.

Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) plays Drex, a 20-something guy who goes to a party, pops a pill offered to him by the grungy dude making out with his date, passes out, and . . . well, the title pretty much explains the rest.

Indeed, when we first meet Drex, he’s clawing his way out of a body bag, scaring poor med student Cassie (Krysten Ritter, soon to be seen in ABC’s Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23) half to death herself.

Later, we learn that Drex has demonstrated a further lack of alive-ness by remaining underwater for way longer than any living, breathing human being could, an occurrence witnessed by his video-happy pal Matt, played by Josh Gad (formerly of Fox’s Back to You, now better known for Broadway’s The Book of Mormon).

Woke Up Dead is an 18-chapter saga that, it must be said, occasionally feels like it could’ve been told in slightly less time. Despite this, Heder holds his own, Gad and Ritter both demonstrate why they’ve gone on to bigger things, and the cast also features Daniel Roebuck (remembered by Lost fans as the, um, explosive Dr. Artz) as the mysterious Shadow Man, and the always-dependable Wayne Knight (Seinfeld) as Drex’s not entirely un-Newman-like co-worker, Andrew.

Originally published in TVW. For daily programming updates and on-screen Entertainment news, subscribe to the free TVW e-newsletters, or purchase a subscription to the weekly magazine.