After finding a mysterious film reel hidden in their ceiling, the staff of a struggling movie theater -- assuming the film is an old B-movie preview trailer -- play it before a midnight screening of "Night of the Living Dead." The film turns out to be a long-dead Nazi scientist's mind control experiment, and the audience is hypnotized into believing that they are zombies with a hunger for the flesh of the living. The theater's staff must try to survive as they are trapped in the cinema by the shambling hordes of the undead.

Sometimes creepy, sometimes campy, "Dead at the Box Office" pays homage to the low-budget, B-grade zombie films of the 60s and 70s. Those mostly independent movies created a sub-genre of horror that has endured among die-hard fans for decades. Recent films like "28 Days Later," the 2004 remake of Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" and the comedy "Shaun of the Dead" have contributed to an upsurge in the mainstream popularity of zombie movies. While "Dead at the Box Office" should satisfy those who have only recently become fans of zombie films, it was created by and for long-time fans of the genre. The film combines classic elements present in nearly all zombie movies of the past with a fresh twist on the zombie origin. With a microscopic budget and an enthusiastic cast and crew (with various levels of filmmaking experience), "Dead at the Box Office" is a labor whose love can be shared by its audiences.