Indian Institute of Zombies review: A potentially fun comedy lost in translation

Indian Institute of Zombies follows a campus immortality experiment that unleashes a zombie outbreak. The film's promising satire and genre ambition are undercut by weak writing and tonal confusion.

In Short

• The film opens at a Mumbai institute with a promising zombie premise
• Darvinder's immortality experiment turns students and professors into pale ravenous zombies
• Political satire briefly lands through commentary on housing, privilege and admissions

There are films you watch for the love of cinema. Then there are films you watch to switch your brain off and enjoy pure chaos. And then comes Indian Institute of Zombies (IIZ), a film that promises the second category but unfortunately lands somewhere between a failed science project and a random joke shared by friends at 3 am.

Set inside the fictional Indian Institute of Innovation in Mumbai, the film begins with what genuinely feels like a fun setup. We meet Darvinder Sinha (Mohan Kapur), a self-proclaimed genius whose parents clearly loved Charles Darwin. He, on the other hand, seems like a fan of Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal, complete with a temple device attached to his head. Darvinder believes he can create immortal superhumans and decides the best way to test this theory is by making college toppers, athletes and bright students consume an “amrit” that supposedly grants immortality.

Now, naturally, because nobody in this universe seems to possess survival instincts, everyone drinks the suspicious liquid without asking a single question. Within minutes, dramatic chemical reactions begin, eyes turn pale, veins pop out, and boom, we officially have zombies running around campus, biting students and professors alike. And honestly? The first few minutes are unintentionally funny.

You go in expecting madness, gore, over-the-top stupidity and maybe a few moments of accidental brilliance. Zombie films do not always need logic; sometimes, they just need commitment. Unfortunately, IIZ struggles with exactly that. It never fully commits to being scary, funny, satirical or even properly ridiculous. It keeps jumping genres like a confused engineering student changing branches after semester one.

The biggest issue here is the storytelling. The screenplay by Hussain and Abbas Dalal feels painfully stretched, repetitive and unsure of itself. For nearly two hours and 17 minutes, it is essentially zombies chasing students, a lot of screaming, someone making random pop culture references and then repeat.

And yet, weirdly enough, there are flashes where the film almost works. The political commentary portions actually stand out. At one point, students perform a nukkad natak to distract zombies while simultaneously talking about struggles of finding a house in Mumbai, nepotism, donation-based admissions and even privilege. These scenes feel sharper than the rest of the film because, for a brief moment, the writers seem to know exactly what they want to say.

The film also attempts to explore ideas about brilliance, ego and humanity. Darvinder is portrayed as one of those classic 90s-style “mad geniuses” who believes destroying humanity is somehow helping it evolve. There is commentary that intelligence is a gift meant to help others rather than feed superiority complexes. The intention is admirable, but the execution, unfortunately, is all over the place.

Also, this Alok Kumar Dwivedi directorial seems like many Instagram reels have been clubbed together. There is a random “Maar Dala” item song. There are jokes about “Chhoti Bachchi Ho Kya”, “Krissh ka gaana sunega kya”, Taylor Swift being worshipped and porn distracting male zombies because apparently zombies too are governed by patriarchy. At another point, daily soap bahus become a horror element for these undead. There is an AI clone of the villain used as a distraction, and then there's also the mention of the dark web, where a zombie repellent gets millions in funding.

Reading the last paragraph back sounds insane, but the film somehow still managed to make it boring. And that is perhaps the most disappointing part. Silly films can become cult classics if they embrace their silliness wholeheartedly. But IIZ constantly behaves like it wants applause for its messaging while also wanting audiences to laugh at cheap gags and splattering blood and flesh. The balance never comes together.

Performance-wise, the actors do what they can with the material, but most characters feel underwritten. The group of underdogs (Sachin Kavetham, Jesse Lever, Ranjan Raj, Tanishq Chaudhary, and Rose Sardana), trying to save the campus, has moments of heroism, but nothing memorable enough to emotionally invest in. Anupriya Goenka as Miss Briganza is bizarrely sexualised throughout the film, with “Mehbooba O Mehbooba” practically becoming her entry anthem every single time she appears in satin nightwear. It feels less like characterisation and more like somebody’s very confused fantasy sequence.

The gore factor is definitely high. There are flesh-eating, blood splatter and enough cringe-inducing zombie moments to make weak stomachs uncomfortable. But even the horror lacks tension -- the suspense never lands and the humour rarely does either.

What hurts more is that films like these should work. Low-budget genre cinema can genuinely open doors for experimental storytelling in India. Zombie comedies, dystopian sci-fi and horror satires deserve space in mainstream entertainment. Which is why it becomes disheartening when a film with a genuinely exciting premise collapses under weak writing and tonal confusion. At no point does Indian Institute of Zombies become entertaining enough to recommend as a fun hate-watch either. It's already dead on arrival.

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