May 15, 2017 11:18 AM PDT    Text size: 

SAN FRANCISCO — Another indie short film has been added to the NakedSword Film Works library.

“Sauna the Dead: A Fairy Tale” is described by a studio publicist as a “brilliant British short that imagines what would happen if you were stuck in a bathhouse, late at night, when a zombie outbreak occurs.”

Director Tom Frederic stars as the horny Jacob, who visits a local gay sauna in London, the publicist said. When he’s walking around, he finds the other visitors less than appealing and turns down guy after guy. But after a zombie outbreak starts turning people into zombies, Jacob must team up with one of the men he's rejected and find a way to escape before it's too late. 

“If you've ever been to a bathhouse very late at night or early in the morning, you know that there are often few people left over and those who are still there are sometimes stumbling around looking for that last chance at getting lucky. It can be a little creepy, as everyone is way more predatorily, hungry, thirsty, eager to strike without any regard for your humanity. Almost as if they were zombies,” the publicist said.

“Sauna the Dead: A Fairy Tale” premiered at the 2016 BFI Flare LGBT Film Festival in London before making its U.S. debut at Frameline in San Francisco, which is where NSFW Curator Adam Baran first caught wind of it.

“This is one of the smartest, funniest, and most ingenious queer shorts I’ve seen in years,” Baran said. “It depicts an experience any hardened cruiser can relate to — the equally scary and silly nature of cruising in sex spaces like bathhouses and sex clubs — and by extension sex apps — while also suggesting that perhaps, changing our behavior — and being nicer — could literally save our lives. It’s a thrilling horror comedy, a fabulous ‘fairy tale’ and a brilliant morality play all rolled into one. Plus, Mr. Frederic, the film’s director and star, is a seriously sexy fellow.”

The NakedSword Film Works library now has more than 18 shorts and features with the addition of “Sauna the Dead: A Fairy Tale.”