Raindance Film Festival: ZOMBUCHA!

Out of Australia, Claudia Dzienny’s Zombucha is delightfully unhinged, and, crucially, a lot of fun.

Married couple Maddie (Emma Leonard, who also penned the script) and Leo (Ryan O’Kane) find themselves at a breaking point. Maddie has just been fired after accidentally (kinda) poisoning her misogynistic coworker, while Leo finally quits a job that has all but consumed him under the watchful eye of his nightmare boss (Jackie van Beek, in memorably frazzling form).

Desperation breeds invention. After downsizing their lives and their expectations, the pair stumble upon Kai (Stephen Madsen) and his kombucha stand at a farmer’s market. When more conventional ideas fall flat, they settle on starting a business of their own. The catch? They need to steal Kai’s scoby. Once they do, they quickly learn fermentation isn’t so simple, leading to further questionable acquisitions from their neighbor Blanche (Brigid Zengeni). Eventually, they land on a winning formula… but not without consequences.

source: Maslow Entertainment

Because this scoby isn’t ordinary. It’s evolving into something unstable, possibly sentient, and definitely dangerous. Kai, meanwhile, is entangled with a mysterious group of white-robed figures (a thread the film cheekily refuses to fully explain) and wants his culture back. What follows is a cascade of absurdity that escalates toward a backyard zombie showdown, evoking an undeniably Australian riff on Shaun of the Dead: a comparison the film earns through its tonal balancing act.

Despite its outrageous premise, Zombucha is most interested in the fragility of Maddie and Leo’s relationship. Beneath the chaos is a couple reckoning with adulthood, money troubles, and the looming question of parenthood. Their anxieties around fertility become unexpectedly mirrored in the care, of their strange, living creation. It’s an offbeat but effective metaphor that grounds the film’s zaniness in something recognizably human. That emotional through-line feels especially considered, reflecting the influence of a largely female-led creative team that grounds the film’s chaos in something more personal and perceptive.

Dzienny’s film leans more heavily into romantic comedy than its title might suggest, and that choice pays off. The dialogue is sharp and playful, giving the performers ample room to shine. While the third act loses some of its tightness and the zombie element remains more of a late-game flourish than a driving force, the film’s energy rarely falters. Its humor lands more often than not, buoyed by a script that knows when to be irreverent and when to let its characters breathe.

Zombucha doesn’t break the mold, but it confidently concocts its own peculiar blend. It’s messy, and endearingly strange; qualities that ultimately work in its favor. Even in its clunkier moments, the film’s commitment to its absurd premise and emotional core makes it an easy, entertaining ride. By the end, you’re less concerned with its imperfections and more appreciative of its willingness to go there, and to have a genuinely good time doing it.