Eric Roberts co-stars in “Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead.” Photo: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Eric Roberts co-stars in “Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead.” Photo: Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0.

The trailer is here. Screamify has dropped the first look at “Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead,” and the streamer is taking the zombie horror-comedy exclusive — it premieres July 1, streaming only on Screamify.

The hook is brutal in its simplicity. Iverson, a mild-mannered accountant played by Derek Theler, tags along on his daughter’s work errand. The errand goes sideways. A zombie outbreak tears through the building, and father and daughter are forced to take cover in a restroom with a clutch of panicking strangers.

From there it’s survival math. Trapped, outnumbered, and badly out of his depth, Iverson has to swallow his own fears and turn into the one thing he’s never been: the guy who gets everyone out alive.

Eric Roberts joins the cast. The Oscar-nominated character actor — one of the most prolific names in the business — adds marquee weight to an indie creature feature that clearly knows how to have fun with its premise.

Derek Theler as Iverson in “Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead.” Courtesy Snow Story Productions.
Derek Theler as Iverson in “Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead.” Courtesy Snow Story Productions.

Writer-director Casey Jackson runs the whole thing as a horror-comedy, balancing the splatter with the gallows laughs of a dad in way over his head. The cast also includes Hayley Law, Melissa Peterman and John Omohundro. Runtime is a lean 84 minutes.

The takeaway for horror fans: this is a contained, single-location outbreak movie built on a parent’s worst nightmare, with a recognizable lead and a genre vet in the mix. The trailer is live now — link in bio — and the outbreak hits Screamify on July 1.