Growing up is hard enough, we have a sea of constantly changing emotions, bodies, and situations to navigate, and it can feel like you are a whole new person. Almost like coming back from a near-death experience gives you a completely new outlook. In 1993. A film that combined the teenage condition with a lot of EC Comics-style spookiness, a film known as My Boyfriend’s Back.

Johnny has been carrying a torch for Missy but lacks the courage to go for it. When a convenience store robbery goes wrong, Johnny is dead, but he doesn’t know it yet. Wondering about the earth in a state of un-death is an entirely new process for him, as he has to deal with issues relating to his skin, and a slightly unhealthy appetite. He might even have a chance with Missy, or at least the confidence to approach, that is unless her sheriff father and the wider town have anything to say about it.

Like Tales From The Crypt, especially with the comic-based interlude, My Boyfriends Back manages to combine the spooky premise primarily with a lot of laughs. I was surprised by just how many of the peculiar delivers and outlandish scenarios landed for me. Like Johnny’s parents’ continuous reaction, to having to find some food for their undead son. There are some obvious parallels to the walking horror show that could be used to describe our teenage years, as others have pointed out. While marrying with some friendly rom-com tropes, it almost feels like a parody at times, but one that is affectionate.

My Boyfriends Back hosts a collection of up-and-coming talent who make their debuts in this film, with a blink-and-you-will-miss-it cameo from Matthew McConaughey in a cinema. On the cutting room floor, there’s even an appearance of Renée Zellweger, who starred alongside him in The Next Generation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film even has a breakthrough appearance by the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman as a teenage thug, Andrew Lowery (from 1992’s Buffy), plays Johnny. He’s a teenager who feels uncertain of his lot in life and in death, yet at the same time is embracing the liberation that comes with not having to worry about living. Opposite him is Traci Lind, playing the girl of his dreams, Missy.

My Boyfriends Back manages to approach its topic in such a way as to make all of these off-kilter elements dazzle. In an era of Serial Mom or Parents, this diary of a teenage zombie provides a lot of charm while offering a fun precursor to Life After Beth or Lisa Frankenstein. Audiences looking for a slightly subversive time for their date night films might find out that romance and resurrection do start the same way.

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