Realistically, what would you do during a zombie apocalypse outside of the essential things for survival? The prototypical day would consist of hunting for food, looking for supplies, and trying not to get bit and turn. However, there’s a lot of space and time to do stuff. So, why not start a podcast (given there will be ample equipment to do so)? Meera Menon’s “Didn’t Die” is not structured to be your conventional undead horror thriller. There is danger within the black-and-white world Menon creates. Zombies are called “biters,” and they generally are confined to coming out at night time. While trouble brews in the background as more of them appear in the daytime.
“Didn’t Die” hones in on the relationships of a particular unit of survivors. How does one cultivate a community with dwindling resources? Is there a reprieve from seeing a loved one turn into a monster? These are themes that have been tackled throughout the zombie story pantheon. The actors in tow make things a little bit more interesting, given that they are so committed to telling this story. It’s also refreshing to see South Asian American characters leading the story and weaving in specific customs we haven’t seen in franchises like “The Walking Dead.” However, it’s not hard to feel we’ve been down this road before. As much as “Didn’t Die” tries to hold back what you’d expect, it gives in when the story reaches an apex – creating an almost unintentional schism that conventionally works against the premise.

Vishal Vijayakumar appears in Didn’t Die by Meera Menon, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Paul Gleason
Vinita Malhotra (Kiran Deol) hosts the podcast Didn’t Die, approaching its 100th episode and will be live. She travels around the barren U.S. with her little brother Rishi (Vishal Vijayakumar). Vinita is focused on connecting those still alive with poignant commentary about the state of the world and some comedic garbs on how there need to be more “hot people” around. Something is troubling Rishi, not only from the standpoint of a traumatic occurrence of the past. He spots a biter walking out and about in the daylight. Could it be the zombies are mutating into something different? The problem meets an abrupt apex towards the film’s end. Before then, Menon and co-writer/cinematographer Paul Gleason look to flesh out the characters’ inner workings before the action happens.
Vinita and Rishi head to the home of their older brother Hari (Samrat Chakrabarti) and his wife, the always-ready-for-action Barbara (Karie McCuen). For the past two years, they’ve hunkered down at their abode and elected to make the best of a bad situation. Menon provides a bit of backstory about the three siblings with dialogue and home movies of them at younger ages. Loss has touched the three siblings differently. For Vinitia, at first, she looks outward and strives to mute any inner sadness by consistently doing her podcast. Rishi’s story deals with shellshock and attaches him in a manner that shapes his relationship with the biters. Hari and Barbara’s relationship gains the most evolution throughout “Don’t Die’s” runtime.
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The strongest point of this film is how Menon and Gleason drop you into a unit where all the ties feel natural. These characters converse and feel like real people and not so much a dramatization of the end times. When Vinitia’s cheating ex-boyfriend Vincent (George Basil) gets introduced, he has a newborn baby he saved from an onslaught of biters. His inclusion gives a new layer for Vinita to be a bit vulnerable. Conversely, discussing the baby leads to hopes and dreams about the future.
It’s not that “Didn’t Die” lacks great ideas to expound upon—it does. If anything, it doesn’t allow enough time to explore them thoroughly. The stakes created in the beginning don’t reach their intended apex because the action is more of an irritant than a threat. So, the slow burn pace in which “Didn’t Die” elects to flow through its center of interpersonal relationships gets kicked into overdrive as soon as the zombie antagonists appear. Scenarios play out where they are disposed of quickly, and there’s a tie in zombie stories where you have things all planned out until you don’t. Somebody gets scratched, bit slightly, or incapacitated, leading to an emotional payoff. For “Didn’t Die,” the satisfaction comes from seeing these characters reckon with their new normal. But it feels like a missed opportunity where the trouble doesn’t elevate the epiphanies in a full-circle manner.
“Didn’t Die” premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.