For decades the horror survival story has belonged to the Final Girl — the young woman who outlasts the monster. “Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead,” which gets its exclusive premiere on Screamify July 1, quietly flips that script, and the trailer that just dropped suggests the swap is the whole point.

Here the person who has to survive is a father. Derek Theler plays Iverson, an anxious accountant who only came along to keep his daughter company on a routine work errand. When a zombie outbreak erupts, the two of them end up barricaded in a restroom with a group of strangers, and the movie’s real question becomes a familiar one for anyone who loves this genre: who protects the kid?

What makes the premise land is that it centers the parent-child bond instead of the lone teen. The daughter isn’t set dressing — she’s the reason Iverson has to find his nerve, and the engine of every choice he makes once the doors are blocked.

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.

The ensemble is stacked with women who can carry a scene. Hayley Law (“Riverdale,” “Altered Carbon”) and comedy veteran Melissa Peterman are both among the strangers trapped in that bathroom, the kind of casting that promises the survivors won’t just be screaming — they’ll be arguing, scheming, and cracking wise about it.

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.

Eric Roberts rounds out the cast, and writer-director Casey Jackson keeps the tone firmly in horror-comedy territory across a tight 84 minutes. It’s a small film with a big, warm idea at its core: that the scariest thing in the room isn’t the dead — it’s the fear of failing the person you love most.

The trailer is streaming now — link in bio — and “Deadlocked: Dad of the Dead” lands on Screamify July 1.