We Bury the Dead, 2025.
Written and Directed by Zak Hilditch.
Starring Daisy Ridley, Mark Coles Smith, Brenton Thwaites, Matt Whelan, Kym Jackson, Holly Hargreaves, Deanna Cooney, Elijah Williams, Chloe Hurst, and Salme Geransar.
SYNOPSIS:
After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don’t just rise – they hunt. Ava searches for her missing husband, but what she finds is far more terrifying.
Combining traditional survival-horror zombie thrills and arduous trekking into restricted territory to locate a loved one who may be alive, dead, or undead, writer/director Zak Hilditch’s We Bury the Dead has a tenderness to its human connections.
Daisy Ridley’s Ava enlists in a relief group to help bury the dead (as the title implies) after the US government mistakenly drops experimental electromagnetic bomb technology off the coast of Tasmania, which hasn’t just killed thousands of people but has come with the side effect of some of those individuals coming back to life. Driving her decision-making more than aiding a cause was that her husband, who works in renewable energy, was there for a conference. Given the dreamlike flashbacks of staring and dancing, it’s also safe to assume the couple had a strong bond.
Paired up with other helpers, Ava also comes to understand that she isn’t alone in either searching for loved ones or trying to understand what exactly is happening. Instructed by the military to report sightings of any zombies so they can be executed and put back down, Ava notices that there appears to be humanity left in the occasional zombie, at one point making extended eye contact with one. On the one hand, it’s a blank stare into the mind of a confused zombie, but an exchange that possibly represents more about connection and the struggles and uncertainties of attempting to understand what is going on in the minds of loved ones or what they might have wanted to say, especially as we get to know this small ensemble better. Zombies can’t speak, and the film wields that into stirring symbolism about finding closure from past, more silent interactions in which neither party could address choices and decisions that needed to be discussed.
Yes, some of the zombies are unpredictably dangerous, but Zak Hilditch is primarily concerned with telling a story about humanity and relationships, sometimes not knowing what the person one loves most is doing or thinking; he mostly succeeds. Some might be disappointed that the story isn’t interested in the political aspect or how the US accidentally caused this bombing in the first place, but one also argues that the narrative is better off for sticking to the human side. There isn’t anything particularly original about the visual language here, but the practical makeup effects on the zombies are impressive for a relatively small-budget film. One scene features a zombie grinding its teeth together, as if it’s ready to bite them off and start chewing on them, which is naturally unsettling to watch and hear.
The film is also smart enough to rotate these characters in and out of Ava’s story, aware that the few that are here initially come across as stock types for the genre. There is the carefree Clay (Brenton Thwaites), who isn’t here for the cause at all, and a sullen military soldier named Riley (Mark Coles Smith), still mourning the loss of his wife. For reasons, they agree to help Ava reach the location where her husband was last seen, an area entirely off-limits. As such, more about them is revealed, shedding some of that generic feel. Even when aspects of that involve tragedy leading to unstable behavior and violence, the material remains grounded in humanity and character rather than cheap zombie-horror scenarios.
It is also to the film’s benefit that the performances across the board are strong, with Daisy Ridley’s quieter, tender, and empathetic turn completely in line with what Zak Hilditch accomplishes in We Bury the Dead. This is something much more moody, nuanced, and character-based; it’s refreshing enough for such an oversaturated genre.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
