We Bury the Dead, the 2026 survival zombie thriller from director Zak Hilditch, is a film that, while staying true to the genre, isn’t afraid to bend the rules.
The film presents a compelling premise by creating an outbreak that, unlike many others, is not contagious. The plot is set into motion by a disastrous military weapon malfunction that leaves the population of Tasmania in a lifeless state. An American woman named Ava, played by Daisy Ridley (Star Wars Episodes VII-IX), joins a volunteer “body retrieval” team under the guise of searching for her husband, who happened to be in Tasmania during the catastrophic event.
We learn along with Ava that a portion of the victims of the event are inexplicably coming back to life, but in ways that do not appear to exhibit signs of cognizant or conscious behaviour, just basic functions and a strong desire to kill. Hoping that he won’t be a mindless brain-eater, Ava feels a new sense of urgency as she enlists the help of another volunteer worker, Clay (played by Brenton Thwaites, from Titans) to find her missing husband.
Clay and Ava embark on a road trip into the bowels of a post-apocalyptic hellscape as they make their way to the last known location of Ava’s husband. Along the way, the story plays out almost like a survival horror video game. Ava and Clay find new locations that provide new items and weapons, they meet new characters that cause pathways to branch, and they also uncover more information about the inciting incident and the nature of this particular breed of “zombies.”
The deviation the film makes by choosing not to make the infected infectious allows for a wonderful sense of mystery to unfold as we learn about how the “zombies” work within the universe of the film. It’s an especially satisfying flip as in this film it’s more about humans trying to turn zombies into humans, than zombies trying to turn humans into zombies.
There is a dramatic side to We Bury the Dead that coexists with the horror. The dramatic side comes into play most heavily during several flashbacks that double up as a sort of breadcrumb trail to a contextual realization within the film’s plot.
Ridley’s performance effectively conveys her character’s grief and determination, and it’s fun to see her in a role that showcases her versatility beyond Star Wars, even if her American accent isn’t the most convincing. Thwaites does a fine job as Clay, who is more of a “guide” character, but like Ava, he also has an arc and is given a decent amount of depth.
Visually, the film is well-made, with some striking shots and commendable effects. The gore, while sparingly utilised, is refreshingly practical and distressing. There is a wonderfully creative scene that is shot through the broken windows of a fallen city bus that shows an action scene unfold in snippets as the camera pans along the window openings.
We Bury the Dead doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel when it comes to zombie apocalypse movies, but it definitely finds its own space to inhabit within the guidelines the genre has already carved out for itself. The narrative blends horror with dramatic elements and the pacing is ever-engaging and it sticks to a digestible runtime.
Also, it’s got a killer soundtrack featuring artists like Amyl and the Sniffers and Metric.
Bury The Dead is now in Canadian theatres nationwide via Game Theory Films
“We Bury the Dead doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel when it comes to zombie apocalypse movies, but it definitely finds its own space to inhabit within the guidelines the genre has already carved out for itself”
