We Bury The Dead (dir. Zak Hilditch)

By: Dave Hughes

The zombie narrative has been explored extensively across the cinematic landscape. From the recent critical success of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) to the irreverent, over-the-top energy of Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead (2004), the living dead have maintained a persistent presence on the big screen. While most entries in the genre begin with viral outbreaks or scientific accidents, We Bury the Dead subverts these tropes. The film offers a fresh origin for the undead and introduces a unique approach to psychological terror that separates it from its predecessors with a surprising emotional core. 

We Bury the Dead is an Australian production from writer and director Zak Hilditch (1922). The narrative explores the aftermath of an undead outbreak on the island of Tasmania off the Australian coast. Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) stars as Ava, a woman whose husband was on a trip to Tasmania when the crisis began. While she initially assumes he is deceased, she is haunted by the possibility that he may be among those who have started to exhibit zombie characteristics. We Bury the Dead  shifts the focus from  survival in a zombie  wasteland  to a desperate search for closure amidst a supernatural catastrophe. Is this shift a positive or a negative one?  Does this fresh approach make the film better?

The core of We Bury the Dead lies in Hilditch’s unwavering focus on humanity. As Ava explores abandoned homes, the lingering family photographs and domestic remnants serve as a haunting reminder of the lives interrupted by the catastrophe. Through these visual cues, Hilditch suggests that our identities are inextricably tied to the spaces we inhabit and the people we love. By forcing the audience to linger on these abandoned artifacts, the director teaches us that the true horror of an apocalypse is not the presence of the undead, but the sudden erasure of the domestic safety we take for granted. It is a meditation on the fragility of the "ordinary" and a reminder that grief is often a process of reconciling with the physical objects left behind.The suddenness of the event creates a profound sense of tragedy. Hilditch makes the inspired creative decision that only a fraction of the corpses reanimate, which instills a constant sense of unease in the viewer. This unpredictability ensures that when the undead do manifest, the impact is visceral. Beyond the scares, the film offers a surprising emotional depth. Ava observes nuanced body language among the "returned," suggesting a tragic remnant of consciousness that elevates the film beyond simple horror. As We Bury the Dead progresses and the undead begin to evolve, their lingering humanity starts to slip away. They gradually transform into the fearsome, mindless creatures that audiences will surely recognize from traditional genre entries. This shift marks the transition from the film's unique, grief-driven psychological exploration at the beginning of the film to more conventional horror territory. While the creatures become more dangerous, this evolution also signals the loss of the tragic nuance that made the initial encounters so effective.There are some genuinely terrifying images and scares along the way. 

Grief is a recurring theme in horror, and many genre entries explore this territory with greater precision than We Bury the Dead. While Ava’s determination to locate her husband is initially compelling, the narrative momentum stalls as the film progresses. Although the journey introduces various scares and unique evolutions of the undead, the ultimate payoff may leave viewers feeling underwhelmed based on where these characters end up and what it could mean for the future. . As the story reaches its conclusion, the audience is likely to grow frustrated and question whether the arduous journey was worth the investment.

Target Score 6/10: We Bury the Dead provides a fresh take on the zombie origin story. Daisy Ridley shines as a grieving wife uncertain of what her future holds, regardless of how long it takes her to find closure.