Australian Writer/Director Zak Hilditch and reviewer Connie Wilson at the SXSW screening of “We Bury the Dead.” (Credit Jeff Peterson).
From Australian writer/director Zak Hilditch (1922, These Final Hours), comes a terrifyingly realistic new zombie movie, “We Bury The Dead.”
PLOT
As the synopsis says, “We Bury the Dead’ is a gripping and emotional thriller set after a military experiment decimates the people of Tasmania.” It is the United States that is responsible for the deaths (500,000 victims). One scripted line, alluding to Ava’s U.S. citizenship, says, “I’m surprised we’re letting the Yanks chip in at all.” [Me, too, in today’s climate.] But Ava, a U.S. citizen, is determined to find her husband, who was away on a work retreat.
An experimental weapon has totally annihilated Hobart. Travel is banned. Ava volunteers for a body retrieval unit, hoping to make her way to Woodbridge where her husband, Mitch, was attending a work retreat at the Enso Resort. Some of the victims, who lay dead where they fell instantly in this catastrophe, are re-animating for brief periods. The “Miracle Mike” headless chicken is even referenced. (I wrote an entire short story about Miracle Mike that appears in “Hellfire & Damnation,” a book of horror short stories, so that line rang a vivid bell)
CAST
Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) stars as Ava, a desperate woman joining the “body retrieval unit” as a volunteer in the hopes of finding her husband alive. Some of the victims have been “coming alive” briefly. That means there might be hope for restoring life, perhaps. Ava’s husband, Mitch (Matt Wheelan), when he departed, was on the outs with his wife. We don’t find out why for a very long time in the 94-minute movie.
When we do, however, and when Ava finally finds her spouse, it humanizes all the horrors she has endured and triumphed over on her way to the Enso Resort. It also sets up the only false note, for me, of the entire film,–the ending— but, since it is the very end of this SXSW entry, you’ll have to see it for yourself to find out what that might be. I hope that you do. It’s well worth the time and we can debate the significance or likelihood of the last few minutes—the denouement— of the film. It was a unique original ending.
The body retrieval volunteers are assigned partners, and Ava draws a hunky, long-haired motorcycle-riding he-man named Clay (Brenton Thwaites, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, 2017). After seeing flashbacks of Ava’s nuptials with husband Mark, one wonders if she might consider dumping Mitch for Clay, based on looks alone. But, of course, this is not a skin-deep movie based on only sex appeal. Ava is going to go through hell to try to find and perhaps save her spouse. We will (eventually) find out what they were fighting about just before he departed. When Ava succeeds in finding Mark, she will be in for some surprises.
GRIEF
Director Zak Hilditch of “We Bury the Dead.” (Photo by Connie Wilson.)
“We Bury the Dead” is an exploration of human grief, which grew out of Writer/Director Zak Hilditch’s loss of his mother to breast cancer. When he was cleaning out her house and disposing of her things, said the Director in a Q&A session following the movie’s screening at SXSW, he realized, “There’s no handbook when it comes to grief.” Hilditch began thinking about the ramifications of some sort of mass catastrophe and how cleaning up all the bodies might be handled.
Hilditch admitted that there was much DNA from the 2002 film “28 Days Later” in this film. That early influence contributed to thinking about how the country would handle the disposal of all the bodies— those who had dropped dead while having breakfast (or, in one case, at a bachelor party with strippers). And what if some of the deceased started to “come back,” which a few do. Would the Army want to study those that temporarily revive, to see if they could be restored to life somehow? (Answer: no). What would the undead dead look like? You know the answer, but the rheumy eyes of those who are “awakening” and the mastication noises of teeth grinding (sound designer Duncan Campbell and Tom Heuzenroeder get the credit), plus the gorgeous cinematography from Steven Annis all contribute to a first-rate viewing experience. This one was exciting to watch, beautiful in its many images of the Australian landscape, and professionally done.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The aerial shots, (which are many and numerous), added a great deal to the film. The use of choral music (Handel, et. al.) during body removal scenes was both original and eerily fitting. A British composer now living in Melbourne composed the score. He is listed as Clark (first name, Chris). Shots of the still-burning hills instantly took me back to panoramas of the recent Los Angeles fires. The truly interesting camera shots from overhead angles really added to the film’s patina, achieved on a relatively limited budget. A shot of the sun coming up was breathtaking; there are great coastal scenes when Ava and Clay are riding a borrowed motorcycle to evade the road blocks. The music was great in those scenes, also.
CLOSE CALLS
“We Bury the Dead” with Daisy Ridley at SXSW 2025. (Credit Steven Annis).
Ava displays a great deal of courage during several encounters with the zombies and, in one case, with a military man who has lost his pregnant wife to the disaster imprisons Ava for a short time in a bathroom, During Ava’s brief imprisonment, Clay escapes. When the officer comes to let Ava out of her cell, he asks for one dance during which she will impersonate his now deceased wife. The poor guy insists that Ava dress precisely the way his wife would have been dressed, complete with wearing his wife’s wedding ring. That’s when trouble starts. Ava is no slouch when it comes to taking care of herself using violence, if necessary.
There were so many human moments and so many unique touches that one viewer announced to the crowd that “We Bury the Dead” was now his favorite zombie movie. Never an afficionado of “The Walking Dead,” I had attended with someone who worked on that series. He gave it high marks for creativity and realism. (I know my eyes were riveted on the stripper with pink hair, Crystal Heo,, and the barn full of zombies in chains, the Viking funeral of husband Mitch when Ava finally located him, the assisting of a victim to bury the rest of his family and dispatching of the grief-stricken.) All felt fresh and unique and were so well filmed and scored that I’d have to agree with the impressed viewer who voted for 2002’s “28 Days,” until now.
Q&A
Hilditch gave great credit to Daisy Ridley for her work, saying, “I think it is the most amazing performance of her career. She knew what to do. And she is just the easiest-going person.” Scenes that called for tears, such as on the airplane on the way to the Tasmanian disaster area, seemed natural and effortless. Said Hilditch, “I think she’s the only actor in Hollywood who reads and reads fast.” It took one year to prep the film. Hilditch sent her the script within 72 hours of zooming with her.
CONCLUSION
This one, released on March 9th after its SXSW debut, deserves to find an audience. It is riveting, well-paced, and human—not necessarily characteristics of all zombie movies. In a week that saw me take in multiple features, this one was my favorite film. I look forward to seeing it again. At the end of the screening at the Hyatt Theater, the director, once again, mentioned the low budget and said, “All hail indie cinema!”
Amen!
What are your thoughts?