We Bury the Dead (2026)
Directed by: Zak Hilditch
Premise: A military experiment has turned Tasmania into a zombie wasteland. An American (Daisy Ridley) travels to Tasmania in search of her missing husband.
What Works: We Bury the Dead brings a somewhat unique approach to the zombie genre. Most of these movies are contagion stories about survival; zombism spreads like a virus and the living must be ruthless to survive. We Bury the Dead is a post-pandemic movie; it’s about grieving what was lost. The story focuses on Ava, played by Daisy Ridley, who has come to Tasmania in search of her husband. They parted on bad terms and Daisy’s search for him is partly about closure to their relationship. Daisy never gets an easy or neat resolution and in that sense We Bury the Dead has a more mature regard for grief than we typically get in a Hollywood film.
What Doesn’t: We Bury the Dead may be a zombie picture but it isn’t really a horror film. It’s not scary nor is it trying to be. That’s not a flaw of this film but it isn’t going to satisfy viewers who expect a traditional zombie horror picture. More troubling are the storytelling decisions in the film’s second half. A lot is revealed in a short period of time. We get a lot of background about Ava’s marriage and several new characters are introduced. These subplots and revelations don’t have the space to develop. It feels like the moviemakers are restarting the story very late into the film. As a result, the pacing is off and We Bury the Dead does not build up to its ending. The central issue of Ava’s relationship to her husband gets lost in a lot of other new story elements. It’s not resolved in a satisfying way. The end of the movie is supposed to be the ironic fulfillment of Ava’s desire but it’s confusing and raises practical questions.
Disc extras: The 4K Blu-Ray edition includes featurettes, interviews, and a trailer.
Bottom Line: We Bury the Dead is an ambitious but ultimately misjudged attempt to expand the possibilities of the zombie genre. The storytelling is too wobbly and disconnected to accomplish what the filmmakers are attempting.
Episode: #1122 (October 25, 2026)