We Bury the Dead (2024)
★★★ — We Bury the Dead (2024)
Zak Hilditch has spent most of his career working in Australian genre film, with his 2015 adaptation of Stephen King's novella 1922 (made for Netflix) being his highest-profile work before this. We Bury the Dead is an Australian-American co-production, backed in part by Lotterywest and shot in Western Australia, putting it firmly in the tradition of modest, location-driven Antipodean horror that stretches back through Wolf Creek and beyond. Daisy Ridley, still navigating post-Star Wars career choices, takes the lead here alongside Brenton Thwaites, himself no stranger to genre work. The film arrived in 2024 into a crowded zombie-adjacent market, though its military-disaster framing and grief-led premise position it as something slightly apart from the standard undead fare.
We Bury the Dead (2024) starts with a genuinely fresh twist on zombie lore. An electromagnetic weapon that reanimates only some of the dead, with the undead growing more aggressive over time. It’s a smart, grounded concept that hints at a smarter kind of apocalypse film: one focused on grief, survival, and the eerie uncertainty of who (or what) might rise again. The practical effects for the zombies are excellent: unsettling, physical, and believably decayed, avoiding the over-polished CGI look that plagues so many modern horror films. Daisy Ridley commits physically to the role, but her performance feels oddly flat, lacking the emotional range needed to carry a story so steeped in loss and trauma. The supporting cast fares better, but the film leans too heavily on her as its anchor, and she doesn’t quite hold it together. The central narrative is solid, tense in places, and benefits from its restrained setting and atmospheric dread. Unfortunately, the film builds something thoughtful… only to sabotage itself in the final two minutes. Without spoiling anything, the ending introduces a last-minute twist that not only feels unearned but directly contradicts the internal logic the movie spent its runtime establishing. It’s jarring, unnecessary, and turns what could’ve been a haunting, character-driven horror into something frustratingly silly. George A Romero said it best... you have to set rules in horror and stick to them. A promising, original take on the genre let down by weak lead acting and a truly baffling finale. For zombie fans, it’s worth watching for the ideas and effects, but be prepared to mentally end it two minutes early.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2026-04-13
Related on Movies With Macca
More with Daisy Ridley: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) · Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
More from Australia: Ocean with David Attenborough (2025) · Street Fighter (1994) · Bluey at the Cinema: Playdates with Friends (2026) · Babe (1995)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)
More thriller: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Angst (1983) · The Long Walk (2025) · Punishment Park (1971)
