We Bury the Dead (2024)
★★★ — We Bury the Dead (2024)
Zombie cinema has been declared dead (so to speak) more times than anyone can count, yet filmmakers keep finding reasons to return to the genre. We Bury the Dead, released in 2024, arrives from a co-production between Australia and the United States, backed by Campfire Studios, Gramercy Park Media, and Lotterywest. The premise takes the familiar reanimation conceit and routes it through a military disaster, an electromagnetic weapon that brings back only certain casualties, with those that do return growing increasingly dangerous as time passes. It is the kind of high-concept setup that immediately separates itself from the shuffling horde of more straightforward genre entries, and at 95 minutes it has the good sense not to overstay its welcome. The tagline, "Volunteers needed", carries a dry wit that suggests the filmmakers knew exactly what kind of film they were trying to make.
Behind the camera is Zak Hilditch, the Australian writer-director who has built a quiet but consistent career in genre work, perhaps best known internationally for his Stephen King adaptation 1922. His feel for landscape and dread translates well here, and the production leans into the bleak, sun-scorched Australian setting in a way that gives the film a texture quite distinct from its American counterparts (a quality shared, in very different registers, by other Australian productions like You Won't Be Alone and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga). The central figure is Ava, a woman searching for her missing husband in the aftermath of the outbreak, played by Daisy Ridley. Ridley is a performer the mainstream audience knows primarily from her years as Rey in the Star Wars sequels, a role that demanded physicality and a certain kind of wide-eyed resolve across films including Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Here she is working in a considerably more intimate and grounded register, opposite a supporting cast that includes Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith, Matt Whelan, and Chloe Hurst. For horror fans with an interest in where the genre has been pushing lately, it is also worth comparing its approach to undead mythology with something like When Evil Lurks, a film that demonstrated how much mileage a horror premise can get from a rigorous internal logic.
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.
So there it is, a film that had real promise and, for the most part, delivered on it in ways I wasn't entirely expecting. The practical effects alone made it worth my time, and I found myself genuinely gripped through the middle stretch, which is more than I can say for plenty of better-publicised horror releases. It just stings all the more when the ending drops the ball so badly, because the bones of something genuinely memorable are right there. If you go in with adjusted expectations and your finger hovering over the remote with about two minutes to go, you might come away feeling warmer about it than I did. Sometimes the best thing a film can do is know when to stop.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2026-04-13
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for We Bury the Dead (2024) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus · Sky Go · Now TV Cinema
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Hulu
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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