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We Bury the Dead

I went along to Luna Outdoor last Friday to see a preview of local lad, Zac Hilditch's Albany shot, Tassie set zombie drama, We Bury the Dead. The premise goes that the US government has accidentally detonated an experimental pulse weapon close to the east coast of Tasmania, killing more than 500,000 people. A side note to this disaster is that some of the dead are rebooting.

Daisy Ridley plays Ava, an American physical therapist looking for her husband, who was in Tassie on a work retreat. She volunteers to be part of a body retrieval unit but is told she must not leave Hobart. She meets Clay (Brenton Thwaites) and they manage to cadge a motorbike and hit the road south. On the way, among the rebooted, they run into soldier Riley (Mark Coles Smith), who has his own reasons for being out of the capital.

In a Q&A after the film with The Curb's Andrew F. Peirce, Hilditch mentioned that the film started out as a pure grief drama, and zombies were added to the script later. This rings true as Ava's quest narrative would work in any setting, really. The interesting edge is that the zombies who 'come back' are the ones with unfinished business, mirroring Ava's frantic search for her husband. As far as I know, this isn't a common theme in zombie films, with the idea of coming back from the dead to deal with something more often seen in ghost films like The Sixth Sense, Truly, Madly, Deeply, The Crow, Heaven Can Wait, and Ghost.

The performances are mostly very good (not completely sold on Coles Smith, though) with Ridley holding the film together - she's in almost every frame. Sound is the real standout, closely followed by the smoky cinematography of Steve Annis. The teeth grinding sound effects are horribly impressive and the soundtrack is incredible. Hertz by Amyl and the Sniffers is a real injection of energy after a slow burning build up.

We Bury the Dead ends with a satisfying finale, circling round to tie up Ava's desires and maybe even salve her grief. It's an admirable piece of work, creepy and emotional, but masquerading as a genre pic. It brings to mind that old Jack Thompson ad for Claytons - the zombie film you have when you're not having a zombie film (ask your parents).

We Bury the Dead opens Feb 5th around the country - but go see it at Luna if you're in Perth (there might even be some tickets left for the Feb 11th Q&A screening with writer/director Zac Hilditch at Luna Outdoor - you get a really great insight into the challenges of making a feature film locally).

See also:

I haven't seen Hilditch's 2013 end-of-the-world drama, These Final Hours, but the Curb recommends it so I'll track it down. And for a nice companion piece, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) is still showing on the big screen as I write this and it's mint.

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