‘We Bury The Dead’: A Shambling Zombie Flick That Wastes Its Potential

A heavily science fiction-flavoured zombie road trip film set in the wake of a manmade disaster sounds rad as hell, which is why it’s extra disappointing that Zak Hilditch’s We Bury the Dead is a largely middling affair with occasional highlights. Despite some gnarly, non-traditional zombie action and generally strong performances, it’s a film ultimately let down by a script that needed some more time in the oven.

To be fair, what a premise it does have: the American government accidentally activates an experimental weapon off the coast of Tasmania, instantly killing everybody on the island. But there’s an odd side effect of the weapon: some of the dead begin reanimating, resulting in a Herculean effort by the Australian government to clean up the island.

It’s here that We Bury the Dead makes its first proper fumble: by introducing Ava, as portrayed by Daisy Ridley, as the main character. Ava is an American who’s travelled to Australia to find her husband, who was on the island at the time of the explosion.

We Bury the Dead constantly makes odd choices

I found the move to introduce an American as the main character of this Australian film very odd; a decision that seems to represent the film’s willingness to throw aside its potentially interesting political commentary in favour of a less interesting tale about grief and closure.

It’s not that I think it would be impossible to make this angle function. Rather, I just can’t help but wonder… why make the story focus on an American? It makes the entire tragedy depicted in We Bury the Dead feel less personal to the fictional Australians who it would be affecting the most, and undercuts some some of the film’s most interesting initial ideas.

The idea feels very underbaked and isn’t executed particularly well, which is unfortunately indicative of We Bury the Dead as a whole. Without spoiling anything, Ava’s overall motivation for finding her husband, reanimated corpse or not, is a bit strange, as the in-universe rules for the way these zombies function.

Hilditch hits gold on an exceptionally creepy audiovisual combo where the undead grind their teeth while standing in the dark, but that might be the one consistent thing about them. Some are highly aggressive, some are capable of thought, but the fact that there’s no consistency in their behaviour makes it hard to feel properly scared of them.

A great concept can’t go far without a solid script

The humans are not particularly consistent either, though that’s usually a feature of a zombie film. Ava is well-played by Daisy Ridley, but is thoroughly underwritten and represented primarily by traits such as “wife” and “wants to be a mother,” above all else. I hate to say it, but she’s the sort of horror movie protagonist you can absolutely tell was written by a man.

Thankfully, supporting cast members and Australian actors Brenton Thwaites and Mark Coles Smith inject a necessary amount of life into We Bury the Dead. Thwaites is clearly having fun playing a blokey character as Clay, who joins Ava on her journey, while Smith’s full role and performance are best left as a surprise for your own experience watching the film.

That said, it’s an experience I only tepidally recommend. Despite a promising premise and some enjoyable moments sprinkled throughout, We Bury the Dead is, sadly, a fairly middling affair that shambles through its relatively short runtime. Although horror aficionados may appreciate its unconventional setup for a zombie movie, it’s proof that a great concept can’t go very far without a solid script to match.

★★½

We Bury the Dead is in cinemas now.