Daisy Ridley headlines a tense new zombie flick, We Bury the Dead, which adds some interesting quirks to the genre that’ll keep you invested, even if you’ll want a little more.
We Bury the Dead
Directed By: Zak Hilditch
Written By: Zak Hilditch
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith
Release Date: January 2, 2026
The New Year in theaters is kicking off with a new zombie film for horror fans to enjoy. While it’s less about outright chills, We Bury the Dead still has plenty of tense thrills that’ll keep audiences on edge. It just needed a little bit more…oomph to bring the story together.
The film has a lot of interesting setup going for it, much of which does a good job of setting it apart from the deluge of other zombie flicks out there. Namely, the undead we’re dealing with here aren’t the result of a virus/infection, or any other unexplained supernatural phenomena. Instead, it’s the result of the United States military testing a new kind of weapon off the coast of Australia (Tasmania to be precis) which instantly kills everyone within a certain radius.
The result is a massive humanitarian disaster on a major scale, with people from all over the world funneling in to try and help (moving and identifying bodies, etc). Then, inexplicably, some of the dead begin to wake up. They aren’t exactly shambling monsters, but appear to be stuck in a “lights are on but no one is home” kind of situation. The reason behind why some wake up and others don’t is a mystery, but it gives some people the hope they might be able to reunite with their loved ones once more.
That’s where Ava (Daisy Ridley) comes into the story. Her husband had been on a business retreat in the area when disaster struck. She’s volunteered to aid in the recovery efforts in the hopes she can make her way to his last known location, and hopefully find him among those who woke up. The problem is there’s a whole lot of quarantined land between her and where the volunteer teams are allowed to travel.
As she ventures off with the help of another volunteer, Clay (Brenton Thwaites), she discovers things aren’t as simple as she once thought. Turns out, the longer someone has been “returned” the more aggressive they get. The closer she gets to her husband’s location, the more dangerous her journey becomes. Dodging both the undead and the military, Ava’s journey becomes a fight for survival in more ways than one.
I’m trying to keep things vague here in order to avoid outright spoilers. There are some interesting bits in the film, making full use of its brisk 90 minute run-time, that work best if you go in not knowing what’s coming next.
Generally speaking, there are a lot of things the film does right. Its unique take on the zombie idea is an interesting one that allows for some thoughtful moments as well as terrifying ones. The tension/sense of dread is more of a slow building, ever-present aspect throughout the film. When the film dips into full-on horror moments, however, those scenes hit incredibly well.
Despite being smaller in budget/scope, the filmmaker does an excellent job of making the scale of the event feel massive. Little moments, and how certain aspects are framed, give the world a greater sense of depth, even as the story itself remains intimate. It goes a long way towards making this indie-zombie flick not feel like a cheap indie-zombie flick.
On top of that, I greatly enjoyed Ridley’s performance. Her mannerisms and expressions convey a great deal of emotion, keeping you hooked/engaged even in the film’s quieter moments. She’s a standout in the film, anchoring both it’s emotional core and most thrilling sequences.
I also—mostly—like how the narrative unfolds. We learn more about Ava’s marriage problems the closer she gets to her destination, slowly uncovering the reason behind her dogged commitment to seeing her quest through to the end; regardless of the evidence stacking up she won’t like whatever she finds.
In this way the film has much to say on the nature of grief and the need for closure in order to truly move on. Not just for the living, but the dead as well. The film touches on this in some interesting ways that I’m still thinking about well after finishing the credits…even if the film refuses to fully commit to those story elements.
Herein lies the problem with We Bury the Dead. It doesn’t go far enough on any of these above points to feel fully satisfying. The novel approach to the zombies at the outset eventually gives way to the more traditional monsters we’re familiar with. Even when it dips back to showing zombies in a new way, it almost immediately reverts back to horror-survival.
Ava’s backstory is largely stunted, offering little insight into her as a person beyond what we see in the—frustratingly vague—flashbacks. The most we get about her comes in the form of a big, kinda odd, expositional dialogue dump. Unfortunately, it comes so late in the film, it no longer feels relevant to the story. Plus, the important side characters we meet come in, and out, of the story so jarringly there’s little opportunity to form a connection to them beyond moving the plot forward.
I can’t say We Buy the Dead is bad. I was hooked pretty much from start to finish. There isn’t really any point where it feels like it lags (maybe goes too fast at some points). Its premise and Ridley’s performance kept me invested until the credits rolled. It’s a perfectly solid zombie film…but it had the potential to be much more.
That’s what make it feel a little disappointing. I loved the concepts it was touching on in terms of grief, but that’s all it does: touch on them. It dangles new ideas around without taking the time to explore them, and instead falls back on familiar zombie tropes.
If you enjoy zombie movies, I’d definitely encourage you to still give it a watch. It’s a tight, 90 minute film that brings more than enough thrills to keep you engaged. It just doesn’t do much to expand the genre despite showing glimpses of how it could.
