WE BURY THE DEAD
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith, Kym Jackson, and Matt Whelan
Director: Zak Hilditch
QUENTIN
We Bury the Dead does a decent job of creating a zombie world with genuinely fresh rules, but writer-director Zak Hilditch buries those rules under the same ol’ zombie movie tropes we’ve seen time and time again. He also doesn’t flesh out Ava (Daisy Ridley) enough to truly hook the viewer, leaving her journey mostly superficial and wavetop to the point where her climactic moment — the entire point of the story — comes and goes without much catharsis or resolution. Hilditch does well as the director, demonstrating a good eye and getting great performances from his cast, but his script sinks the ship a bit.
KATIE
We Bury the Dead is a zombie film that’s far more concerned with the living than the threat of the undead. Following Daisy Ridley’s character, Ava, on a search for her missing husband in the wake of the accidental detonation of an experimental weapon, the zombie aspect of the story functions as a conduit for themes of grief, guilt, and trauma. Largely cliché in nature but less threatening, the zombie’s presence is secondary to Ava’s drive for hope and quest for closure. I enjoyed the unconventional take on the drama, but it ends up feeling unfinished and a little unsatisfying.
This film was reviewed by Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of Fantasy Filmfest 2025.