We Bury the Dead (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

• Between Beast of War and We Bury the Dead, Mark Coles Smith is becoming one of my favorite actors.
• The Western Australia locations add a lot to the film. 
• The SFX and prophetic work from Jason Baird (Elvis, Aquaman, The Fall Guy) is excellent. The radiated “zombies” look wonderful.
• The original script, written by director/writer Zak Hilditch (1922, These Final Hours) didn’t feature zombies, but their inclusion was smart because they add stakes and make the film more marketable. People want to see a “Daisy Ridley zombie movie.”
• Any movie that features Kid Cudi and Metric on its soundtrack is cool with me. 

We Bury the Dead focuses on the journey of a grief-stricken woman named Ava, who travels from Los Angeles to Tasmania and joins a Body Retrieval Unit (BRU) that is working its way through the island. The island was hit by an American EMP that instantly killed most of the 573,000 permanent inhabitants and thousands of visiting tourists. Ava’s husband Mitch (Matt Whelan) was visiting the southern coast when the EMP went off, so she signed up for the unit in hopes of finding whatever’s left of him. It’s an interesting idea for a film made better by the fact that some of the corpses are reanimating and attacking soldiers and volunteers. The zombies add a welcome dose of stress into the cinematic equation as every home/garage/warehouse she enters becomes a potential death trap, and there’s nothing scarier than the idea of a corpse coming alive while you’re carrying it out of a house (I’d probably hurt my back during the ordeal, which would make everything worse). 

Ava is paired up with a man named Clay (Brenton Thwaites), and together they scour homes, businesses, garages and warehouses in search of rotting corpses. When they come across a “zombie,” they light a red flare, which alerts nearby soldiers, who quickly dispatch the undead person. Most of the zombies they stumble upon are “new” zombies who haven’t become aggressive yet (they get more and more aggressive), and are easily identifiable due to their bloodshot eyes, gnashing teeth, and overall zombie-esque behavior. When Ava learns that her group won’t be making their way south, she talks Clay into stealing a motorcycle (the fact that it’s a Ducati makes it an easy sell) so they can travel from Devonport to Woodbridge (located near the southern end of the island), where her husband was visiting. The trip is illegal and dangerous, but Ava needs closure, so they hop on the awesome motorcycle and head off into a wasteland loaded with wildfires, zombies and murderous humans. While on their journey, they come across a soldier named Riley (Mark Coles Smith – always good), who initially seems helpful but soon becomes more dangerous than the hungry zombies (Yes, humans are the monsters in this film). It would be a shame to spoil the rest of Ava’s journey, but know that it involves barn zombies, gorgeous visuals, and several fun set pieces. 

If you’re looking for a 94-minute film that is confidently directed and uses its Western Australia locations to perfection, you should watch We Bury the Dead. Understandably, the majority of the film’s marketing focuses on zombie mayhem and the fact that it’s a “Daisy Ridley zombie film.” However, if you’re looking for a Dawn of the Dead (2004) zombie experience, you’ll be disappointed.. At its core, We Bury the Dead is a film about grief, isolation, loss, and redemption that takes place in the irradiated remains of Tasmania. The original script written by Hilditch in 2019 didn’t feature any zombies, but as he fine-tuned the screenplay during the pandemic, zombies were included to make the high-concept idea more marketable.

The special effect makeup and zombie prosthetics created by Jason Baird (who received an Oscar nomination for his work on Elvis) give the film a lot of credibility, as the undead humans look amazing. The Western Australian locations are shot expertly by DP Steve Annis (Color out of Space, Inside, I Am Mother) who worked wonders during the 25-day shoot. Also, the sound design by Duncan Campbell (You’ll Never Find Me, Sting) is first-rate as it gives the zombies a plethora of crunchy/cracking/gnashing sounds, which helps build their personalities. Technically speaking, We Bury the Dead is a top-notch production that stretches its budget and provides a handful of visuals that have been lingered in my memory. 

Final thoughts – It’s worth a watch for zombie-movie enthusiasts.