We Bury the Dead is a wild, ash-covered ride through a post-apocalyptic Tasmania where the dead don't stay down and the living barely hold it together. Zak Hilditch (These Final Hours) delivers a grim, gutsy zombie survival tale that balances gnarly body horror with unexpected heart-and a healthy dose of black comedy.
Daisy Ridley is a revelation as Ava, a grief-stricken physiotherapist who volunteers with a military-run body retrieval unit after Hobart is wiped out by a rogue U. S. weapon. She's no gun-toting hero-just a woman trying to find her missing husband amid the chaos. Ridley plays her with raw humanity, slowly evolving from cautious outsider to desperate survivor.
Brenton Thwaites, as the unfiltered, foul-mouthed Clay, is a scene-stealer. His bogan banter, filthy humour, and cracked machismo bring much-needed levity to the film's bleak landscape. He and Ridley make for an unlikely but compelling duo, stealing a motorbike and heading south through a Tasmania ravaged by smoke, rot, and shambling undead.
The world-building is intense: mass graves, deserted towns, rotting livestock, and beaches littered with downed planes. Hayley Atherton's gruesome makeup and Jason Baird's prosthetics are revolting in the best way. The practical effects, paired with Merlin Eden's seamless VFX and Christopher Stephen Clark's thrumming electro score, make for a visceral cinematic experience.
Mark Coles Smith adds further depth as a hardened soldier whose run-in with Ava and Clay triggers one of the film's most tense and morally complex moments.
While it leans slightly sentimental in the final act, the journey is so grimy, gut-wrenching, and gripping that it earns every emotional beat. It's an apocalyptic road trip where love, loss, and chaos collide-and it never forgets to be fun.
Hilditch swings big here, delivering a uniquely Aussie take on the zombie genre that feels ready for cult status. Think 28 Days Later meets Mad Max with a slab of Bogan comedy and a very sharp shovel.
