‘We Bury the Dead’ SXSW Review – Daisy Ridley Hunts for Closure in Stunning But Uneven Zombie Drama

Writer/Director Zak Hilditch (Rattlesnake, 1922) enters the familiar realm of zombies to explore the pursuit of closure and the emotional fallout that entails in meditative zombie drama We Bury the Dead. Daisy Ridley stars in this moody piece that manages to find new ground when it comes to the well-trodden zombie horror, delivering a few bursts of genuine scares in the process and an awe-inducing sense of scale. But Hilditch’s hesitance to abandon familiar territory, thematic and otherwise, and a tacked-on provocative ending counteracts the strengths of this otherwise stunningly crafted feature.

The United States military causes the incident that sparks the slow spread of reanimated dead in Tasmania. Their accidental deployment of an experimental weapon off the coast causes an explosive EMP with a wide, catastrophic range, prompting over 500,000 people to drop dead, their brains shutting down instantly. Inexplicably, though, some manage to reboot at random, pale echoes of their former selves, with the military promising that they’re docile and will be put back down humanely.

That gives the desperate Ava (Ridley) hope, as her husband, Mitch (Matt Whelan), had recently traveled to the Southern tip of  Tasmania for a work retreat. She volunteers for a body retrieval and identification unit in the hopes of finding him. Ava’s assigned partner, the rebellious Clay (Brenton Thwaites), becomes her strongest, though not necessarily reliable, ally when harsh conditions, strict military rule, and an increasing regularity of undead encounters stand in Ava’s path. Thwaites injects the spark of life as the authority-hating wild card in an otherwise somber and sometimes terrifying affair.

It’s not just the unique cause of the zombies that sets Hilditch’s take on the subgenre apart. It’s also in the unnerving way he stages the encounters. It begins slowly at first before ramping up, with Ava’s arduous journey starting at the furthest point of impact; the returning dead are few and mostly lifeless, more like scared dementia patients rather than the aggressive flesh eaters we’re accustomed to. The very first encounter, both in staging and ghastly vision, delivers a potent jolt that carries the dread-induing atmosphere far as it focuses on Ava’s personal quest. It gives the audience time to acclimate to this world and Ava herself, as it quickly becomes clear that guilt is driving her forward just as much as love and desperation. Hilditch slowly doles out key information and backstory about Ava’s relationship with her husband, intercutting the horror-paved journey with flashbacks that help illustrate why Ava needs closure, no matter the form.

Sound plays a vital role in carrying the emotional weight and the terror in equal measure, from Clark‘s powerful score to the unsettling sound design that includes the visceral, skin-crawling gnashing of undead teeth- a telltale sign that the empty of dangerous aggression. Hildritch peppers in a few intense horror sequences that get the pulse pounding, making you wish he’d commit more fully to exploring the rules of this new type of outbreak more fully. 

At its core, though, We Bury the Dead is ultimately another familiar exploration of grief. That means that we get more reminders that it’s often humans that can be the most dangerous, represented in a kindly lost soldier, Riley (Mark Coles Smith), who arrives in the second act to save Ava from a grisly fate; only to reveal a grief-stricken madness that puts Ava in an even more harrowing situation. It’s also reflected in Ava’s character arc as the woman slowly coming to terms with this new world and her place in it; Ridley compellingly plays her as a level-headed altruistic type who reveals herself as a flawed yet ferocious type.

Hildritch extends Ava’s quest for closure past its logical endpoint for a provocative final coda that confuses more than supports its ideas of fate; Ava does wind up receiving what she didn’t know she’d actually wanted when she set out to reunite with Mitch. That it dovetails back into familiar territory only further erodes the effectiveness of this conclusion, though. We Bury the Dead is exquisitely shot, employing dynamic imagery and showcasing the natural beauty of the countryside even as it is laid waste by unthinkable catastrophe. Daisy Ridley is a capable performer, especially during stretches of wordless emotion, and there’s more than one standout scene that induces chills. But Hildritch frequently opts to avoid taking any new path forward in favor of sticking with the much travelled subgenre and grief theme, leaving you frustrated by all the fresh ideas dangled but not explored.

We Bury the Dead made its world premiere at SXSW. Release info TBD.

The post ‘We Bury the Dead’ SXSW Review – Daisy Ridley Hunts for Closure in Stunning But Uneven Zombie Drama appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.