We Bury The Dead (Zak Hilditch, 2026)⭐⭐

Fast zombies, slow zombies, zombies that aren't actually zombies but 'infected'? Sure, but have you ever seen SAD zombies?

In this Australian take on the Zombie genre, a US military accident near the coast of Tasmania has mysteriously killed everyone in a wide radius that reaches into the mainland. A small percentage... don't stay dead. Their bodies reanimate and they begin to shuffle around, often grinding their teeth or swaying in repetitive tics. Which corpses are affected seems completely random and for the most part they are harmless if creepy, with a few that are more animated and aggressive and a few that seem slightly more aware of their fate.

Daisy Ridley's character, Ava, joins one of the teams of volunteers who go house to house in the hot zone, finding corpses and moving them so they can have a dignified burial. 'Live' corpses are dealt with by the army, who come running if a volunteer activates a flare and then shoot the unfortunate zombie in the head.

We soon learn that Ava has an ulterior motive of traveling deep into the hot zone to find out the fate of her estranged husband, who she believes went to a spa retreat on the coast. She is joined by Clay (Brendon Thwaites) a drifter who helps her as much for something to do as any sense of duty.

This is an occasionally gory and nightmarish film that has a downbeat atmosphere and the occasional 'action' scene seems almost a contractual obligation. The film's take on undeath is interesting and there are some affecting scenes, particularly one where a zombie is trying to bury it's non-reanimated family before getting in the grave itself and waiting for a shovel to the back of the head.

Not entirely successful as horror but worth watching for Ridley's performance and the unusual twist on the genre.