We Bury the Dead Review

We Bury the Dead review

An interesting concept that eventually, unfortunately, has to choose an ending.

New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.

We Bury the Dead

Directed by Zak Hildtich

Written by Zak Hilditch

Starring Daisy Ridley and Brenton Thwaites

We Bury the Dead Review

Zombies are in their serious era.  Ok…the creatures in the 28 Days Later franchise aren’t technically zombies…but the point stands.  We’re seeing an odd commitment to personal journeys set against the backdrop of a zombie outbreak lately.  We Bury the Dead never refers to their situation as a zombie outbreak either…but I guess that’s just a part of how seriously we are supposed to be taking things.  It does do a credibly job of creating a fresh feel for its “don’t call them zombies but they are zombies” filled world.  The personal journey works for the most part too.  Until the story has to figure out how to end everything.  Then things get a little wonky.

Ava (Daisy Ridley) is an American volunteer in Tasmania.  She heads there in search of her husband…who, like the rest of the region, was caught in the aftermath of an American military catastrophe.  An experimental weapon killed everyone in an instant.  Only…sometimes…some of them come back.  The ones that do are said to be braindead but generally harmless.  Ava is part of a clean up crew dealing with the bodies.  Her goal is to break quarantine and head to where her husband’s company held their work retreat.

First things first, We Bury the Dead’s zombie idea is awesome.  You’re left to question what exactly the creatures are capable of…though the authorities aren’t interested in finding out.  They put down any person who rises from the dead no questions asked.  There’s also the question of why only some have come back.  There’s a theory that is floated during Ava’s journey that is an interesting one.  It fits in with Ava’s ultimate quest as well.  She’s far more interested in what exactly is returning to life than anyone else seems to be.  The story presents some dangerous zombies…but also some that seem to have something more behind their eyes.  The difference appears to be time.  Making her desire to find what’s left of her husband a true priority.

She isn’t alone on the journey.  Sometimes that’s a good thing…sometimes it isn’t.  Like all zombie-like stories…the living are often more dangerous than the (un)dead.   Ava manages to break containment with the help of Clay (Brenton Thwaites) and a motorcycle they find while on clean up duty.  They eventually run into some trouble with whatever kind of law is left in a desolate wasteland.  The detour provides We Bury the Dead with two key elements.  It’s the furthest the story veers into true horror territory…and it sets up the film’s final choice.  There are moments of very effective horror imagery here…and a thoughtful approach to what these undead people truly are.  But that last choice…well…it won’t work for everyone.

The problem with We Bury the Dead’s final moments isn’t that they come out of left field.  There’s a quiet and slow reveal of Ava’s life before the tragedy.  We see the highs and lows of her relationship with her husband.  We also see what drove them to some big marital issues.  The problem is that We Bury the Dead doesn’t feel like it is heading where it ultimately does. 

Ava’s journey feels like it is about closure with her husband.  The story does a clever job with that, by the way.  But then it has to find a way to end.  Literally, how do we end this movie?  I thought it was going to cut to black a couple of times before it made its final choice.  Any of those imaginary endings would have felt purposefully unfulfilling.  But they would have fit the journey better.  Instead, We Bury the Dead ends up settling on an idea that isn’t new to the genre…but lands far flatter than I’m sure they had hoped.

It’s not a deal breaker by any means.  While the final image of a film is very important, it can’t undo all the good that came before it.  Honestly, it’s not even a bad ending.  Just one that doesn’t feel like the right one for this story…even as it tries to set up enough to earn it.  What’s worth watching in We Bury the Dead is the care that the story puts into making a zombie movie outbreak feel fresh.  There are some genuinely interesting ideas here.  Scenes that utilize the mystery of these returns are a highlight.  The few that use them for more traditional horror moments work too.  At the center of it all is Ridley.  She gives a great performance that grounds some heightened events in a way that help them land.

As the first major release of 2026, We Bury the Dead sets an interesting bar for the rest of the year.  This is a thoughtful and, at times, fascinating zombie movie.  The personal journey at the center of it all gets a jolt from a fine performance.  If you walk away from the ending feeling like it was a good way to go out…you might find this to be the first great movie of 2026.  If you don’t…it’s the first good one.  That’s not a bad way to start.

Scare Value

Most of We Bury the Dead works very well. It’s hitting some of the zombie beats we know…but it is hitting them in some interesting ways. I started to wonder how they were going to find a satisfying ending to the whole thing. The answer is that it really doesn’t. The ending it chooses is an idea that the zombie genre has played with before…and it feels like a fit for what we’ve seen of the world. But it also feels strangely detached from the rest of the story. It pays off a part of Ava’s backstory…but not the part the majority of the journey has been interested in.

3/5

We Bury the Dead Link

In theaters January 2. Buy tickets on Fandango

We Bury the Dead Trailer