January 2, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Zak Hilditch
Culture Representation: Taking place in Australia, the horror film “We Bury the Dead” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few indigenous people and black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: After a nuclear accident in Australia’s island state of Tasmania leaves about 500,000 people dead and turns other people into zombies, a physical therapist travels to Tasmania to find her husband and has unexpected encounters.
Culture Audience: “We Bury the Dead” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Daisy Ridley and zombie movies that are less about gore and more about the psychological impact of a zombie apocalypse.
“We Bury the Dead” is a different type of zombie apocalypse movie that is more about psychological effects for uninfected survivors than on gory action scenes. The movie has unanswered questions but interesting performances. “We Bury the Dead” will frustrate viewers who are expecting to see a lot of battle scenes between uninfected zombies and uninfected human survivors. The movie has some zombie/human fight scenes, but they are mostly one-on-one fights, and they don’t get a lot of screen time in “We Bury the Dead.”
Written and directed by Zak Hilditch, “We Bury the Dead” had its world premiere at the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The movie takes place mostly in Australia’s island state of Tasmania. “We Bury the Dead” was filmed in Australia’s Great Southern Region, particularly in the city of Albany.
“We Bury the Dead” begins by showing a flashback to the wedding of physical therapist Ava (played by Daisy Ridley) and renewable energy executive Mitch (played by Matt Whelan), who are both in their 30s. Ava is American. Mitch is Australian. Their wedding is a happy occasion, but these wedding scenes are interrupted by a present-day voiceover of Ava frantically leaving voice messages for Mitch.
“Tell me you’re okay,” Ava says while breathing heavily, as if she’s panicking. “I’m scared. I need you. I love you. I’ll keep trying.” It’s later revealed that Mitch and Ava do not have children, but they have been trying to start a family, with no luck.
News reports on TV show that Australia has recently experienced a disastrous tragedy: The U.S. military accidentally deployed an experimental weapon off of the coast of Tasmania the week before. About 500,000 people across Tasmania died as a result of this catastrophe. The city of Hobart was completely decimated. An untold number of other people are “undead” zombies.
Mitch had traveled to Tasmania for a business conference/retreat and was staying at a place called Enso Resort when the disaster happened. The resort, much like most of Tasmania, is now considered a disaster area, where there is no communication available through technology. Mitch is considered a missing person.
Ava is determined to find Mitch. And so, she travels by airplane to Tasmania, on a flight where many other loved ones of missing people are also taking this trip for similar reasons. The Australian government has a volunteer “body retrieval” program, where adult civilians go to Tasmania and get bodies that need to be buried or cremated. Ava has signed up for this volunteer program because it’s the best way to get access to areas that are otherwise off-limits to the general public.
When she gets to the check-in area for the body retrieval job, Ava mentions to a briefing colonel (played Kim Fleming) that Ava’s husband is missing in Tasmania. The colonel warns Ava that if Ava uses her work time to find Ava’s husband instead of retrieving bodies, then Ava will be sent home. Ava says she understands, but you can tell Ava doesn’t care about this warning because her main goal will still be to find Mitch.
Ava attends a very short orientation session with other new volunteers. A military official named Captain Vance (played by Dan Paris) informs the group that the stories that they might have heard are true: There are survivors in Tasmania who are walking around as if “the lights are on but nobody’s home.” He doesn’t use the word “zombie,” but his message is clear: Be on the lookout for these zombies. Ava also finds out that the longer these survivors are in a zombie state, the more aggressive and violent they get.
“We Bury the Dead” has a few flimsy plot holes that are not adequately addressed. The volunteers are given no real training on how to do body disposals and are not required to wear any safety gear (such as hazmat suits) and are not supplied with any weapons. It’s a very irresponsible for a government to put civilians (most of whom are untrained rescue workers) in this type of danger, when it’s still unknown what the hazards and side effects will be of disaster caused by a weapon of mass destruction. You don’t have to be scientist to know that the existence of zombies is proof that people have been infected.
In the beginning of the movie, “We Bury the Dead” makes a brief mention of the international political fallout of this disaster. A TV news report says that protests in Washington, D.C., have escalated. Pressure has reached a “fever pitch” from the United Nations and the Australian prime minister to hold the U.S. president accountable for this disaster. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense that the Australian government would put Australian residents in more jeopardy by starting a volunteer “body retrieval” program without giving the volunteer workers any common-sense protections.
Questionable government decisions aside, “We Bury the Dead” is mostly an intimate portrait of how this work affects Ava. The volunteer body retrievers are supposed to work with at least one partner. Ava’s first partner (played by Deanna Cooney), who doesn’t have a name in the movie, ends up quitting immediately because the job is more traumatic than she thought it would be, and she wants to go back home to her daughters.
Ava’s next partner is a roguish type named Clay (played by Brenton Thwaites), who takes a hardened and cynical approach to this type of work. Ava is more emotional and is more concerned about following safety protocol than Clay is. At first, Ava wears an optional gas mask on the job, but Clay mocks her for it. Ava, just like Clay, ends up wearing no safety gear. As for weapons to fight the violent zombies, Ava’s weapon of choice is an axe, which she finds on her own. Just like in other zombie movies, “We Bury the Dead” shows that zombies can be killed by blows to their heads.
It takes a while, but Clay and Ava eventually open up to each other about their closest relationships and why they decided to volunteer for this body retrieval job. But another shortcoming of the movie is reveals nothing about the families of Ava and Mitch. It’s possible that Ava and Mitch could be estranged from their families, but the movie doesn’t say either way.
“We Bury the Dead” does reveal some more information about what Ava and Mitch’s marriage was like before Mitch went on the business trip. The movie also shows if Clay agrees to help Ava find Mitch. During their time together, Ava and Clay encounter a lone military official named Riley Harris (played by Mark Coles Smith), who has an agenda of his own. Something to do with Riley’s personal life ends up being a factor in the movie’s climactic scene. This low-budget film has believable visual effects, as well as convincing makeup and hairstyling for the zombies.
“We Bury the Dead” is somewhat of a “buddy movie” that shows how two people with differences in their personalities and backgrounds can meet under unusual circumstances and learn to trust each other while working together. Thwaites is believable in his role as rebellious Clay. Ridley gives a fairly adequate performance that is slightly marred by her inconsistent speaking accent for this role. Ava is American, but Ridley (who is British in real life) sounds American or British in her portrayal of Ava. It’s a minor flaw that doesn’t ruin the movie, but it’s a distraction that could’ve been prevented with better direction.
One of the best aspects of “We Bury the Dead” is the visually artistic cinematography by Steve Annis. The movie skillfully conveys the dichotomy of being in an area with wide open spaces but still feel doom and claustrophobia of being stuck in this area because zombies can suddenly appear and attack. “We Bury the Dead” will bore or annoy people who expect the movie to be a more typical zombie film that has epic chases and fight scenes. But for people who are open to a more introspective look at surviving a zombie apocalypse, “We Bury the Dead” can be a satisfying movie experience.
Vertical released “We Bury the Dead” in U.S. cinemas on January 2, 2026. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on December 22, 2025.
