We Bury the Dead – Review

This slower paced romp through The Outback provides a more dramatic and thoughtful take on zombies. It will certainly not fit everyone’s ideal take on the undead, but at the very least it is full of some fine performances and some okay ideas. While viewers appear divisive on the film, it’s worth checking out if you have patience.

Before the “event,” Ava (Ridley) and Mitch Newman (Whelan) were married, going through ups and downs as couples do. Then, Mitch is sent to Tasmania for a business retreat. Normally this would not be a major issue, however unfortunately during his trip the U.S. military had an accidental deployment of an experimental weapon off the coast killed all life on the island.  The device was some kind of extreme EMP pulse, and the people hit supposedly did not feel anything and drifted off to sleep.

The catastrophic neural failure of all living beings was a total disaster. However… strangely, some of the dead have “woken up.” Not much is known about these re-animated dead, or what makes them different from the people who simply perished in the blast. Brain function appears minimal, and interacting with these newly alive again is not all that possible.

Ava joins up with the Body Retrieval Unit of the Australian Military which looks to help clean up the chaos of the blast. She aims to get to the southern city of Hobart, where Mitch was, however the army is not headed that far down yet. She gets to join unit 209, but only can help with disaster victim identification. She hopes that her husband will be one of the rare circumstances observed with some form of activity and unusual behaviors. How many have come back is unknown and why is not understood at all.

For me, I liked more than I didn’t about this one, and did not mind the pacing. Ridley’s performance was quite strong, and helped give credence to the somehow “realistic” world that the script built. While she is the highest point of the film, the somber atmosphere wasn’t too bad and feels possible, considering the subject material. While the setup may be more interesting than the follow through, some scenes provide a nice bout of tension and there is some teeth grinding horror.

The film is more drama than horror, and touches on some emotional resonance and life tragedies instead of featuring grisly zombie action. I found its mix intriguing though wished for a bit more on the story side to really give it some sentimental heft. It does give some to think about in the world it has created, but some of the ideas introduced are only touched upon, and more exploration would have been okay too.