WRITER & DIRECTOR
Zak Hilditch
Rattlesnake, 1922, These Final Hours

STARS
Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites and Mark Coles Smith

One of the most excellent and underrated apocalyptic dramatic thrillers I have ever seen is These Final Hours, an Australian release from 2013 also written and directed by Zak Hilditch. This gripping work of fiction is the sole reason I could not refuse the opportunity to watch and review this Australian-made horror movie.

The premise in We Bury the Dead is intriguingly apocalyptic and stars English-born Daisy Ridley (the latest Star Wars trilogy, Murder on the Orient Express) as Ava, an American who arrives in Tasmania, Australia soon after a U.S military experiment conducted off the coast of the state capital ends in disaster, killing all 500,000 inhabitants. Outside of the immediate impact zone, the remainder of the Tasmanian population, simply called ‘victims’, are suffering from ‘neurological failure’. They are of course essentially dead, but more and more victims are starting to show signs of activity and are in a zombie-like state. Ava teams up with Clay (Brenton Thwaites) who she meets while volunteering for body retrieval and the two go in search of Ava’s husband, who was attending a work retreat outside of the city at the time of the incident.

After its attention-diverting opening, We Bury the Dead only sporadically comes to life showcasing a handful of appealing ideas and executing a smaller number of them. While it might be unfair to compare We Bury the Dead with other apocalyptic horror films featuring zombies/zombie-like beings due to the (presumed) buffer in budget most other movies are granted, it is quite inevitable to assess anything new this adds to the popular genre and a more modest budget does not minimise success. One of the most standout examples of achieving all-round excellence with leaner financing is 2004 hit Shaun of the Dead. Other zombie apocalypse films that come to mind are 2007s I Am Legend and 2013s World War Z. Why am I mentioning these specific movies? Each of them brought originality, in some form, to their premise, embedded this into the genre and maintained the aspects that made them somewhat unique (and great!) throughout the core of the films. For me, this is precisely where We Bury the Dead falls well short.

The physical appearance and sounds of the ‘victims’ are neither unique nor particularly threatening. They don’t possess much screen time either and when they do appear, they look confused above all else and make a dreadful sound with their jaw that sounds like an exaggerated version of me having a bad TMJ day! There aren’t any attempts at humour from them either, though We Bury the Dead could definitely benefit from more one-liners such as “Go be a dead c*** elsewhere”, as spoken by Clay! When the film introduces a new character, Riley (Mark Coles Smith), it does again become more intriguing as it was during the opening, but like the rest of the film, the development of the story is too stagnant and far too much idle banter dominates the script. One of We Bury the Dead’s finest moments is when it visually illustrates its post-apocalyptic world, albeit this is scarcely seen. To end on a more complimentary note, one thing it isn’t lacking throughout is substance and some depth in characterisation, with the ending in particular emphasising that.

We Bury the Dead is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from February 4th, 2026.

Moviedoc thanks Umbrella for providing a screener link to watch and review this film. 

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

LIKE on Facebook – @moviedoc13 / Follow on Instagram – moviedoc_melbourne

©