Coushatta LaRue

We Bury the Dead is a thriller following Ava, who searches for her husband in Tasmania after a catastrophic, American-led military exercise turns residents into the walking dead.

“I noticed a pattern with ones like him. The longer they go on, the more agitated they become.”

We Bury the Dead! Another movie I saw clips of on YouTube reels! And boy, was I excited! If you know me, then you know that I love zombies. Anything “end of the world” is something I obsess over. So, I was excited about this new undead movie and honestly got something a bit different than what I thought I was getting into. And that wasn’t a bad thing, actually!

SPOILERS AHEAD

“I saw a guy covered in fuckin’ motor oil who just came back from the dead.”

We start off with a beautiful couple at their wedding, and quickly things go upside down. We get the reveal of what has happened very fast. It isn’t a worldwide breakout but one on an island. The deaths of hundreds are caused by an accidental detonation of an experimental electromagnetic pulse weapon by the US military off the coast of Tasmania. Apparently, the device causes instant, widespread neural failure (brain death) in residents, BUT some of the deceased start to slowly come back.

I was shocked that we got to learn the origins of the outbreak so quickly. Normally you have to wait the whole movie for the truth, or you never get it at all. Both are very okay, but this was refreshing. Knowing the truth at the start made me more interested. I wanted to see what actually happened, the people, and what they had been through.

But first, we find ourselves back with the bride from earlier. Ava is clearly heartbroken, and we find out her husband was on the island when the accident happened. She is desperate to find him, but first she has to get onto the island. Luckily, people can sign up to help clean up. Clean up the bodies, that is…
I, for one, would not be able to clean up bodies. Especially these bodies that are rotting with a strange sickness to them. Their faces are drained of life with red streaks and blood dripping from their noses. Eek.

“You might’ve signed up to this to find your hubby, but I want to make a difference. My country needs me. The dead need me. I’m just fucking with you.”

Ava is on a mission, though. Even though she is upset by the bodies she must move, she handles it pretty well. On the island, the first person she partners with acts all tough until she sees dead children and bails very quickly. But with each dead body Ava pulls out, the more nervous and desperate she gets. When she explains her plan to find her husband to her new partner, she is brushed off. He thinks her plan is madness.

The movie is slow-going, but the pacing brings an ominous, dreadful tension that stays with you the whole time. You just don’t know what will happen next. They have been told some of the dead are coming back, and when it happens to Ava for the first time, it is a chilling experience. With the undead half-hidden in a car shop, his dark, bloodied eyes stare at Ava as if he wants to ask her a question.

It brings goosebumps to my arms. I am not sure if he will run at her or jump or what. But these undead are different than anything I’ve seen before. They aren’t mad, vicious, brain-eating zombies. No. They are calm, passive, and almost as if they are normal but very confused.

The scariest part about them is the mystery of what they could do next. You know deep down they aren’t going to stay still forever. And the teeth grinding… OH MY GOSH. The sound was so unbearable, but it showed the pain and the madness inside those dead eyes. That teeth-grinding sound freaked me out and is honestly something I hadn’t heard in other movies, but I loved it. I think more zombie movies should do the teeth grinding. It is uncomfortable and unnerving.

“If you’re hungry, you’ll eat anything.”

This gives Ava a different kind of hope. What if he came back, too? She wonders, “What if Mitch is like that?” But Clay, her partner, asks the question: “Then what?”

There is a deep, painful silence because he is right. Then what? We are slowly seeing these undead become more lively with their movements, and we just know things will get worse. Ava is swallowed by loss and hopeless thoughts. But she keeps on and comes up with a plan to leave, and luckily, Clay agrees to help.

Obviously, this is a bad plan. First, no weapons. Second, they have to go through a burning city. Third, the dead are coming back? Hello? Be more scared!

I enjoyed this part of the movie, just traveling through dead lands and seeing how the accident hit everyone. There are cars full of the dead along the roads and even an airplane scattered about. In the burning city, we see a very creepy undead following them with no legs. I wondered, “What will it do if it gets to them?”

Closer to their location, Clay and Ava try to relax a bit and become closer. Yet, they still seem a bit distant from one another, as if they are too scared to tell all just in case they lose one another. Now we have a “real” zombie appear. It is a sickening sight of rotting flesh that has blood oozing from every opening. The teeth grinding! Oh, the grinding! It is horrifying.

Now it is clear this undead has become violent, and it runs at them. They are pretty much deer in the headlights, and the whole time I’m screaming, “RUN, THERE IS A DOOR RIGHT THERE!” But nope, they just stand there petrified. Honestly, I probably would have done the same thing.

With a headshot, it is taken down by a new character, a lone army man. Right off the bat, I didn’t trust him. Something was off about him. Why is he by himself?

The moment he locks Ava in that room, my fear for her shot up. I knew this was going to be the moment we find out that HUMANS are the worst monsters of them all. After some time, he comes back and says Clay has run off, and I didn’t believe him. I was sure he killed him to keep Ava.

The movie takes a turn into a different type of story. A nightmare. It is clear this army guy is off his rocker, and he takes her to a creepy house in the middle of nowhere. He tries to have a normal conversation with her over a candlelit dinner, but she is clearly not having it. And then, that’s when we find out the truth of what he wants…

“You want to know why only some of them come back? It’s ’cause they’re the ones with unfinished business.”

Who knew the undead wouldn’t be the scariest thing?

His wife died in the accident and, even worse, she was pregnant. He isn’t taking it well. I get it. The love of your life is gone, along with your child. But this guy has snapped. He wants Ava to act like his wife and have one last “dance” with him. My gut was twisting at this part. I kept worrying something horrible would happen to her and wishing the zombies would just appear.

Of course, she doesn’t please him because she refuses to wear his wife’s wedding ring. They fight and she runs to hide. We find that he is chaining the dead in the barn and keeping his dead, pregnant wife in a bedroom upstairs. It seems he is keeping track of their behavior. I actually found this interesting. He wants his wife back and believes she will come back because he can hear the baby’s heartbeat.

It seems he knows this by experimenting on these other undead victims. I actually wanted to see more of his writings and studies.
But we are taken out of the barn when Ava realizes she has to face this crazed man if she is going to survive. She agrees to another day, but unfortunately, she already ruined it. So, instead of even trying to see what he will do to her, she stabs him in the neck with scissors and escapes.

Out of the whole movie, this part scared me the most. There is something just horrifying about being trapped by a human. At least with the dead, you know they just want to be violent and probably eat your brains. Humans? You have no idea, and that is haunting.

We follow Ava on her journey and soon she is walking, which is where we get our first chase scene. A zombie sneaks up on her and, though she has an axe, she falls just like in any other horror movie! She drops the axe but tries to get away in a bus. It follows and this thing is pissed. But she is able to get away and kill it, realizing that the army man was right: they are turning more violent. What does this mean for her Mitch?

We finally find the retreat he was in, and everyone is dead. I don’t know why I thought maybe he would be alive, but I did. Unfortunately, he is dead. Her heart is broken until she realizes he was cheating on her. Everything changes at that point, and you can see her getting over it all so quickly, as if none of it mattered anymore. Her breakdown was heartbreaking, and the actress did a wonderful job.

Eventually, Clay is back and she tells the truth. They had started fighting because they weren’t able to get pregnant. She cheated and begged him to stay, and then he left. But we are left wondering if he had been cheating the whole time? Clay has a kid, but the mother thinks he is a lost cause. The duo drinks and swims and they have a great time. But they are interrupted by a zombie who gets taken down by Ava. And I mean taken down! She beats his head in, and it even makes Clay nervous.

“Well… nothing to report? No unfinished business? Here I am.”

I thought the movie would end here, but it doesn’t. They drive on and find the crazy army man’s wife! But she isn’t pregnant anymore, and Ava realizes this. The pregnant zombie doesn’t say anything, just more teeth grinding. But somehow, Ava understands. As the zombie mother walks away, we hear crying and find her newborn on the rocks. The baby is normal and healthy and safe in Ava’s arms.

The movie ends but leaves me with questions. Why are the dead coming back? Did Mitch cheat before this all happened? Why didn’t the baby die? Or did it die and just come back when the mother did? Then why wasn’t it infected? Will all the undead become violent or just some? It seemed some were clearly still “there,” just a bit lost.

The movie is a bit slow, but it’s such a good slow burn. The acting is wonderful, as are the scenery and the music. Between the suspenseful “what ifs” and the heart-wrenching story of loss and moving on, it really delivers. I think some people won’t like this movie because it isn’t a typical zombie-chasing movie. It is a story of sorrow and wonder, not hunger and thirst.

Honestly, I loved it! I give it four stars! I highly recommend watching it, because I sure will watch it again.

Find my book with the link below!

Find my book Souille here!

“Souille is a riveting novella that artfully blends elements of horror and science fiction to craft a high-stakes adventure that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. When Natalie’s life is thrown into chaos after a terrible hurricane leaves her hometown in ruins, she’s thrust into a deadly face-off against strange and malicious entities in her desperate struggle for survival.”