“Is it true, what they’re saying?” 

Genre: Meditative Apocalypses
Release Date: 2026 (streaming/wide) 2024 (SXSW)
Where I Watched: Hulu

Gist: An “accidental deployment” of a strange new American weapon causes the southern areas of Tasmania to be destroyed, and the rest of the population are rendered brain dead. But soon the military is saying that some of the dead are coming “back online”, but that shouldn’t be a problem for the cleanup crew volunteers. One volunteer in particular, Ava, comes from America to help, and to try to find her husband. But he was in the main blast zone. So she’s out of luck, right? Of course. Of COURSE.

Gotta say: This one was marketed as a zombie movie. But to be more specific? Dead is a tragic drama that happens to have zombies in it. That doesn’t make it less spooky, but be prepared for more grief, and less gore.

That said, the makeup and bloody FX are excellent. The undead are bloody, eyes often red and/or bulging, with the creepy gnashing and grinding of their teeth adding an additional creepy feel to the goings on.

The undead are first all but immobile, but quickly become aggressive. And just because they’re lying down doesn’t mean they won’t wake up. And several do, though there’s a serious lack of zombie-on-human violence here. Probably because the story quickly moves our hero Ava away from the cleanup crew and into a one woman traveling band, on her way to find her hubby.

Daisy Ridley balances doe eyed ignorance of her surroundings with steely determination. As the film plays out, we find out the reason why she’s particularly intent on finding him, and her coming to terms with her life as it is now is maybe a bit too easy. But it is understandable, after all she’d been through to come to that.

There are a few other characters here, but it’s Daisy’s Ava the film focuses on. Her travel buddy Clay is similarly burdened with his own issues. Soldier Riley is a lone man in the danger zone, and he seems to like it that way.

The story wraps up a bit too nicely, but after the long slog Ava’s put through, I understand why writer/director Zak Hilditch decided to give the story a glimmer of hope. I’d have liked to have had more information about the undead and their variations, though. That extra information would have made that final scene more powerful, and less tropey. As it stands though, it’s a bleak, moving film that’s one of the more realistic views of a zombie “apocalypse” that’s come around lately.

Dead would make a a great double feature with Aussie flick These Final Hours. Even though Hours isn’t a zombie flick, the grim apocalyptic vibe, and the similar themes, mesh well. Just play Dead as the second film, for a tiny touch of hope after all that gloom.

Come for: Zombies!
Stay for:  A meditation on grief and letting go.