Episode 310: We Bury the Dead (2026)

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I have been waiting for this one for a year. Or so it seems. It has certainly taken its sweet ass time in coming but finally I get to cross off Daisy Ridley's We Bury The Dead.

The story follows American Ava (Ridley) as she heads to Tasmania after a US weapon of mass destruction accidentally wipes out the entire population of half a million people. Ridley's husband Mitch was there for a work thing, and she wants to find him/his body.

We learn though, as she is volunteers with thousands of others to identify and retrieve the dead that some of them are coming back. And we do see them. Although the are tragic grey skinned, opaque eyed hollow people, grinding their teeth into sharp splinters.

The military are overseeing the whole thing and the returned, the undead, are immediately and ruthlessly dealt with.

Enter Brenton Thwaites' Clay, a bit of a loser, and so far away from the clean cut, pretty boy US roles he is famous for (Teen Titans, Office Uprising, Ghosts of War) you have to double take to see the unkempt, long greasy hair and swearing Aussie is him. Clay offers to take her to the other side of the island, 200 miles, to where Mitch was at the time of the tragedy.

And so this becomes a road movie, interspersed with flashbacks to Ava and Mitch's troubled marriage, right through the payoff at the end.

It is quite haunting, but not the Australian 28 Days Later that some of the trailers hinted at. A sad story about her and him. A story of loss before and after death. Moments of the Schwarzenegger Maggie. Scary moments. Don't get me wrong. Mark Coles Smith from Beast of War, was truly scary as Riley. It will stay with you. But those wanting a bloody, zombie fest will be disappointed.

I liked it though, and given this is my podcast, I score it 6.5/10. Well done all.