Zombie films often hinge on spectacle, but <em>We Bury the Dead</em> is far more interested in erosion — of trust, safety, and of the stories people tell themselves when the truth becomes unbearable. Written and directed by Zak Hilditch, the upcoming thriller places grief and denial at the center of its apocalypse, following a woman who learns that survival depends on seeing past official assurances before they become fatal. Collider is thrilled to exclusively reveal a new image of Daisy Ridley in the film, which opens in theaters on January 2, 2026.

In We Bury The Dead, Ridley stars as Ava, a woman who enters a military-controlled quarantine zone in search of her missing husband after a catastrophic disaster reshapes the world overnight. Authorities insist the reanimated dead are slow, manageable, and no longer a serious threat, framing containment as compassion and restraint as mercy. What Ava uncovers inside the zone tells a very different story. Rather than remaining static, the undead in We Bury the Dead are evolving. They are growing more aggressive, more coordinated, and more dangerous with every passing hour. The promise of safety offered by the military is revealed to be less about protection and more about control, leaving Ava to navigate not only physical danger but the moral cost of believing a lie long enough for it to become lethal.

Ridley on the Physical Terror of Facing the Undead

In a recent interview with Collider’s Maggie Lovitt, Ridley spoke about how confronting the film’s version of zombies proved more frightening than she anticipated, even with choreography and safety measures in place.

“Oh yeah, when he runs after me, that was properly scary. He was running at full pelt and he was so fast. I knew he was darting back and forth behind me, and that scramble, the everything, even though it’s choreographed, there’s still that moment of, ‘Oh my God.’ The prosthetics are so incredible, and adrenaline makes you do strange things. It’s supposed to be scrappy, but you’re contending with all this other stuff at the same time.”

That emphasis on speed and unpredictability marks a shift from traditional zombie storytelling. These are not slow-moving obstacles to be outpaced or outsmarted: they are active threats that force constant motion, split-second decisions, and raw physical exhaustion. Ridley even noted that despite having played a zombie herself earlier in her career, nothing quite compares to being chased by one that refuses to slow down. Produced by Kelvin Munro, Grant Sputore, Ross M. Dinerstein, Joshua Harris, and Mark Fasano, We Bury the Dead also stars Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith, and Matt Whelan.

We Bury the Dead arrives in theaters January 2, 2026.

Here you can find the original article; the photos and images used in our article also come from this source. We are not their authors; they have been used solely for informational purposes with proper attribution to their original source.[/nospin]

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