A first trailer has been revealed for the upcoming zombie movie We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, starring Daisy Ridley of Star Wars fame. Directed by Zak Hilditch and also starring Brenton Thwaites, We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ follows Ava (Ridley), a woman who joins a “body retrieval unit” following a cataclysmic event, while on a mission to find her husband.
However, her team faces a new threat when some bodies rise from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. Since the end of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Ridley has been trying out various new projects, including the psychological thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter and the sports biopic Young Woman and the Sea. Thwaites has a similar action background, having starred in Pirates of the Caribbean and тιтans.
Hilditch is known for the under-the-radar but well-reviewed thriller/horror films These Final Hours and 1922. We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ premiered at the SXSW Film & TV Festival this March and earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 89%, aggregated from 19 reviews. Its theatrical release date is now confirmed to be January 2, 2026. Check out the teaser trailer for We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Below:
What This Means For We Bury The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ
We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ‘s trailer advertises it as a subversive contemporary zombie movie, a difficult subgenre right now, as it means having to compete with the recent hit 28 Years Later, the sequel to which is also coming out in January. We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at least comes out first, so it will have the box office to itself for a couple of weeks before 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple takes over.
On the other hand, reviews say that We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ is another good exploration of what happens to humanity in this kind of fallout. The trailer suggests that the emotional stakes revolve around Ava’s love for her husband, while she fights to survive long enough to reunite with him. Additionally, how this movie depicts the zombie outbreak starting has haunting implications.
Grant Hermanns reviewed We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ for ScreenRant and also praised it, complimenting both Ridley and Thwaites’ performances and stating that it is a “modest” take that handles the relevant zombie tropes well. Thus, We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ could turn out to be one of Daisy Ridley’s best movies after all.
Our Take On We Bury The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ’s Trailer
It might be possible for this movie to benefit from coming out the same month as The Bone Temple, though it would be difficult to advertise it being something to pᴀss the time until the more high-profile project is released. However, with a chilling trailer in hand, We Bury the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ could just invest in a straightforward, strong marketing campaign and go on to become a sleeper hit.