Look up One Cut of the Dead and you’ll start to see glowing reports and described as a low-fi, B-movie zombie fest that has been praised as the best zombie comedy since Shaun of the Dead.
The opening shot is a one-take 37 minutes of balls-to-the-wall insanity. It’s a sight to behold that keeps you not only on the edge of the seat, but from a filmmaker’s perspective, gripped with amazement at just how much they manage to pack in and deliver a stunning piece of cinematography that hangs on some precise choreography to pull off. A huge hats off to director Shinichiro Ueda who not only has the audacity to execute such a stunt but also does it so effectively. What’s more is that isn’t the only trick up his sleeve throughout the film.

As the story unfolds, we witness a film cast and its crew shooting a zombie film in an abandoned warehouse, only to have real zombies attack them and in a way that is believable as they struggle to endure their ordeal by bumbling and fumbling there way around the one location. The actors are equally believable as they go from you’re average cast and crew to hardcore survivors of a post-apocalyptic zombie outbreak.

There are some moments that don’t sit right in your mind as it unfolds, particularly some quirky moments from the actor director who keeps popping up and taking advantage of the dire situation and forcing the undead onto his actors in order to get his vision captured with every ounce of reality involved.

There are also some incredibly awkward silences and the usual found footage trope of the cameraman who still manages to capture everything without being attacked by any zombies.

All these things have a purpose though as Ueda has his own vision in mind and plays another trick after the one-shot take has been played out. For that though it contains some spoilers. If you are keen to know more, scroll down below the image as I dissect a little further. 

Okay, the biggest trick that Udea pulls after satiate every horror fans dreams by pulling off an incredible battle for survival in the face of a zombie outbreak is to take the viewer back one month prior to the proceedings and reveals that none of this is actually real, but instead, part of a stunt organized by a new zombie channel as a marketing stunt to entice viewers to watch.

Before you throw yourself into knots and feel cheated on the premise, this film becomes so much more than a zombie flick as a result.

Instead, we are treated to a comedy drama about a disjointed family, struggling to make ends meet and forced to comply to the rules. There’s a genuine heartfelt connection that is played out in the lead up to shoot day bustling under the surface and its only when things go haywire on shoot day that they have to connect and pull off the unthinkable.

The actor director Higurashi is hired to direct the zombie shoot and is told that he must also do it live on the day. Of course everything that can go wrong, does go wrong and Higurashi scrambles with the crew and fights with all he can to get the picture done.

The journey is worth it too, as we are willing to let Udea take us behind the scenes from a dramatical point of view and provides a glimpse at what it takes to execute such a crazy shoot and the lengths that professionals will go to in the heat of a live shoot in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly. Hats off again to Udea’s crazed genre bending tale that not only delights but keeps you engaged throughout.

The Diagnosis:
For his debut, director Shinichiro Ueda manages to deliver a fun-ride of a movie, whilst shaking up the zombie comedy genre to great effect.
Fans of horror will delight in the reveal and filmmakers will applaud when the curtain is lifted. It’s a great piece of cinema and Ueda proves a versatile creative and a potential name to keep an eye out for down the track.

– Saul Muerte

Catch the screening of One Cut of the Dead at the Sydney Underground Film Festival.

Screening times and tickets available below:

Date	Time	Location	City	Special Events
27/10/2018	18:30	Event Cinemas Brisbane Myer Centre [Book now] POPULAR	Brisbane
02/11/2018	20:30	Event Cinemas Innaloo [Book now] POPULAR	Perth
15/11/2018	19:15	Event Cinemas George Street [Book now] POPULAR	Sydney	
24/11/2018	18:30	Event Cinemas George Street [Book now] SELLING FAST	Sydney
22/11/2018	19:00	ACMI [Book now] SELLING FAST	Melbourne	
30/11/2018	20:40	ACMI [Book now] POPULAR	Melbourne