Our take
Another indie zombie movie? Far from it. One Cut of the Dead, written and directed by Shin’ichirô Ueda, became a global sensation following its small theatrical run in Japan for its creative and original screenplay. A hack director and film crew are shooting a low-budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility when they are attacked by real zombies. That’s all you need to know about the plot, as the film is full of surprises that will catch you off guard. Wondering how an independent film with a budget of just $25,000 was able to gross over $30 million worldwide? The answer lies in the film itself.
The story
Real zombies arrive and terrorize the crew of a zombie film being shot in an abandoned warehouse, said to be the site of military experiments on humans.
Elsewhere
"A genuinely clever and loving tribute to cinema at its most homemade."
— Michael Leader
"Drunk on its own DIY energy and deeply in love with everything it's doing, One Cut of the Dead is a euphoric ode to the chaos (and compromises) of genre filmmaking."
— David Ehrlich
The details
Who picked it
Sonia Botsarova is a film and culture writer who explores the intersections between cinema and geography in her work on A Reel Trip and Medium. Her writing focuses on world cinema, with particular interest in the cinemas of Central Asia and underrepresented regions.
