Review: 'One Cut of the Dead' is a Ridiculously Good Time

Spoiler Free

Early this year, Shudder acquired the U.S. rights to Shin’ichirô Ueda’s zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead. The film was originally released in 2017 and first made waves during its festival tours. But now is finally making its way to U.S. audiences. We recently had a chance to watch this hilarious and smart genre-bending film. Here is our spoiler free review!

One Cut of the Dead stars Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama, and Harumi Shuhama. The story follows a director (Hamatsu) and film crew as they film a low budget zombie movie. While filming at a WWII Japanese facility, real zombies show up and things go off the rails. The crew and actors must fight their way out to avoid being a snack.

Anything but Dead

The first 37 minutes you’ll wonder what you’ve gotten into. The opening of the film is grainy, shaky, and has a found footage feel. But have no fear, there will be blood, and zombies. With enough practical effects to satisfy any fan of low budget horror. Also If you enjoy fun cinematic elements, you’ll enjoy that this sequence is shot entirely in one take.

The next 59 minutes you’ll be happy you stuck with the film. The real joy comes when you start to realize how everything fits together in hilarious ways. You’ll be surprised as this film takes a turn into yet another genre at the end. Just for clarity, this film is not a straight forward horror film, nor is it a classic comedy. It rests somewhere perfectly in the middle.

This horror-comedy succeeds with its fast paced narrative and comedic details. It is a must see for any budding filmmaker and fans of horror-comedies. Watch it the first time for fun, and then watch it again to admire its brilliance in continuity. This ridiculously fun movie isn’t what I expected at first. However, I highly recommend it for all fans of horror, comedy and precision filmmaking.

Shudder will release One Cut of the Dead theatrically beginning on September 14 in NY and LA. After that, it will be released in select cities for one night only on September 17. Get your tickets here. You can check out the trailer below but we recommend you don’t. It’s way more fun! Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror!