Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley is swapping a lightsaber for an axe for her first foray into the horror genre.
Ahead of its world premiere at Australia's Adelaide Film Festival this November, Variety has shared the first official stills from new zombie survival thriller We Bury The Dead.
Written and directed by Zak Hilditch (1922, These Final Hours, Rattlesnake), the movie stars Ridley as a woman named Ava who is searching for her husband in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment that has decimated the population of Tasmania.
Ava joins a “body retrieval unit” in a desperate attempt to find out what happened to her husband, and ends up being tasked with burying the corpses. However, she soon comes to realize that some of the bodies aren't quite as dead as they should be.
Seemingly unfazed by the emerging supernatural threat, Ava takes up an axe and begins to dispose of the undead while being “forced to make peace with her own unfinished business in the face of futility.”
“Having Daisy play the role of Ava is an absolute dream come true. She embodies the perfect mix of vulnerability, grit, and determination that Ava exudes throughout the film,” said Hilditch of Ridley's performance in a recent interview.
Check out the stills at the link below, and keep an eye out for the first trailer, which should be with us any day now.
Ridley recently starred in The Marsh King’s Daughter and Young Woman and the Sea, as well as Sometimes I Think About Dying. She is set to return as Rey in a new Star Wars movie set 15 years after the sequel trilogy, which Variety refers to as New Jedi Order (whether this will be the official title remains to be seen).
We Bury The Dead was filmed within the space of one month in Albany, Western Australia. The cast also includes Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road: Origin) Brenton Thwaites (Titans) Kym Jackson, Matt Whelan, Deanna Cooney, and Holly Hargreaves. The project reunites Hilditch with Ross Dinerstein, the producer of the Netflix rom-com Players starring Gina Rodriguez. Other producers include The Penguin Empire’s Kelvin Munro and Grant Sputore.
"Ava Newman (Daisy Ridley), a desperate woman, searches for her husband in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment. Hoping to find him alive, Ava joins a body retrieval unit, but her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses she's burying start showing signs of life."