Vertical Nabs Domestic Rights to Daisy Ridley’s Post-Apocalyptic Thriller ‘We Bury the Dead’

Ahead of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Vertical has acquired North American rights to post-apocalyptic thriller “We Bury the Dead.” The film stars Daisy Ridley (“Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”), Brenton Thwaites (“Titans”), Mark Coles Smith (“Mystery Road: Origin”), and Matt Whelan (“Narcos”).

Written and directed by Australian filmmaker Zak Hilditch (“1922,” “These Final Hours”), the story unfolds after a catastrophic American military experiment results in mass casualties across Tasmania. Ava (Ridley) joins a body retrieval unit to help identify the dead and search for her husband on the southern part of the island. As Ava makes her way south, across the ravaged landscape, she soon learns that some of the victims of the disaster are coming back to life.

The film most recently screened on closing night of the Atlanta Film Festival, and previously screened to great critical acclaim at SXSW 2025 and the Adelaide Film Festival.

“’We Bury The Dead’ has been a true labor of love since day one from everyone involved and it’s been great seeing the responses to the film so far. I can’t wait for a wider audience to experience the film on the big screen across North America,” Hilditch said in a statement.

Daisy Ridley added: “Zak has created a unique, terrifying tale about the undead and how far the living will go to reunite with their loved ones. I was thrilled to be part of bringing this nightmare to life and I can’t wait to share the movie with the world.”

Vertical Partner Peter Jarowey added: “With a great cast led by Daisy Ridley and Brenton Thwaites, Zak has re-energized the zombie genre with We Bury the Dead. Next year, North American audiences will be on the edge of their seats watching this post-apocalyptic thriller.”

“We Bury the Dead” is a Penguin Empire production in partnership with Campfire Studios. Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screenwest, Lotterywest and the WA Regional Screen Fund with production financing provided by Peachtree Media Partners.

The film was produced by Kelvin Munro, Grant Sputore, Ross M. Dinerstein, Joshua Harris, and Mark Fasano and is executive produced by Nathan Klingher, Ford Corbett, D.J. Jiang, Nicholas Erickson, Sean Fannan, Ari Novak, Lee Broda, Ari Harrison and Jeff Harrison.

The deal was negotiated by Jarowey and SVP of Acquisitions Tony Piantedosi on behalf of Vertical and by the UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.

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