Movie Review: One Cut of the Dead (2018)

Alright, time for another Month of Spooks review. And what would a month long horror binge be without something zombie-related? I mean, it’d probably still work, but it’s nice to cover all bases, ya know.

Ladies, gents, and non-binaries… “One Cut of the Dead”.

Somewhere in Japan, an independent film crew are shooting a low budget zombie feature. This venture takes a dire turn however when real zombies stumble into the set to wreak bloody havoc. And from this point, “One Cut of the Dead” provides one of the most clever and entertaining narratives I’ve seen in a while. It’s a funny and fiendishly smart tale filled with heart that, using horror as an ode to filmmaking, cinema, and the little guy. What also adds so much is that it’s meta without being smug, aware and audience-winking without making you feel like you’re being talked down to. And I found it all to be so much fun and highly engaging. It’s also very hard to talk about this story without revealing too much, so I’m gonna cut this segment here.

The characters in this are all so wonderfully written, with a lot of little nuances to them that make them so entertaining to follow. They perfectly ride the line between feeling real and theatrical, making for some believable and fascinating developments. The cast are great too. Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama, Harumi Shuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Manabu Hosoi, and more, all kill it.

The music for the movie was composed by Shoma Ito, Kyle Nagai, and Nobuhiro Suzuki, and it’s just so much fun. Highly energetic and filled with a strong can-do drive, it has this way of creating a really fun and wonderfully kinetic feel that gives the proceedings a real strong vibe that just works incredibly well for the movie.

Inspired by a play by Ryoichi Wada, “One Cut of the Dead” was written, edited, and directed by Shinichiro Ueda, and I have to say that he killed it. His filmmaking style isn’t necessarily flashy, but there’s a clear passion for what he’s doing that makes his direction stick out. Much like its story and characters, it’s both grounded and a bit theatrical, which keeps it feeling snappy and engaging. Speaking of which, considering the meager $25,000 dollar budget, it’s impressive to see a few of the things they pull off here. It’s pure passion and effort and I salute Ueda-san and his crew.

This movie’s been really well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 100% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 86/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7.6/10.

“One Cut of the Dead” is a stellar and really clever horror-comedy. It has a great story, really good characters, great performances, really good music, and great directing. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “One Cut of the Dead” is a 9.77/10. So it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “One Cut of the Dead” is now completed.

The Japanese film industry is two for two this Month of Spooks. Rad.