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When it comes to the zombie genre, Asia as a whole has continually managed to keep it relevant for horror fans who have checked out thanks to the popularity of The Walking Dead. To be honest, it’s not just TWD’s fault; it’s just the fact that the US just really hasn’t turned out a decent zombie flick in almost a decade, and you don’t need a better example of what is possible than Shinichiro Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead. The film’s concept alone is proof there is still some life still left in its rotting corpse with its mash-up of genres and how it seamlessly melds them together. Its best to know as little as possible going into One Cut of the Dead, but for those who are a bit wary and want to know more before checking it out, read on.
As the title suggests, the film begins with a single take low budget zombie short, as a crew of filmmakers shooting in an abandoned water filtration station are besieged by zombies. We quickly find this is thanks to the director, who wanted to add a new level of realism to his no budget zombie film, so he cast a spell to invoke the undead at the plant. After that narrative comes to a rather nihilistic conclusion, the film then shifts gears to give us a fictionalized behind the scenes account of just exactly what manufactured what we saw in the first 36 minutes. It all starts when a hapless young director, Higurashi (Takayuki Hamatsu), who is known for his “fast, cheap, and average” directing style, is tasked with making a zombie film in one take that will be broadcast live as it plays out on the Zombie Channel. This narrative then somehow morphs from there into this heartwarming comedy as the nightmarish production unites the director and his estranged family as they band together to conquer filming the short.
One Cut of the Dead is a surprisingly complex story, encapsulating three narratives. The first is the one take film at the beginning; then you have the back story on how it came to be; and finally you have the insanity that transpired during the single take. You can make it four if you decide count the end credits wrap-up credit sequence that shows a montage of the real behind the scenes of the single take film and how its flaws were manufactured for the narrative to weave in and out of. But it’s that first 30 minutes that mesmerizes you in your seat, with its impressive camera choreography and ingenuity to pull off what it does in its frantic style in a single continuous shot. The rest of the film, while more by the numbers, is still a fascinating peek behind the scenes of the no budget short, in a story that’s instantly relatable to almost anyone who has ever wanted to make a low budget horror film.
Needless to say, for the ensemble here to even pull off the first piece of filmmaking is pretty phenomenal considering it’s not just memorizing lines, but the choreography and timing to make this all work. The actors here also manage to almost perfectly maneuver from genre to genre as the film goes from horror, to comedy, to heartwarming family drama. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster that sucked me in from start to finish and had me cheering the director and his family on in their mission to pull this film off. This was even though I knew they would, thanks to the beginning of the film. One Cut of the Dead is easily an instant genre classic that renews my hope for zombie films with its triumphant story of one family united in their struggle against the undead.