Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
We like to use this miniseries to highlight some of the best, maybe overlooked, films from the previous year, but One Cut of the Dead poses a pretty unique challenge in that regard.
You see… One Cut of the Dead is built around a… well, see, even alluding to it might be enough to spoil the fun for someone who would otherwise enjoy going in completely blind.
Let’s say this: One Cut of the Dead, directed by Shin’ichirô Ueda, opens with an approximately 40-minute unbroken shot depicting a hapless film crew being attacked by zombies when they make the terrible mistake of filming their no-budget horror movie on haunted grounds.
When the film finally cuts… things change.
We asked our guests this week to give their unfiltered opinions on the film as a whole, while the Cinapse team took a more coy approach to whet your appetite. (Fear not, we’ll tell you when the spoilers are coming).
Next Week’s Pick
Our FYC series continues with perhaps last year’s most intimate superhero epic: Fast Color, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. How much did we collectively love this film? It handily won the Genre Breakout category of our Cinapse Awards!
Fast Color is available to stream via Amazon Prime!
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
The Team (Spoiler Free)
I’ve talked about my love for this film before, so let me instead tell a little story of my own.
Like Messr. Wilden, I too sat a buddy down to watch this one, reassuring my compadre (who does not love horror movies and especially does not love zombie movies) that despite the everything about the look and feel of the movie, One Cut of the Dead was absolutely worth his time.
The moment when Ueda springs his mouse-trap into action, when all the careful set-up starts paying off in sublime comic chaos, we had to pause the movie he was laughing so hard. I knew to pause because the exact same moment sent me into hysterics when I first watched it. One Cut of the Dead pulls off one of the best narrative gambits I’ve ever seen in a movie, and it earns a sustained comedic crescendo up there with the best films from Zemeckis/Gale and Edgar Wright. It’s that satisfying in its care and craft, and that successful in execution. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
I doubt I can say anything that won’t already be said better than the others here, but this movie is a ton of fun. It’s got so much heart and has such a strong back half that I literally cheered at the end of the film when I first saw it.
This is a must watch for fans of low budget filmmaking. Moreover, it’s probably a must watch for any and all genre film fans. In other words, make sure you check it out soon if you haven’t already. (@thepaintedman)
A small indie film crew takes a break from a tough shoot on their horror movie when suddenly — hang on, are those actual zombies?? The setup seems straightforward, but One Cut of the Dead has more than one trick up its sleeve, an intricate and increasingly incredible juggling of setups and insane payoffs which rewards viewers in compounding and often hilariously inventive fashion.
One Cut of the Dead isn’t just an infectious and incredibly smart and precisely planned and executed horror movie, but a love letter to the DIY spirit of microbudget craftsmanship and the joy of creation, even amidst crazy obstacles. (Austin Vashaw)
Our Guests — HERE BE SPOILERS
If you haven’t seen One Cut of the Dead, DO NOT read past this point until you have! Seriously.
Austin Wilden:
One Cut of the Dead is an infectious movie. One viewing of its clever, Swiss watch-like structure and narrative of a family rediscovering themselves through filmmaking and it becomes something you want to spread to as many others as possible.
(Appropriate, since… Zombies.)
Mutuals on Twitter discussing it was why I signed up for Shudder to begin with, then after watching it I told my closest friend he needed to watch it. I made sure to not give anything away and assured him One Cut was worth a look. About a week after recommending it I got a message that said, “Austin, is One Cut of the Dead about how they made it?”
I had a slight panic that he might’ve spoiled himself. So I asked, “Who spoiled it for you?”
Relief came as he replied, “I’m watching it now. I paused during the credits to get water and saw there was an hour left.” Which is a way to discover the twist that’s perfectly in tone with the movie itself.
When asking if I could share this story he added, “Would’ve turned it off sooner if not for the technical achievement and your recommendation.”
Now he’s recommending it to his mutual online and the cycle of infection continues.
You might be thinking:
Did I just use my contribution in this week’s Two Cents to brag about how my friends value my recommendations?
Yes, I did! (@WC_Wit)
Chris Chipman:
One Cut of the Dead was a complete surprise. In fact, if you know nothing about it, go watch it RIGHT NOW, I’ll wait!
This film begs to be experienced cold. It rewards you with what is at first glance a really solid one shot zombie movie, then the credits roll and the real movie begins. You see, One Cut of the Dead was just the movie a troubled director and his rag tag group of filmmakers / family members were making as a gimmick for a TV station.
What follows in act two is a celebration of the joys of independent filmmaking in the same vein as Ed Wood, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and countless others. Having seen the full film they made, getting a glimpse into what was happening behind the camera is a wonder to behold. You get the full story of why this film is being made and all the players involved. It is a home run of a film. Hilarious, inventive and not at all what you expect.
Give it a shot! (@TheChippa)
Brendan Agnew (The Norman Nerd):
It takes a great deal of effort and skill to pull off a magic trick without a hitch. It arguably takes even more to do the same magic trick while you’re intentionally fucking it up for reasons you won’t explain for more than a half an hour. And yet, One Cut of the Dead does this, while slyly being one of the best examples of “calling every shot* on your movie in the first act” since Shaun of the Dead.
This is the film from 2019 (according to wide U.S. distribution dates) that I became obsessed with showing to my friends, because watching the realization dawn after the credits roll and super late title card never gets old — especially when you’re friends with people who know how well and truly screwed a creative group endeavor can get midway through. One Cut not only allows the schadenfreude of “well, things never got *that* bad during Hamlet” but also the triumphant bliss of seeing people muddle through and make something special in spite of everything.
On the surface, One Cut is about a camera crew making an indie zombie film who are then beset by zombies, but it’s really a Noises Off-esque backstage farce as well as a celebration of striving for more than just the fast, cheap, and average within a messy genre.
It’s also very “fuck fuck fuuuuuuuuurck”-ing funny.
(*sorry, had to) (@BLCAgnew)
Next week’s pick:
Fast Color — available on Amazon Prime