Vertical Drops Trailer for 'We Bury the Dead' - Daisy Ridley Fights Through a Fast, Feral Outbreak
Here's the gut punch: a woman who won't stop looking for her husband, even if it means walking straight into a field of teeth. That's the heartbeat of We Bury the Dead, and the new trailer doesn't shy away from it.
Vertical just put the first look out, and it's a raw one. You can watch the trailer here. Note: there's a video available for this story - the player will be added automatically.
The opener hits hard: Daisy Ridley (movies and tv series)'s Ava Newman throws herself into a bus with the windows blown out while a grotesque, sprinting corpse claws after her. You hear the scrape, the breath, the kind of scream that makes your neck go tight.
That scream traces back to an experimental weapon gone wrong. Ava's husband has vanished in the chaos, so she signs on with a body retrieval unit - grim work, but it's her only path to answers. "I know what you're going through, but if you find your husband, I hope you understand what that could mean," someone warns her. And you feel the weight of that.
These aren't slow, stumbling zombies. We're talking grinding teeth, dislocated legs snapping into motion, and speed that turns every hallway into a trap. It's closer to survival sprint than quiet dread, and the trailer leans into that panic.
Ridley leads alongside Brenton Thwaites (movies and tv series) and Mark Coles Smith (movies and tv series). The film is written and directed by Australian filmmaker Zak Hilditch (movies and tv series), with executive producers who've touched recent standouts like It Lives Inside, Cuckoo, and Talk to Me - a lineup horror folks will clock immediately.
Release note for calendars: We Bury the Dead is set to hit U.S. theaters on January 2, 2026. That's a winter slot that's been kind to horror lately - colder nights, emptier streets, and a built-in shiver.
Why this trailer lands
It isn't just the gore. It's the stakes. A spouse missing. A job that literally means carrying the dead. And a world that seems to be getting meaner by the hour. Honestly, that combination gives Ridley room to go flinty and human at the same time.
- Distributor: Vertical
- Cast: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith
- Writer/Director: Zak Hilditch
- Tone: high-velocity survival with vicious, fast-moving undead
- U.S. Release: January 2, 2026
Here's what this could mean: expect a tense, on-the-ground story that treats zombies less like background noise and more like a force that shreds plans in seconds. If the feature holds the trailer's pace, horror fans might get a New Year opener that actually leaves a mark.
Again, the trailer is here: We Bury the Dead - Official Trailer. Video player will appear with this article.
