Explore the 2017 Japanese film One Cut of the Dead, a zombie movie that transforms into a heartfelt comedy about filmmaking, featuring a groundbreaking single-take sequence and a clever meta-narrative.
When the topic of zombie horror-comedies comes into conversation, a handful of movies come to mind. Shaun of the Dead, perhaps, then maybe Zombieland, and then, after some thought, The Return of the Living Dead.
Maybe even The Dead Don't Die comes to mind, too. But one that often goes overlooked is the 2017 Japanese film One Cut of the Dead. For those without a Shudder account who might be in the dark about this movie's existence and are wondering what makes it unique from its peers, you must know that One Cut of the Dead was independently made for roughly $27,000 (or, about the same budget as Clerks).
But more importantly, the story makes a massive shift that recontextualizes everything you thought it might be at the start. In the same vein as From Dusk Till Dawn or Sinners, One Cut of the Dead shifts its genre and tone halfway through the story, turning what starts out as a zombie movie into-shockingly-one of the most endearing movies about filmmaking you're likely to find.
Written and directed by Shin'ichirō Ueda, the film follows a small film crew, led by a frustrated director named Higurashi (Takayuki Hamatsu) attempting to make a zombie movie at an abandoned water treatment plant. But mayhem strikes the film shoot when actual zombies get involved and start attacking the crew. Now the crew have to try to escape, while Higurashi attempts to use the zombies to finish his movie.
'One Cut of the Dead's First Act Is All One Shot While it sounds straightforward, One Cut of the Dead stands out because the entire first 37 minutes of the movie is one continuous, unbroken take. There aren't any sneaky edits to splice anything together, and the picture comes together in one fluid shot - hence, the film's title.
And while that sounds like an inspired gimmick that could simply serve as a talking point to raise interest in the movie, it actually becomes relevant to the plot when it's revealed that the movie we've been watching isn't the actual movie itself. It's a movie about the making of a zombie movie, which itself is about making a zombie movie. If it sounds too meta to wrap your brain around, that's by design.
One of the movie's fun reveals confirms that the entire zombie movie is completely fictitious within the world of the movie we're watching. Similar to something like Fresh, this movie doesn't even have a title card until 40 minutes into the runtime, when it reveals what kind of movie the audience is actually watching.
What started as a zombie movie actually turns into a behind-the-curtain on the lead-up of how the movie came to be, and then, shows the movie being made from the perspective of the production crew as they made it. This device creates entirely different contexts of what was occurring as the projects were being filmed.
'One Cut of the Dead' Is a Horror/Comedy, Not a Horror-Comedy The pretext shifts for the audience, with the horror aspects completely dropped and transformed into a comedy about the issues arising from making a movie. This is less a horror-comedy and more of a horror/comedy.
Immediately, all of the awkward moments, clunky lines of dialogue, lingering shots, and weird character decisions are given context, which adds to the comedy and ingenuity of the crew trying to put out fires as they occur while avoiding breaking the flow of the long-take. In that, it becomes an incredibly endearing movie that shows the level of problem-solving that goes into a film production, and the passion required by the people working on it.
While some movies occasionally show behind-the-scenes footage or bloopers in the making of the movie, One Cut of the Dead shows the level of precision it took to film key moments of the long take, including the intricate camera work and crew placement to orchestrate gore effects. It's made even more endearing when it reveals that many of the methods the characters used to get the shot were the same ones the actual crew used to make the movie.
This showcases the sheer level of creativity needed to pull off something that complex, and it makes the finished product even more inspiring to watch - especially on such a low budget. One Cut of the Dead demonstrates the craft and teamwork needed to make a movie, and does so in a fun and heartwarming way.
Despite being a colossal box office success, having a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, and being well-liked among hardcore horror fans, it's not known or held in the same regard to general audiences as something like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland
One Cut Of The Dead Zombie Film Japanese Cinema Low-Budget Filmmaking Single Take Meta-Horror Comedy Filmmaking Shin'ichirō Ueda
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