The zombie movie Last cut will have a few problems finding an audience. For starters, zombies reached such a saturation point in American culture about a decade ago that it’s hard to sell anyone but the most hardcore horror fans another zombie movie. And for another it is very difficult to convey how clever, complicated and ultimately joyful Last cut falls within the confines of a trailer or plot summary. The first teaser trailer for the US release of Last cut gets the movie’s goofy, over-the-top tone, but can’t really convey the full scope of why the movie is so much fun.
Last cut is a remake of the gory, silly Japanese zombie movie A cut of the deadbut Michel Hazanavicius — director of the Oscar winner The artist, and more relevant here, the enjoyable OSS 117 French spy spoofs – saves some of the jokes and adds new twists. Both movies are essentially Sounds off-style “front of house vs. back of house” stories, showing the audience two different perspectives on the same events.
In the first half of the film, a hapless TV director seeking a big break (and hoping to impress his very unimpressed adult daughter) agrees to make a one-take, live broadcast zombie film as a stunt for the launch of a new film. network. The results play out on screen, with some odd stutters and irregularities that don’t make much sense the first time around.
In the second half, audiences get to see exactly what went on behind the scenes to explain all the glitches – including an actual zombie outbreak which is only a relatively small part of what goes wrong in the film. Last cut is much more comedy than horror, and aimed at people who like movies about movie making – but it’s also quite a human drama about how hard it is to make art by commission, and yet how satisfying it can be when things come together.
All of that comes with a healthy dose of severed limbs and heads, bloody squibs, and a seemingly endless supply of zombie vomit. Last cut won’t redefine zombies, but it certainly makes them fun to watch again, even for the jaded audience who feel like they’ve already seen every zombie trope under the sun.
Last cut will be in cinemas from July 14. The film features Bérénice Bejo (The artist), Matilda Lutz (Revenge), and Finnegan Oldfield (Corsage). A cut of the dead is great too, and is currently streaming on Shudder, or available for rent AmazonVudu and other digital platforms.