One Cut of the Dead  ★★★

JAPANESE horror comedy One Cut of the Dead is one of the most inventive films of its type of the past five years.

Writer and director Shin’ichirō Ueda made the film on a shoestring budget of reportedly around $25,000, shooting for just over a week with unknown actors.

It managed to get into a known film festival in 2019 and its reputation literally blew up over the next few months on the festival circuit.

While the acting is quite good for a bunch of amateurs, the look of the film isn’t anything special.

What is special is the structure and mechanics of the script and camera placement that provides an unique viewing experience, including a 37-minute continuous take that was achieved on the sixth attempt.

The film starts as one thing and then becomes another until lastly combining elements of two different structures.

Obviously for something like this, the less you know the better.

Let’s just say that a zombie film is being shot by a film crew but things start to go horribly wrong. Trust me – you don’t want or need to know any more.

The energy and enthusiasm of the cast and crew in seeking to make something truly different is a key aspect of the film’s success.

It has now earned over US $30 million worldwide, which is basically a thousand times its budget.

How’s that for a return Hollywood!

There is a 2022 French-language remake titled Final Cut which I haven’t seen.

Watched at home on Shudder.