A few years back I saw ONE CUT OF THE DEAD. I recommended it here, and I’ll never stop recommending it. It’s a unique movie, astonishingly original, and I loved every second of it. It begins as a low-budget, low-quality movie about a group of moviemakers being attacked by zombies as they’re making a movie about zombies (bear with me – told you it was original). Over the course of the next hour and a half, it becomes something else entirely. The layers of the film are unpacked and you end up watching something quite wonderful that you weren’t at all expecting. It’s absolutely magnificent. One of a kind. Or it was, anyway.
When I heard the Japanese original was getting a French remake, I didn’t hold out much hope. However, the remake – FINAL CUT – is much better than I expected, and whilst not hitting the dizzy heights of the first movie, it’s definitely worth your time.
Things go badly for a small film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie when they are attacked by real zombies.
We had a glut of horror remakes a decade or so ago. Perhaps, despite ONE CUT not being strictly a horror movie, that’s why I held out little hope of enjoying FINAL CUT. I’m glad I went against my better judgement, because there’s plenty to like here. In some ways it’s a beat-for-beat remake of ONE CUT, but the cast and crew bring enough of their own influence to distinguish it from its predecessor. The central concept (and many of the jokes) remain, as does the unexpected sense of joy as the layers of the film come together. Interestingly, FINAL CUT is directed by MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS who made the Oscar-winning silent movie THE ARTIST back in 2012.
One of the questions I always ask about remakes before deciding whether or not to watch them, is why? Is there a good reason why a film should be remade? When I look at my favourite three horror remakes – PHILIP KAUFMAN’s INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, DAVID CRONENBERG’s THE FLY, and JOHN CARPENTER’s THE THING – they’re all updated versions of 1950’s B movies, that enhance the original stories by shifting them to contemporary settings, adding updated narratives and strong characters, as well as both a sheen of scientific explanation and superb visual effects. At the other end of the spectrum are the countless ELM STREET, FRIDAY THE 13TH, and other rehashes which add nothing to the originals and exist purely as a way for studios to trade on audience nostalgia and generate massive profits at a reduced risk.
FINAL CUT is at odds with my system, because there was clearly no reason whatsoever for ONE CUT to be remade so soon. You could argue that it’s a language and cultural choice, but I don’t entirely buy that because the language of the low budget zombie movie and the appeal of slapstick horror comedy are both universal. But there’s a reverence to this version of the film, an unexpected respect, that makes FINAL CUT no less unnecessary, but still heaps of fun. The film exists in the same bizarre universe, with the French TV moguls deciding to make their movie after the success of the Japanese attempt. They even keep the Japanese character names, which is highly inappropriate yet very funny. Most tellingly, YOSHIKO TAKEHARA appears in this film, playing the same character (in all but name) as she does in ONE CUT.
It’s hard to talk about ONE CUT OF THE DEAD and FINAL CUT without talking about them. I’d hate to ruin the surprise. All I’ll say is, whatever you think these movies are, you’re wrong. Please do yourself a favour and watch either – or both – of them without delay. If you’re in the UK, you can catch FINAL CUT on the BBC iPlayer, which is where I randomly stumbled across it the other week.
Oh, and the first half of both films might feel like badly done, cliched, zombies by the numbers, but you’re only seeing half the story. STICK WITH IT.
Thanks for reading.
Over the years I’ve recommended many films, books, and podcasts. You can find a full list of them here.
A lot of folks find their way to this site from search engines and social media via these recommendations. If you’re new here, let me introduce myself – I’m DAVID MOODY, author of dystopian horror and science-fiction. I’m best known for the HATER and AUTUMN novels, but you can find all my books here.
My latest novel is SHADOWLOCKED – you can find out about it here.