We Bury the Dead

This filmmaker knows how to strike a mood, how to hold a moment, and how to avoid undercutting it. I appreciate that. The actors did their job well too, not to mention the killer make up and prosthetics. All of that said, the ending was just… not great for me. Below is my spoiler riddled “how it should’ve ended.”

Spoiler:

After the leads confess their sins to each other on the beach and send Mitch ablaze out to drift, that aerial shot over the gorgeous water showing them alone should’ve ended with every resident from the resort behind them, now reanimated, walking toward them- an army of the dead approaching the unsuspecting non-heroes. Cut to credits. They confronted their grief, survived against the odds, confessed their sins, and now we imagine they face the music.

I think the baby thing was a really left field, inexplicable (to the point of shark jumping), forced-hope moment to show the characters’ opportunity at redemption and a fresh tomorrow. I didn’t feel like that’s what the movie was building to. Maybe I just *wanted* something bleak but I can’t get over how much I thought that ending undercut what we just saw even though the filmmaker knew not to undercut other moments (like nailing her monologue to Mitch’s body without a forced scare or something).

Eh, opinions are like assholes and I still “liked” the movie, but the ending fumbled the landing for me given what I was kinda getting from the rest of the film’s rhetoric.