The One Cut of the Dead

Experiments are one of the most important parts of the film business. Without them, the technology and ideas wouldn’t evolve and we’d deliberately taken the creativity out of the equation. That’s why it’s good to see some low-budget film that tries something out. The title gives it away pretty easily: it is a film about a single cut… film. It’s a little bit confusing but we’ll get to that.

The single-cut films got a sort of popularity recently and, who knows, this might have been the frontrunner. The story is about a zombie film created for the opening of some sort of zombie-related website. The director is approached to create a short on two conditions. It’s one shot and transmitted live. Challenge much?

So there’s meta and meta. One meta level is watching the film and another to watch the film created in the film. I adored that they also documented the process and showed snippets at the end. This is a technical puzzle and I can’t just ignore one.

The plot is not so straightforward either. They didn’t create a simple, unproblematic script, but created plenty of backstories and issues so it is extremely entertaining. The preparations aren’t easy, everything falls apart, people aren’t reliable and accidents happen. And even with all these, the show must go on.

It was really interesting to watch it after seeing the French remake/sequel. The plot is almost exactly the same but in French’s Final Cut, they allowed themselves to be a little bit bolder with plot lines. We got 30 extra minutes which add to the characters’ backstories and motives. Not seeing them here made me appreciate the remake more, too.

If you enjoy odd films or you’re looking for something to have a fun evening with friends – I’d very much recommend The One Cut of the Dead. Or the remake. Or both while at it.