The zombie genre is very well-trodden, and, sometimes, it feels like it can be tough to break any new ground within those boundaries. Yet, 2017’s One Cut of the Dead managed to bring something truly fresh to the world of the undead, and remarkably so. It is one of the very few films to carry a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That makes a remake a pretty bold move, but director Michel Hazanavicius did precisely that with this year’s Final Cut, which is making its way to theaters later this month. And we’ve got an exclusive look at the film!
This fresh clip from the French remake of the cult hit offers a look at the bloody, behind-the-scenes mayhem that goes into a zombie movie. It’s chaotic, filled with bad language and blood. In other words, it’s a great deal of fun. The official synopsis for Final Cut reads as follows:
“Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius’ remake of Shin’ichirô Ueda’s cult hit One Cut of the Dead follows a director (Romain Duris, L’Auberge Espagnole) charged with making a live, single-take, low-budget zombie flick in which the cast and crew, one by one, actually turn into zombies. Featuring hysterically unhinged performances from Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Matilda Lutz (Revenge), and Finnegan Oldfield (Corsage), Final Cut is a sly love letter to the art of filmmaking and a blood-soaked, hilarious genre farce with a meta-to-the-max premise.”
The film has played at a couple of prestigious festivals on the road to its theatrical release, including Cannes and Tribeca. Critics have generally seemed to enjoy it despite its lofty expectations, with IGN saying it’s “Fun and self-reflexive, while also leaning into its remake status for a few added laughs.” What more could we ask for?
Director Michel Hazanavicius rehearsed the scene featured in this exclusive clip for five weeks to get all the moving parts just right. We won’t spoil anything, let’s take a look. Action!
Though it certainly mirrors what came before, it also very much feels like Hazanavicius was able to make something of his own here. That’s crucial when touching such beloved source material. Why bother doing the exact same thing twice?
Hazanavicius shared a bit about the setup for this particular scene, “We rehearsed the entire shot for five weeks, and there were some moments that had to be very, very well planned. This is one of those moments: because of the stunt, because of the blood, because of the decapitation, everything had to be very precise. And Finnegan Oldfield, who plays the zombie loves to improvise. So every time we would arrive at this moment, I was really scared that he would improvise something that would ruin the entire shot because, after this moment, there is blood all over the actors and everywhere on the set, and it would take one or two hours to reset everything and clean. It was really scary, but, in the end, he was a good boy, and we got it.”
Final Cut is set to hit theaters on July 14.
