Director Higurashi (Takayumi Hamatsu) is making a low budget zombie movie that illustrates his motto to a tee: "cheap, fast, but average." He's got a low-budget cast, a location in an abandoned water filtration plant and a skeleton crew - and more, he's going to make the film in one long take! But as the filming begins, something strange happens; all of a sudden, his crew and cast are becoming zombies themselves. Okay, sounds like a standard scare-em-up zombie flick, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. The set-up is actually meant to inaugurate a new all-zombie television channel and the publicity from a one-take half-hour show will be an instant sensation. Only that's not exactly what's going on either....It's important not to give any more of the story away because the whole thing is about as meta as it's possible to be; it is also easily the funniest movie I've seen in practically forever, and while I still have 4 more films to screen at this year's FantAsia Festival in Montreal, of the 11 I've seen so far this one is my absolute favourite! Don't try to tease out more details, just look for this movie wherever you might find it; believe me, you will be ecstatic that you did!

A bit confused at first, since we don't know what to expect.. but man.. half way through, we GOT it and we couldn't stop laughing.. we even still laughing hard just thinking about it. This movie is pure genius. Highly recommend especially for those who love comedy.

This film, a wildly original take on zombie movies, comes in three acts.

**Non-spoiler alert. The next paragraph may look like a spoiler, but it's not. The real surprises come much later.**

In Act 1 a film crew trying to make a zombie movie is attacked by real zombies. That's not a spoiler. The idea has been around ever since people have been making zombie movies. Carnage abounds for a good 40 minutes.

Act 2 is a surprise. But it's short, so don't leave.

Act 3, the denouement, is recommended for audiences with strong hearts. I was still laughing the next day.

Definitely one of the most unique movies I have seen. For the first third, I was a little confused as to why it was so highly rated and thought some choices were a bit odd; not to say it was bad. The 37min long take was still amazing to watch, just a bit odd at times.

However, as the movie begins to reveal its surprise, and I began to understand the genius that was unfolding, it quickly became one of the most enjoyable movies I have had the pleasure of seeing. And so funny! If you can, go in cold to avoid any spoilers.

It's also in rare company in that it's one of the few movies that actually made me laugh out loud.

Attempting to film a new zombie movie, the cast and crew find themselves attacked by a horde of ravenous flesh-eating creatures which interrupts the shooting schedule of their production and forces them to actually have to defend themselves from the undead ravaging the set.

This was an enjoyable and intriguing effort. Among the many impressive elements throughout this one is the manner in which it pulls off the engaging social commentary about the effects of filmmaking. This one really brings up the idea of what constitutes entertainment as the executives constantly shouting out about what they expect and demand on a live-shoot. The backstage exploits of the industry, filled with egotistical actors stuck in roles they don't want to be in, stressed-out stage-hands constantly trying to appease their bosses and the on-the-fly guerrilla tactics that must be employed to ensure the shoot goes off smoothly feature prominently throughout the second half. There are some fun times ahead here looking at this creation of the film that has plenty to enjoy about it commenting on the rushed nature of filmmaking and how creative individuals must sacrifice their vision to make content for disillusioned executives who only care about the profit lines. As well, the most engaging aspect here is the utterly enjoyable opening sequence. Consisting of a single-take short-length scene featuring the crew being attacked by a zombie outbreak before turning on each other and then chasing each other throughout the complex where they're shooting. Managing to throw in plenty of twists and turns amongst the gory action, all done in one single unbroken take, gives this a wholly unexpected opening that's a real attention-grabber. As the second half of the film is the filming of this very sequence which is full of hilarious antics and ingenious fixes to demonstrate how the actual shot got pulled off. It's quite ingenious to see how the different tricks to accomplish the finish product and the different tricks accomplished to get there which manages to hold this one up as quite enjoyable in these different sections. There really isn't any kind of flaws in this one, as the fact that this one remains as a piece of fiction throughout here without anything else happening does detract this somewhat. The fact that it's all a movie-shoot in both stages does manage to lessen the tension of everything and makes for a cheap experience as none of the attacks mean anything if it's all faked from the start. The goofiness and somewhat crazy feeling present here isn't all that appealing to all, and it might seem odd rather than funny with the way this one plays out. Otherwise, these here are all that really hold this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

One of the best comedy movies I have ever seen. Not only funny but highly smart as well. This is the best example of low budget movie done right. You don't need millions to make a good movie. All you need is smart plot and decent actors. Like comedies and zombies? DO NOT MISS THIS ONE.

This was the first movie I saw at 2018s Stockholm film festival - what an incredible way to start! I knew almost nothing about the movie when it started and I am happy that I didn't; it created my favorite experience from the whole festival.

I want other people to have the same amazing experience that I had which makes it very difficult to write a review. I will give you as much information as I had:

One Cut Of The Dead is a low-budget movie about a film crew shooting a zombie movie when suddenly they are attacked by zombies themselves!

That's all I knew and that's all I will tell you. Just take my word for it. Make some popcorn, gather some friends and go enjoy this fantastic movie!

Breathing an air of freshness into its ever deteriorating subgenre, One Cut of the Dead is a work of pure exhilarating madness that's honest, heartfelt & hysterical in both its approach & execution, and expertly illustrates the art of filmmaking & unexpected perks of on-the-spot improvisation with its self-reflexive narrative.

The story follows a filmmaking crew that finds themselves in the middle of a real zombie apocalypse while shooting a low-budget zombie horror in an abandoned facility. The only one delighted by this actual life-n-death scenario is the director who insists & makes sure that they keep the camera rolling at all times no matter what happens.

Written & directed by Shin'ichirô Ueda, the film opens with a 40-mins long single take that comes packed with hilarious surprises but Ueda also makes sure there's enough fuel left in the tank for the remainder of the journey & keeps us invested until the very end. It's a rollicking ride from the get go but the pay off is wholly & definitely satisfying.

Despite the low-budget & an inexperienced cast, there is neither any shortage of inventiveness nor any lack of commitment from the actors. While the middle act isn't as wild & rambunctious as the one preceding it, it nonetheless helps pave an excellent groundwork for what follows. Everyone embraces their roles and seems to be having fun playing them.

On an overall scale, One Cut of the Dead is an endlessly fun & wildly entertaining horror comedy that's crafted with affection, executed with passion & presented in high-spirited fashion to finish as one of the breeziest & funniest films of the year. A labour of love that takes its premise and simply runs with it, Shin'ichirô Ueda's breakthrough feature is one infectious ride you can't afford to miss.

Low-budget Japanese film featuring a zombie apocalypse. Something new on Zombie movie.

I just seen movie at ToHorror Festival, also with subtitle is an incredible movie, for everyone like horror, like to see backstage of movie, or work in this mad world. It's very difficult to talk about this movie without doing spoiler, but i try to do it. Acting : terrible enough to be enjoyable, and right to very realist Shooting : double Dop for a double feature, both work fine to obtain the right result, a funny horror result. Direction is very complex and i think Directors did a great work. If like horror you must see it, without reading more about plot, to avoid to waste the suspence. Great Movie

Perhaps for some time now, cinema has been lacking in original ideas for stories, meaning that style is becoming more important. CGI, films shot entirely on green screen and the failed attempt at 3D have seen special effects used as a way of overcoming this. But as hipsters love independent movies, increasingly there seems to be a move towards special effort, as opposed to effects.

While not an overall excellent film, 2017's "Ice Cream and the Sound of Raindrops" was shot in one sixty-plus minute take, including various locations and musical interludes along the way. And the "Inside No. 9" team revisited the idea of filming a live episode last year. Relative unknown director Shinichiro Ueda's "One Cut of the Dead" (or more appropriately the Japanese title: "Kamera o tomeru na!" / "Don't Stop the Camera") - a film within a film within a film - combines this use of a single take with the perils of trying to shoot scripted material live.

In an abandoned army facility, a girl is attacked by her zombie boyfriend. Except that she isn't. Chinatsu (Yuzuki Akiyama) is a low-rent actress starring in a zombie film directed by the erratic Higurashi (Takayuki Hamatsu). Dismayed at her forty-second take failure, they break from filming. But as they wait around, the small crew are attacked by zombies - Higurashi knowing that the location has a "history" of army experiments.

What follows is a one-shot chase as the survivors try to escape their newly dead attackers, with awkward dialogue, strange behaviour, blood splattering and breaking the fourth wall. The sole survivor, Chinatsu is left standing on the roof of the facility, staring up at the slowly and awkwardly rising camera as the end credits then scroll up the screen.

But we haven't got there yet.

It is after this thirty-plus minute single take that "One Cut of the Dead" actually begins. A month earlier, Higurashi is approached by producers from the "Zombie Channel" to film a single-take zombie film to be broadcast live in the afternoon - his "cheap, but average" style seemingly what they're looking for. Something of a hack director, he is initially reluctant, but is too weak to say "no." As such, he takes on the role and is introduced to his cast and crew: a less than inspiring bunch.

After a troubled preparation, the day of the shoot comes, but as they prepare for their risky move, everything that can go wrong goes wrong. As such, Higurashi and his crew are left to improvise and get by as best they can, making sure to follow the mantra: "kameru o tomeru na!"

Itself a film made on a very small budget, I'd seen a lot about the record-breaking profit levels that "One Cut of the Dead" had already made and the strong social media marketing efforts by the cast and crew. As such, I chose to read little about the film itself before seeing it, trying to remove all "Blair Witch" comparisons and expectations.

Not just a film within a film within a film, this is essentially the film, making-of and bloopers all-in-one. To start the "one cut" is a breath-taking ride of hilarity; seemingly baffling acting, behaviour and dialogue; blood splattering; gore; talking directly to the camera; various mistakes; and what must be a very tired cameraman. As the initial end credits roll, we're left thinking "o-kay."

The film's second part offers explanation as to the above, in what is a witty, well-crafted script to create all of the mistakes that appear in the live broadcast we're thrown into. The stress and pressure the crew are put under shows, with none worse affected than Higurashi and his wife, Nao (Harumi Shuhama), drafted into the production late on. Both go rogue, not so much acting, as letting their frustrations out - the director determined to make the shoot work for the sake of his art.

The television producers, while setting the difficult task, are less concerned by the art, embracing the chaos. Indeed, much of the middle section of "One Cut of the Dead" feels like a Japanese TV drama; the style of shooting and music feeling very much part of a Japanese small screen. But this is a film made for the big screen and a big audience. The laughter track provided by a big crowd adds to the undoubted fun that this is. Ueda shows that a lot of ideas that come out of a live shoot will be improvised out of necessity, and has fun in doing so. The laughs are big, the timing spot-on and the acting suitably awkward.

But while showing improvisation is necessary, Ueda's film is one that has been carefully thought-out and choreographed, like a well rehearsed stage production. The cast and crew have obviously been challenged in making this, and the crew's efforts are shown as the actual end credits roll in true Jackie Chan fashion: the "making-of" cameraman following the actual camera and sound men as they take a well-earned drinks break as the camera continues to roll.

One Cut of the Dead was the most lauded film of Frightfest 2018. Everyone was raving about it almost as though a virus has been passed from person to person that meant they were deeply in love with the film. For about thirty minutes I was completely stumped to why people regarded this in any positive light. The acting was stilled and awkward, the dialogue awful and the makeup effects lame and cheap looking. The one cut technique was brave, but it seemed too much for an inexperienced crew.

However, approximately 30 minutes in the movie changes direction completely. The second part of the film is about a new zombie channel hiring a small-time director to shoot a 30 minute, live, one take zombie thriller for their opening day of broadcasting. It becomes apparent that it was a movie within a movie and, for the next hour, time jumps back a month showing the whole filmmaking process including all the behind the scenes disasters that cultivated in the supposed poor quality of the film.

The final third of the film is very much like The Disaster Artist and fact you need to see The Room to appreciate The Disaster Artist. You need to get through the film's supposedly poor first 30 minutes to appreciate the comedic brilliance of the film as a whole. Overall, the film is a loveable, inventive and hilarious riot.

This screened at BiFAN in Bucheon, Korea in July, 2018. This was far and away the funniest film, with the audience laughing solidly as the story progressed.

Spoilers: It is a film within a film within a film. Another way to put it is, in talking to Shinichirou-san..."how did it feel directing an actor playing a director directing himself as an actor playing a director?"

About 39 minutes of the worst zombie movie ever, done in one take (they pulled it off on the 6th take). This is followed by cutting back in time, and following the development and production of this indie film (all scripted), culminating in the filming of the take with cuts to show the improvisation involved.

Not just a fantastic comedy, but this film does a good job of documenting the process of getting out an independent production in Japan.

Now to find it some exposure in North America so I can rewatch it with my friends.

What if you saw a badass film and wanted to see how they shot it exactly? One Cut of the Dead is what you're looking at - a fresh and charming zombie comedy that gets better and better, funnier and funnier with every second. Although there's a brief period of stagnancy in Shin'ichirô Ueda's 100-minute feature film - that has everything from sweet performances to seamless, mouth-watering camera work to laugh-out-loud comedy - you will only remember the good parts of the clever craft. The way the film - the story of a filmmaking crew who camp at an abandoned Japanese Second World War facility to shoot a film on zombies but end up finding real zombies - is structured will make you think about the genius behind the writing for the jokes are multi-disciplinary and beyond creative. Ueda does not only depend on dialogues to create humor but also uses the art of filmmaking itself to make us laugh while also show us how complicated everything is behind a screen. With subtle references to the importance of relationships, One Cut of the Dead excels in almost all departments. It is a film that you watch with your friends in your home theater again and again, year after year. And it is not to be missed. One Cut of the Dead is the reason why we dig zombie comedies so much. TN.

(Watched and reviewed at its India premiere at the 20th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.)

One cut of the dead tell a story of "a small crew of zombie movie get attacked by a real zombies". Get bore at first 30 minute but once they got real with what truly is happening on 1/3 i got real hooked as i never seen movie quite like this before i get real excited as thing slowly reveal.The humor is what u expect from japan movie with the same genre,the character is great,the idea amazing.The most honest movie about filmmaking i ever seen,absolutely makes me want to check similiar type of movie.

Good movie of the year!.The trailer seem like to fool you for what they are really want to represent. Watch its!

This Japanese zom-com is one of the freshest and cleverest movies, in the saturated zombie sub-genre, in recent years - but it might not entertain as expected.

I enjoyed it despite the fairly sluggish build up but did not find it to be exceptionally funny.

I'm not entirely sure what didn't work too well but I didn't find myself laughing as much as the others in the audience. That being said, there was plenty of laughter so I might have been in the minority.

The humour resembles the slapstick elements one might see in Rat Race or Johnny English, just with a bit more blood and splatter, albeit fairly reserved.

If the majority of people don't enjoy this film, I'd be fairly surprised but you probably need to go into it with as little knowledge and expectation as possible.

If you ever think that filming is easy, then you definitely MUST WATCH THIS FILM. You'll learn that it took a lot of efforts and timing to shoot this film especially a one take film is not easy at all. Sometimes you will also face unexpected problem and have to solve it quickly. Bravo to the cameraman who is holding the camera for so long. Impressive acting and the idea is so fresh. By the way, this movie is not your typical kind of horror zombie film.

Reasons to watch -Funny -Impressive Acting -Learn how film production works

Reasons Not to Watch -you're not interested in behind the scene -you're looking for horror zombie kinda film

If you have the slightest interest in Japan or Zombie movies do not miss this one! It's like the Noises Off of zombie flicks . . . except actually good :)

With the 8.0 score on Imdb and a lot of 10 star review for a horror comedy made in Japan I think everyone including me will find One Cut of the Dead to be a hidden gem in the horror genre, but frankly I'm almost gave up on this movie about 40 minutes in cause not one time I laugh or find anything slightly interesting so at one point I even thought to myself this movie may be one of those overrated trash of a movie that only works with a pretentious crowd but right after that rough start somehow the rest of the movie took an interesting direction that make itself more bearable and this time it actually intriguing me. It still not quite the guts busting zombie movie I hope for and for a movie to took that much time to be interesting then maybe it not a good movie at all but the charming message about film making on low budget I got from One Cut of the Dead definitely make it worth a watch

My Rating : 9/10

'One Cut of the Dead' is a very low-budget (~ approx. $27,000) zombie comedy that must be seen by anyone interested in film-making. It's unique and unlike anything I've ever seen and in a very, VERY good way.

This is 1 hour 36 mins long and not just the first part which is 36 minutes so make sure to watch the whole thing as it gets infinitely meta and hilarious!

This one guarantees an awesome ride from start to finish and is a MUST WATCH!

Spoiler Alert! if you expect this movie to be another zombie movie, be ready to get disappointed, since it's actually all about making a zombie movie with limited budget and limited crews, IN JUST ONE TAKE!!! the result? wasn't so great: the crews keep making mistakes, the actors/actresses keep trying so hard at improvising that results on some awkward moments, the people behind the camera keep getting nervous and so on and so on. But, that's actually where all the fun and laughs lie.

I don't know if you have the same thought or not (and I don't really care), despite the difference in plot, the theme that runs in this movie kinda reminds me of 2006's "Little Miss Sunshine", where accepting a challenge or joining a contest, despite our poor performance and people's view on it, will make us happy and be proud of who we are. Because the real failure is not when we fail at our first try but instead, when we never try at all, and regret about it later in days to come.

This movie will give us an understanding about what cinema can do. And also give proof how fun making movie is. Well written scripts with a perfect directing and hilarious-outstanding preformances from the actors. Love this movie so much

Totally unexpected, unpredictable and highly original! Still smiling!

I've been a fan of the zombie genre for 30+ years now and was really looking forward to this but what a let down it turned out to be. Sure the twist if you want to call it that gives a fresh approach to the genre but this isn't a horror movie nor is it a comedy. At least not what I would consider comedy. It's funny in the way that most Japanese comedy is funny. That bizarre game show humour they so often churn out that is amusing for about 5 minutes and then quickly becomes a chore. The first 40 minutes drag until it takes a turn in a new direction and your interest is peaked again but all the while you are waiting for the real zombie horror which is promised in the description of the movie to start again and it doesn't so you are left watching a quite frankly boring behind the scenes remake of what you just watched. What they missed out on here was a triple bluff that turned out to be real therefore having all the cast and crew attacked and killed by genuine zombies but sadly this was missed. This felt like most millenial entertainment these days. Watered down. Selling this as a horror comedy is like when Ed Sheeran is booked to headline a Rock festival. If horror was vegan this would be in that section. What I did like was the small insight into how these things could be made at a low budget level. Crew running around adding fake blood and prosthetics is how i like to think most of my fsvourite horror makers started out with their super 8 cameras. Thats why it gets a rating of 4 and also because I think people who rate movies 1 star are awful human beings who should be fired into space. Sadly One Cut of the Dead will not be gracing the shelves with my dozens of other zombie titles. It should be called One Watch of the Dead as being slowly eaten alive would be less painful than a repeat watch of this.