Clocking in at a mere 65 minutes - six of which are end credits - Undertaker plays more like a student film than a conventional feature. For better or worse, the homespun approach extends to the technical aspects; the 2012 Japanese zombie movie was clearly shot on a consumer-grade digital camera by a small and inexperienced yet dedicated cast and crew. But every genre fan knows that you don’t need a big budget or fancy equipment to make an effective horror movie.
Writer-director Naoyoshi Kawamatsu conceived a fairly novel concept for a zombie picture with minimal characters and dialogue. It follows zombie hunter Ryouichi (Yoshito Kobashigawa), who brings closure to grieving families during the zombie apocalypse by hunting and executing their infected loved ones and bringing back a body part of their choosing. Much of the film consists of Ryouichi, wielding a sharpened shovel like a samurai sword, traversing through an infected area in search of one particular ghoul.