Shatter Dead

In the opening scene, a female Angel of Death engages with a mortal woman, triggering a strange new condition. Humans stop dying and the dead return as disenfranchised vagabonds who wander among the living. This supernatural shift establishes the eerie rules that drive the rest of the story.

Seventeen months later, Susan trudges through a largely abandoned town on foot after buying food. She arms herself heavily to defend against the undead and presses on. In the downtown area she encounters beggars among the corpses and must decide whom to help or ignore.

Her car runs out of gas on a country road, and a militant zombie cult closes in around her. The preacher leads the group, claiming the car for the service of the Lord and refilling the tank before driving off in it. Susan is forced to push on on foot, more wary and exposed than before.

She travels on foot and steals another undead person's car, arriving in a new town. Local living residents direct her toward a safe house where she can stay for the night. She heads there with cautious hope.

Inside the safe house, she meets Mary, a dead woman pretending to be alive. Mary explains that she died to stay young and beautiful forever, a revelation that unsettles Susan. The two women share a moment together as Mary opens up about her death, and Susan begins to trust her.

That night, militant, fanatical zombies assault the safe house and slaughter every living occupant. The pregnant landlady dies after entering the bathroom and nurses her dead fetus in the shower. In the chaos, Susan accidentally shoots Mary in the head.

Susan flees into the night and confronts the preacher who had stolen her car. She uses a pocket mirror to check for signs of breathing, confirms he is alive, and shoots him to reclaim her vehicle. With the threat removed for the moment, she continues on.

Back at the apartment, Susan discovers Dan has killed himself in the bathtub and that he had secretly poisoned a glass of milk to keep her young forever. He then reveals his plan, manipulating the situation in death. They have a disturbing encounter as Dan exerts his control, and Susan realizes she must decide her fate.

Now undead, the preacher who had interacted with Dan comes across Dan's corpse and fashions wooden splints to walk again. He staggers through the city, joining the growing undead presence and threatening any remaining survivors. This moment foreshadows the spreading danger.

Meanwhile, Susan wakes up and realizes she is dead, wandering into the bathroom in a daze. She scoops water from a dripping faucet and applies it to her lifeless eyes. The moment seals her transformation into an undead being.

Outside the apartment, Dan's voice is heard begging to be let back in as the film cuts to black. The ending leaves the fates of Susan and the surrounding world unresolved.