Daisy Ridley says it was "terrifying" to fight a 'zombie' in her new horror flick 'We Bury the Dead'.

The 32-year-old actress plays Ava Newman in the survival thriller - which sees the desperate woman join a body retrieval unit as she hunts for her missing husband following a "catastrophic military experiment", but when she buries the corpses, they suddenly come alive.

This is the first film the 'Star Wars' star has battled with the undead, and she admitted the "unbelievable" makeup made the experience "super intense".

Daisy told Collider.com: "It was really intense. I fought a lot of things - people and things - but it was intense. It was super intense.

"As you were discussing, the progression of the zombies is very satisfying because there's an element of understanding at the beginning for Ava. "She's trying to figure out what it is that's going on, and then when she meets the thing that is, I'd say, the classic zombie moment, doing that is always terrifying, when you're turning around and running from someone, but also turning around and seeing this insane makeup?

"Because also, the makeup was practical. He looked unbelievable, but also unbelievable in a way your mind is playing tricks on you.

"The whole thing was terrifying."

The 'Cleaner' actress had six weeks between finishing the action thriller and starting Zak Hilditch's movie to prepare for the role.

She added: "This shoot was the closest to a previous shoot I've ever done.

"There were six weeks between finishing 'Cleaner' and starting this, and I was tired.

"I was so tired, but it was sort of good because I got over the exhaustion of that over Christmas and then had those six weeks, and then we had rehearsals, which was amazing.

"So, I flew out to Western Australia, and we had a week, I'd say, which was really useful.

"Then, we actually had a pre-shoot day that, in and of itself, was helpful. It's when you see Ava in her good moment, what Ava is searching for, you see it for a brief moment in the film.

"We got to film that, so that felt really scary. I remember thinking, 'Oh my god, I'm not ready!' But that was quite revealing and lovely.

"But yeah, a few weeks."

Daisy also teased that she is working on a "very lovely" project with a script that is "too good to be true".

Keeping tight-lipped, the Kids Choice Awards nominee said: "I'm about to go and do something very lovely, and I've been told I'm not allowed to say, even though it's so close, and I'm literally about to do it ...

"I'm literally going in two weeks. It's just joyful. It's a director I'm really thrilled to work with.

"[I] Thought, 'This is too good to be true. This can't possibly be real,' and then it's real.

"The guy I'm working with in it, we were meant to do something years ago, so we're coming back together."