On a hot summer day in Oslo, the dead mysteriously awaken, and three families are thrown into chaos when their deceased loved ones come back to them. Who are they, and what do they want? Handling the Undead is a drama with elements of horror about three families, a story about grief and loss, but also about hope and understanding of what we can't comprehend or control.
Handling The Undead is directed by Thea Hvistendahl director of The Monkey and The Mouth (2017).
Handling The Undead was a movie I was definitely excited for having a horror film with Renate Reinsve in it plus the premise itself sounded quite interesting..while there is a decent amount to like here there's just as much not to really like as well.
The performances are easily the best part about this movie especially Renate Reinsve who goes all out with her performance, Anders Dainelsen Lie is also pretty solid here as well. Both Lie and Reinsve are both compelling and show some emotional layers of depth even if the movie itself does not take advantage of these layers a lot of the time.
Which sort of becomes the first main issue with the movie, it presents layers of depth but does very little with them. It heavily relies on symbolism which although it's a much different approach to a the zombie genre that I do respect, it doesn't add up to making a compelling narrative. The use of the theme of grief is fine here but it's being told in a way that's been seen and explored numerous times before, it attempts to give the zombies a much more human approach in terms of emotions and feel. What I mean by this is although said person is a zombie who are usually depicted having lost their minds in most films, here the zombie still has their mind and are able to be connected with.
Which is such a fantastic idea on paper and actually does work well a few times during the movie especially when combined with the gorgeous cinematography and the undeniably haunting yet beautiful atmosphere. But unfortunately a lot of the emotional weight due to how slow the pacing really is starts to wear off on the viewer, I can absolutely see what Hvistendahl was going for here but unfortunately as I said before the movie itself doesn't add up to making a compelling narrative.
Handling The Undead is available on all VOD platforms.
5/10 C
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