Håndtering av udøde

I had the chance to see this for the Sundance film festival. I wish I had chosen something else. Anything else. This was almost the slowest thing I'd ever seen, and I just followed it up by watching "The Stalker" by Tarkovsky, so when I say slow--I mean sloooooooow. At least Tarkovsky had a meaning and philosophy being told as part of the story for you to ponder during slow scenes. This movie left you wishing everyone in it would die a horrible interesting death because their lives were so monotonous. There wasn't a single likeable character besides the innocent Kian, and he had essentially no lines! In fact there was hardly any dialogue of any kind in the entire movie. Hardly anything happened at all, then when something sorta kinda does, it ends abruptly. I've got the book, and "Let the Right One In" is one of my favorite movies and books, so it's not as if I'm not the right demographic here. This just has nothing going for it. I regret the time spent on it, the money spent, and the hours of backlash I had to hear afterward from my husband who was equally upset by the time he so rarely gets being wasted watching nothing happen. Boring doesn't even begin to describe it. More like mind numbing. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Eerie and somber example of Scandinavian elevated horror, that adapts a novel by the author of "Let the Right One In" and marks Thea Hvistendahl's debut as a feature film director. The movie offers a unique take on zombies, focusing more on grief and the human connection between the living and the undead rather than the familiar horror evoked by these creatures. Unfortunately, it moves at an excessively slow and contemplative pace, and eventually becomes exhausting in its tedium. To make matters worse, when events unfold exactly as expected, they do so without scares or surprises, failing to generate any genuine horror. The one highlight is the beautiful and melancholic score by composer Peter Raeburn, which lingers even after the film ends.

First of all, I love what John Ajvide Lindqvist does. I read almost all of his books and every time it was a pure pleasure. However, he's very, very, extremely unlucky with the movie adaptations of his books. This particular movie... I don't know what it is and why it was made. For those who read the book it will be a torture, for those who didn't - just a dead-boring piece of crap.

Also, I don't think anyone in the team had any idea of what they were doing. The meaning of the book was completely different, and I mean 100% different. Why is there the Satanic cross on the poster? What Satan has to do with this movie and with this book?

Slow. So sloooooow. And not a slow burn. I hate to say this, but I found it boring. I love bleak, atmospheric movies, but this one just made me sleepy. I really wanted to like it, so much so that I will probably give it another chance once it's released.

However, I had to close my eyes/ears/heart to the unnecessary, severe animal cruelty. It served little purpose and should have been handled differently.

I was excited to watch this film because I loved "Let the Right One In" and liked "The Worst Person in the World" but this film was a letdown.

Some of the atmospheric cinematography was nice but it was also slow and sleepy. I appreciated that it wasn't your typical jump-scare mainstream nonsense, but this movie really lacked heart. It lacked character development. I wanted to care more about the lives of the characters, but didn't.

The acting was good. The cinematography good, as mentioned. But the whole film was really lacking overall.

And the animal cruelty was disgusting/a cheap shock value gimmick. Does Norway have the same standards for animal welfare as the U. S./Hollywood? I sure hope so. Otherwise, I hope they are eventually slapped with hundreds of fines. That rabbit was clearly under severe genuine distress, in the very least.

An unfortunate waste of our $25 Sundance screening cost.

Your potential movie-watcher is likely to arrive at this expecting something different than it is; billed as a 'zombie horror' and written by John Ajvide Lindquist (it was his follow up novel to Let The Right One In). This is something quite different however.

A bit more light is shed by being aware that this is Norway's entry to the Oscar for the Best International Film. Rather, it is a fairly slow-moving and tragic drama, though it does involve the dead reawakening. The measured pace is symbolic of the mood of the characters as they grieve. The film is, in effect, a triptych, concerning three families who have just lost loved ones. The cinematography is the highlight, and it is a fine achievement and a first break through feature for its director, Thea Hvistendahl.

Its IMDb score is understandable as so many will stumble on this expecting something quite different; zombie films have jump scares and often dark humour, this is meditative and thought provoking, though it would have benefitted from a few lighter moments.