Handling the Undead

Disappointed by many of the reviews that don't give enough credit for the inventive twist in the zombie genre, and the subsequent emotional heft of Handing the Undead. Granted, the film does move at a glacial pace, and the entire screenplay was probably under 3 pages. A very quiet and somber drama, and other than a couple of forays into common zombie territory towards the end, this is a study in grief, loss, loneliness and hope. The story - as the rest of the film - unfolds slowly, but it reveals emotional depth I wasn't expecting. Expectations are tricky and in this case, I think the movie will be enjoyed by those approaching with an open mind and patience.

In an already tired genre, Handling the Undead aims for a more contemplative and somber face than what we're used to with said genre. The standouts here being the music and atmosphere, one must think such a devotion to visuals would garner strong staying power, yet such was not the case. It's grief observed, through the lens of dark corridors and isolated pastures, asking the singular question, "if you had one more chance to talk to your loved one, what would you say?". Throughout the runtime I discovered the film wasn't exactly interested in exploring this question through a vessel or character of sorts, as it's practically nonexistent. In the end I was left starved, yearning for a connection. A film with a pulse that slowly fades into obscurity.

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.

Somehow they manged to take the original story and remove most of the interesting parts, leaving us with a slow and atmospheric exposé of loss and grief. What it does it does great, it's beautifully filmed and the acting is good, but it's just not enough. The entire point of having the dead come back to life is to examine all the implications of this happening, the original story understands this, it's in the title "Handling the undead", it asks the question of how to deal with this situation. But here most of those implications are glanced over or not touched upon at all, making the supernatural elements superfluous. Ultimately this movie had worked much better if it was just a story about three families experiencing loss, maybe in some kind of sliding doors scenario. It unfortunately feels like a missed opportunity and a waste of good source material.

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.