Handling the Undead

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.

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.

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?

The film discusses the idea of death and how we deal with it as humans How pain largely lies in the loss and absence of the feelings we need Death is likened in the film to the absence of feelings How the absence of feelings in humans is extremely terrifying and sometimes even harmful How this makes a person feel dead and unwanted What distinguishes life are feelings and the ability to express them, such as love, joy, fear and pain...and losing them is like death What connects us as humans are mutual feelings How a person is willing to abandon the people closest to him if he lacks certain feelings towards him and we reviewed this concept in the film on three different levels childhood, maturity, and old age, and I think that this gave greater depth to the message that the film wanted to convey The pace of the film is slow but very poetic and the soundtrack is beautiful.