Handling the Undead movie storyline. On a hot summer day in Oslo, the newly dead awaken. Three families faced with loss try to figure out what this resurrection means and if their loved ones really are back. Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Reuniting Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie (The Worst Person in the World, 2022 Sundance Film Festival), Handling the Undead is a visually expansive experience, full of arresting images and subtle performances that collapse the space between the living and the dead.
Director Thea Hvistendahl’s steady directorial hand leaves her characters room to breathe, to mediate the moral gray area, letting the minutiae of grief lead them as they feel their way through an extraordinary circumstance. Hvistendahl’s interpretation of Lindqvist’s novel addresses daunting questions about the body, the soul, loss, and moving on, pushing viewers to get to the root of reanimation: What would you do, and how would you feel, if someone you loved returned?
Handling the Undead is a 2024 Norwegian horror mystery film, directed by Thea Hvistendahl from a screenplay by Hvistendahl and John Ajvide Lindqvist, based upon the novel of the same name by Lindqvist. It stars Renate Reinsve, Bjørn Sundquist, Bente Børsum, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bahar Pars and Inesa Dauksta.
It had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on 20 January 2024. Prior to, Neon acquired US and UK distribution rights to the film. It also screened at the Gothenburg Film Festival on January 26, 2024. It was released in Norway on February 3, 2024.
Surely there is nothing in this world worse than grief — that searing black hole in your chest, desperately missing someone you love, the crushing and impossible prospect of living without them. But Handling the Undead, which opened January 20 at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, introduces the idea that, perhaps, there may be something worse — and much more complicated.
This Norwegian film possesses a title suggestive of a horror movie, but its story penetrates more deeply into the human psyche than eliciting screams and a fight-or-flight response. Although this is something of a zombie story, it is visually beautiful and haunting rather than frightening — and it’s likely comparable to nothing you’ve seen before.
Based on a book by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, adapted by writer-director Thea Hvistendahl in her feature film debut, the film follows three families whose loved ones return to life when an unexplained event in Oslo awakens the newly dead. Among the risen are Elias, the young son of Anna; Eva, loving wife and mother of two; and Elisabet, beloved wife of a well-to-do older woman. Their families gather around them, puzzled and alarmed at their appearance, but hopeful for a new start.
Handling the Undead (2024)
Håndtering av Udøde
Directed by: Thea Hvistendahl
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Bjørn Sundquist, Bente Børsum, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bahar Pars, Inesa Dauksta, Kian Hansen, Olga Damani, Jan Hrynkiewicz, Hedda Munthe, Denise Trankalis
Screenplay by: Thea Hvistendahl, John Ajvide Lindqvist
Production Design by: Linda Janson
Cinematography by: Pål Ulvik Rokseth
Film Editing by: Thomas Grotmol, Trude Lirhus
Costume Design by: Bente Ulvik
Set Decoration by: Victoria Waelgaard
Art Direction by: Mirjam Veske
Music by: Peter Raeburn
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Nordisk Film
Release Date: January 30, 2024 (Sundance), February 9, 2024
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