‘Handling the Undead’ Review
With multiple successful adaptations of his work already under his belt, John Ajvide Lindqvist’s bibliography seems poised to be returned to on a regular basis by the world of arthouse cinema. From Tomas Alfredson’s take on Lindqvist’s debut novel, Let The Right One In, to Ali Abbasi’s surreal adaptation of Border, Lindqvist’s novels have a transfixing quality to them that lend themselves well to the grounded-yet-otherworldly line that cinema often invisibly crosses. The sense that everything is alright even when darkness or otherness is washing over its characters is what fuels the macabre reality in Thea Hvistendahl’s directorial debut, Handling The Undead - an adaptation of Lindqvist’s second novel of the same name, co-written by Lindqvist and Hvistendahl. However, the peculiar circumstances that consume its grief-stricken characters leave an underwhelming and distant film in its wake, as Handling The Undead grapples raw emotions with cold, dead hands.
The strength of Hvistendahl’s film is in its premise and the gradual way it sets itself up to explore that hook. Handling The Undead follows three separate families who have recently lost someone and become overcome by that grief. Anna (Renate Reinsve) sleepwalks through life as her father, Mahler (Bjørn Sundquist), grows concerned that she will not be able to move on from the loss of her child. Tora (Bente Børsum) grieves the loss of her partner near the end of her own life, while David (Anders Danielsen Lie) struggles to imagine a life without his wife as he tries to wrestle with the recent loss and take care of their two kids at the same time. The common denominator is that these wounds are fresh, and that’s what makes Handling The Undead a bigger pill to swallow when the recently deceased suddenly come back to life - well, kind of.
Behaving like zombies that are still in the transitional period between life and death, they aren’t quite eating brains or flesh yet, but their comatose demeanor is made all the more heartwrenching with flashes of genuine brain activity combined with the physical presence of someone once absent now sitting across from the bereaved. It’s such a simple concept, and Hvistendahl is acutely aware that it’s a minefield of emotional fragility but also one that can be weaponized appropriately with just a camera and a lingering gaze. As its characters are prevented from moving through the grieving process, they’re also confronted with a second chance to save something fragile from being taken from them again.
Shot by Pål Ulvik Rokseth, Handling The Undead becomes a hypnotic entry into the canon of zombie films simply from its premise and how it composes itself. Resting heavily on Rokseth’s cinematography, it’s difficult to overstate how meditative Hvistendahl’s film ends up becoming, and it gives its audience a lot of time to empathize and contemplate the emotional upheaval that occurs when something tragic and final is reversed. In its initial throes, that’s a benefit to the film and crafts that alluring supernatural element that paints many of Lindqvist’s works. As a more sentimental approach to the zombie genre and the complicated process of grieving that is ostensibly upended by Handling The Undead’s premise, it’s a hefty piece of subdued horror.
Unfortunately, Hvistendahl’s film is too languid in its pacing, and its characters are not as fleshed out as they could be. Thus, each character’s struggle is relatively underwhelming. The script is minimalist at best, and its performances are palpably pained but equally strained as they try to delve into something intangible. Each performance is sturdy, but it's not enough to carry the film when it doesn’t feel like it’s carrying itself to any meaningful catharsis or resolution. Handling The Undead doesn’t meander so much as it freezes in place, reflecting the lifeless bodies suddenly reanimated and forcing those with thoughts and emotions left to feel to create their own resolution out of the experience. There is a resolution to Lindqvist and Hvistendahl’s screenplay, but its quiet pain is far too subdued to illicit any substantial reaction.
As the film winds down, there’s a hollowness to the entire experience. While its initial premise is morbidly alluring, there’s little more given to make the pain echo throughout. Combined with some solid-but-not-outstanding makeup to make the dead feel slightly alive, it all just feels undercooked. That being said, Handling The Undead generally looks impressive and is anchored by strong performances from formidable actors that gift the film with more life than its detached atmosphere can muster on its own. A film that seeks immersion within its setting but then squanders the achievement of facilitating that level of empathy, Hvistendahl’s strongly empathic gaze is a vital component of what works in her adaptation, but not enough to sustain a lack of momentum and narrative.
