Horror comes in many forms but in the end is about scaring its audience in some way. Most tend towards scaring us through violence, through gore, through things jumping out and going "boo". But every now and then a horror film can scare us through emotions. Handling the Undead takes the "zombie" trope and laser focuses on loss. And it may be one of the saddest films I've ever seen.
In Handling the Undead there is a general "zombie" apocalypse but without the hordes or gruesome attacks (generally). Here the dead begin to slowly awake. Instead of attacking (generally) they just exist. Instead of us focusing on a group of survivors attempting to flee or kill of undead armies, we follow three stories of people attempting to deal with the fact their dead loved ones are back; a long time partner, a dead child, a mother who just died but was resurrected.
Handling the Undead turns its focus on the pain and grief of mourning, the unbearable pain of seeing your loved one, who you had lost, come back to you but not be themselves. The performances are incredible, subtle yet deeply moving. It is a study in some of the worst pain anyone can feel and it is devastating.
The film begins to bring in some of the more expected "zombie" violence near the end as the resurrected begin to harm those around them but it never becomes the zombie horror that we are used to. Instead this finalizes the realization our characters have that their loved ones cannot come back and are gone forever. It is deeply traumatizing. The film's focus on pain and loss, on grieving is palpable and the way it eschews the escaping motifs of the genre is bold. It is a film I had to sit with for a while.
Handling the Undead/Håndtering av udøde
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Bjørn Sundquist, Bente Børsum, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bahar Pars, Inesa Dauksta
Director: Thea Hvistendahl
Writers: John Ajvide Lindqvist, Thea Hvistendahl
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