On an abnormally hot summer day in Oslo, a strange electric field surrounds the city as a collective migraine spreads across town. TVs, lightbulbs, and electronics go haywire, the chaos reaching a debilitating crescendo when suddenly, it’s over. But the strange event has awoken the newly deceased from death. HANDLING THE UNDEAD weaves together three families through their loss: Mahler (72) and his daughter, Anna, mourn the too early passing of his grandson; Tora (86) says her final goodbye to her wife at the funeral home; and a family of four face a life without a wife and mother.
A character driven horror/drama, the film deals with fundamental emotions around grief and mortality and the battle of accepting what we cannot control. Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In).
“Offers something unique — a story about the reanimated dead, sure, but with the emotional core focusing on the grief associated with the idea of loved ones returning and how real people might act in the face of a family member inexplicably returning to life. It’s a film that begs you to think of a zombie as a real person and not just some mindless husk-craving brains. The result is a beautifully dark tragedy filled with intense sadness and incredibly honest emotion.” —Charles Barfield, The Playlist “Horror has long proven a rich prism through which filmmakers and screenwriters can explore the thorny nature of grief, and HANDLING THE UNDEAD is a reflection on the difficulty of saying goodbye, as well as how far we might go for a few more stolen moments with a loved one.” —Hannah Strong, Little White Lies “Shot on 35mm film, every frame is masterfully crafted and each transition feels fluid and coherent… A lesser film would have automatically defaulted to using jumpscares and other gimmicks to leave an impression, but Hvistendahl proves that tension can arise just as uncomfortably from simply staying in a moment longer than usual.” —Rebecca Rosén, Flipscreen
