Handling the Undead

JJ GonzalezJan 2024

3.0

A bleak and somewhat beautiful piece, “Handling the Undead” had my curiosity the moment it was announced. The first act was great though, with a haunting and mesmerizing score, which is consistent throughout the film. The ending is BIZARRE though, and is haunting as well. Unfortunately, it drags throughout the middle, and the protagonists act about as human as the zombies. Have no idea how they managed to waste Renate.

Given how much I enjoyed Let the Right one In, I had high hopes for Norwegian production, Handling the Undead. Hopes that were slowly eroded, over the course of this film. Yes, I could talk about this being haunting and meaningful, on a vague and nebulous level but I wont. In reality, this essentially is a slow burn zombie film with an outcome no different from any other zombie flick. The key departure is this film is maudlin, lacks pace, an underlying meaning and is generally, downright depressing. I could have rated this down further but there is nothing wrong with the quality of the acting, cinematography, etc, its the underlying script, for me, that doesn't work. In summary, whilst Let the Right One in was amazing, I felt this is its antithesis. Without beating around the bush, trying to unearth some hidden meaning, in this reviewers opinion, its simply crummy. My advice, if you like zombie flicks, most are better than this.

HorsefaceSep 2024

0.5

Even at four times speed (MX Player won't play faster), it's excruciatingly slow. At least you get a few laughs, because a two-minute shot of an old guy walking looks hilarious in quadruple speed, or a three-minute trumpet solo or weeping session for the camera sounds tear-inducingly funny. I like slow movies with long shots when there's a script and a point to it, but this is just toe-cringingly pathetic and pretentious with zero talent or story to back it up. What a boring clown show. It also looks like poop. 90% of scenes have grays instead of blacks (even a scene where the entire power grid is down, and it's supposed to be pitch dark), and it looks like someone made an analog copy of a copy of a copy, dragged it through mud, and then scanned it. On the upside, it's time for bed, I've been having trouble falling asleep lately, but right now I'm almost nodding off while writing this.