By Thea Hvistendahl
Based on bestselling novel by world-renowned author John Ajvide Lindqvist, particularly famous for his screen-adapted works BORDER (2018) and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008).
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.