HANDLING THE UNDEAD

HÅNDTERING AV UDØDE

By Thea HVISTENDAHL

NEW HORIZONS INT'L FILM FESTIVAL / NEW HORIZONS ASSOCIATION - as DISTR Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, POLAND / FEST

Drama - Completed 2023

A character driven horror/drama, the film deals with fundamental emotions around grief and mortality and the battle of accepting what we cannot control.

Festivals
& Awards

Sundance Film Festival 2024
World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Thessaloniki IFF 2024
Open Horizons - Main
New Horizons International Film Festival Poland 2024
Official Selection
    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • Drama, Horror
    • Countries
    • NORWAY
    • Languages
    • NORWEGIAN
    • Budget
    • 3 - 5 M$
    • Duration
    • 98 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Thea HVISTENDAHL
    • Writer(s)
    • John AJVIDE LINDQVIST, Thea HVISTENDAHL
    • Producer(s)
    • Kristin EMBLEM, Guri NEBY
    • Synopsis
    • Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Sundance, Handling the Undead is a melancholic and somber horror film with soul, based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel. The undead appear in abandoned homes, not to terrify, but to find solace in familiar routines—sleeping in their old beds, having their hair brushed, or receiving visits from loved ones in the hospital. Though these zombies are calm and gentle, the real chills come from the stark realism with which the filmmakers depict their post-mortem state—a hauntingly accurate portrayal of those freshly unearthed from the grave. Inspired by the cinema of Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Thea Hvistendahl’s feature debut breathes new life into the genre. By making zombies the protagonists, it shifts our focus from the living dead to the dead living—the people who have lost their loved ones. This is despair that alienates, pain that prevents connection, suffering that drains the will to live, and guilt that tortures endlessly, making you a resident of an existential limbo—a true specter. Handling the Undead uses horror to tell the story of the ghostly existence of the bereaved. Oslo, drenched in the lethargy of summer, also attains the status of a zombie in Hvistendahl’s slow horror. And as we know from cinema, a city in summer is a place like no other.