Review: Handling the Undead (2024), directed by Thea Hvistendahl

Handling the Undead is Directed by Thea Hvistendahl and Stars Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie

Review: Handling the Undead is Thea Hvistendahl’s debut directorial feature, and while there are aspects of the movie that are fascinating (and even quite profound), the story is drawn out for far too long. The emotional bite is there in doses, but there’s a general feeling of malaise that washes over you and drowns you out.

handling the dead 2024 movie — Anna (Renate Reinsve) in Handling the Undead (2024), directed by Thea Hvistendahl

Handling the Undead Review

Marketing Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead as a zombie movie feels misleading. Sure, there are reanimated humans that look quite similar to the typical zombie you’d expect to see in a horror movie flooded with them, but that’s about where Handling the Undead begins and ends being remotely similar to the subgenre. The rest of Handling the Undead is a meandering drama, dissecting loss and grief to occasionally positive results, but often hindered by viewer expectations and painfully slow pacing.

Handling the Undead debuted at 2024‘s Sundance Film Festival to middling critical results. There’s a lot to be drawn to on the surface, mainly the reunion between Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie following the overwhelming success of The Worst Person in the World. Both give quiet performances that still remain powerful as they reconnect with loved ones who had passed away not too long ago.

Handling the Undead is Thea Hvistendahl‘s debut directorial feature, and while there are aspects of the movie that are fascinating (and even profound and deep), the story is drawn out for far too long. The emotional bite is there in doses, but there’s a general feeling of malaise that washes over you and drowns you out. It’s moody in an effective way, but the film’s slight and timid nature always keeps you at arms length.

Hvistendahl crafts a movie with thoughtful visual design and a singular emotional thread that is successfully transferred between the three separate fragments of the overall story, but the stripped-down approach to the typical zombie story turns Handling the Undead into a drab melodrama light on plot details to grab ahold of. Thea Hvistendahl’s skill is evident in pieces, but the movie wanders endlessly until it finally settles on being your usual zombie movie with a finale that’ll have you grabbing at your chest. It’s bookended nicely, but the movie ultimately struggles to drag you along.

Score: 5/10

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery

Watch Handling the Undead (2024) on Hulu and VOD

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