Chicago Critics Film Fest 2024 Review: Handling the Undead

✰✰✰​ (out of five)

Synopsis: On a hot summer day in Oslo, the dead mysteriously awaken, and three families are thrown into chaos when their deceased loved ones come back to them. Who are they, and what do they want? A family is faced with the mother’s reawakening before they have even mourned her death after a car accident; an elderly woman gets the love of her life back the same day she has buried her; a grandfather rescues his grandchild from the gravesite in a desperate attempt to get his daughter out of her depression. Handling the Undead is a drama with elements of horror about three families, a story about grief and loss, but also about hope and understanding of what we can’t comprehend or control.

Review: I like to fine a common thread thru CCFF selections. For 2024, slow burns appear to be the one, asking us to trust in the vision and execution. Sadly, Handling the Undead is a deliberately executed but unengaging methodical movie that left me distant. The camera work is nice and bleak (if that's possible), but the pacing of the film's interwoven depressing stories had me full of too much dread. The zombie angle is a nice setup and quality hook, but it ultimately does not pay off.