By John Corrado

Director Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead is a slow-burn Norwegian zombie movie that takes place in the aftermath of an event that allows the dead to return to life.

Based on a book by Let the Right One In scribe John Ajvide Lindqvist (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Hvistendahl), the film is set in Oslo, where an electromagnetic power surge causes the deceased to be brought back to life, and reunited with grieving members of their families.

Mahler (Bjørn Sundquist) is a grandfather who exhumes his grandson from the grave, reuniting the boy with his young mother Anna (Renate Reinsve). David (Anders Danielsen Lie) is a father whose partner Eva (Bahar Pars) dies in the hospital and comes back to life. Tora (Bente Børsum) is an elderly lady reunited with her recently deceased partner Elisabet (Olga Damani).

There’s understated, and then there’s Handling the Undead, which often feels too opaque. If one can almost admire the film’s lack of exposition, we are given no background information on this world to pull us in. The characters are barely fleshed out, and exist completely independent of one another. The characters all seem resigned to this being their world; sequences unfold with little dialogue, a drab, grey look informing the film.

Despite the occasional well-crafted sequence, and some foreboding uses of music, the film often feels like a collection of scenes strung together with no real connective tissue. If Handling the Undead is all about setting a mood, the film’s languid pace prevents it from having much in the way of suspense. As a zombie movie, it’s the slowest of slow-burns, more interested in being a somber tone poem about death, and struggling to let go of loved ones who have passed on.

The problem is that Handling the Undead doesn’t have much to say, and is all a bit too patient and vague to serve its larger purpose. At times, it does achieve a sorrowful tone; the performances are fine, and a few moments are affective. But the film is not really about raising a pulse, and can feel long at 98 minutes.

Film Rating: ★★ (out of 4)

Handling the Undead is now playing exclusively in theatres in limited release. It’s being distributed in Canada by Elevation Pictures.