72
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The PlaylistCharles BarfieldThe PlaylistCharles BarfieldThe devastatingly bleak story of Handling the Undead is a wrenching but beautiful exploration of grief and human connection in the face of something horrific.
- 85The Daily BeastNick SchagerThe Daily BeastNick SchagerA zombie film unlike any other, focused less on mayhem than on grief, loss, and the quiet, tragic terror begat by the dead’s return.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe strong cast and distinctive approach to a widely trafficked subgenre make it a soulful rumination on loss.
- 70Screen DailyAmber WilkinsonScreen DailyAmber WilkinsonHvistendahl gives her ensemble time and space to deliver the conflicted emotions they are feeling, a mixture of shock and longing playing out on their faces and in their movements.
- 60The GuardianBenjamin LeeThe GuardianBenjamin LeeIt works in parts, as a study of the ache and irrationality of grief, asking its characters how much they’re willing to accept and deny in order to see their loved ones again. But the first-time director Thea Hvistendahl’s patience-insisting slow burn can be testing, like watching a block of ice slowly melt, a story told in the smallest of drips, some of which sink in deeper than others.
- 60ColliderRoss BonaimeColliderRoss BonaimeIt's a deliberately-paced drama with some decent performances and a gorgeously dark aesthetic, but lacks the time or effort to give these stories what they need.
- 58The Film StageDan MeccaThe Film StageDan MeccaDespite some devoted performances and interesting formal choices, its endgame is rather rote. That the film is quieter and more deliberate in getting there doesn’t make it any less cliche.
- 50Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeSlant MagazineSteven ScaifeFor how committed it is to convincing the audience of the profundity of a rudimentary point, the film’s measured pacing comes to feel like a kind of torture.
- 42ConsequenceMary SirokyConsequenceMary SirokyUnfortunately, the 99-minute run time on Norwegian zombie drama Handling the Undead feels infinitely longer, and lands more as a meditation on grief than an intriguing entry into zombie cinema.