The first word that comes to mind when thinking of how to write about Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead is: dread. To expand: slow, ponderous dread. Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist (and based on his novel of the same name), this is a zombie movie in the tradition of the author’s own Let the Right One In. There are zombies here but, as with the vampires in the latter work, the focus is elsewhere, mostly. Its genre construct is meant to elevate a deeper kind of pain. In this incarnation, a series of sad people dealing with different variations of grief must contend with an unsettling new reality: those loved ones they’ve buried have come back to life.
But only somewhat. Stand-up comedian David (Anders Danielsen Lie) loses his wife (Bahar Pars) in a car accident, forced to face their two children in the immediate aftermath. Hours later,...
But only somewhat. Stand-up comedian David (Anders Danielsen Lie) loses his wife (Bahar Pars) in a car accident, forced to face their two children in the immediate aftermath. Hours later,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Kodak had a momentous 2023 with more than 60 movies shot on film, and 2024 gets off to a promising start, led by Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” Luca Guadignino’s “Challengers,” and Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu.”
In addition, there’s M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap,” Ilya Povolotsky’s “Grace,” and John Andreas Andersen’s “Nr. 24,” with many more to come.
Plus, there are the following Sundance premieres: Jane Shoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” Aaron Shimberg’s “A Different Man,” Nathan Silver’s “Between the Temples,” and Thea Hvistendahl’s “Handling the Undead.”
“Challengers” “Challengers”Amazon/MGM Studios
Guadagnino’s first comedy is a love triangle about the sexual tension of tennis with queer undertones. It stars Zendaya as a championship tennis star/coach opposite Mike Faist as her husband, and Josh O’Connor as her ex-lover and his childhood best friend, thrust into a grudge match tennis competition. The 35mm film-friendly director...
In addition, there’s M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap,” Ilya Povolotsky’s “Grace,” and John Andreas Andersen’s “Nr. 24,” with many more to come.
Plus, there are the following Sundance premieres: Jane Shoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” Aaron Shimberg’s “A Different Man,” Nathan Silver’s “Between the Temples,” and Thea Hvistendahl’s “Handling the Undead.”
“Challengers” “Challengers”Amazon/MGM Studios
Guadagnino’s first comedy is a love triangle about the sexual tension of tennis with queer undertones. It stars Zendaya as a championship tennis star/coach opposite Mike Faist as her husband, and Josh O’Connor as her ex-lover and his childhood best friend, thrust into a grudge match tennis competition. The 35mm film-friendly director...
- 1/27/2024
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
A loud, high-pitched sound echoes through the streets of Oslo. Car alarms start going off everywhere. A citywide blackout begins. An elderly man, draped over his grandson’s grave, begins to hear the sound of muffled knocks coming from under the ground. “Grandpa is coming,” he says repeatedly. He grabs a shovel and begins to dig. So begins Handling the Undead, Thea Hvistendahl‘s somber feature directorial debut that acts as a haunting meditation on grief, daring to ask us what we would do if someone we loved returned from the dead.
Adapted from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s (Let the Right One In) 2005 novel of the same name (he also co-wrote the screenplay with Hvistendahl), Handling the Undead chronicles the lives of three families as they deal with the sudden return of their recently deceased loved ones. Anna is saved from a suicide attempt when her father Mahler (Bjørn Sundquist...
Adapted from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s (Let the Right One In) 2005 novel of the same name (he also co-wrote the screenplay with Hvistendahl), Handling the Undead chronicles the lives of three families as they deal with the sudden return of their recently deceased loved ones. Anna is saved from a suicide attempt when her father Mahler (Bjørn Sundquist...
- 1/26/2024
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
If zombies weren’t so fixated on eating our brains, perhaps they’d be poignant to have around: semi-living, semi-breathing semblances of people we’ve loved, there to be seen and held and talked to, not truly present but not absent either. Whether that’s preferable to the void of death is the question underpinning “Handling the Undead” for much of its running time, even as the threat of the undead reverting to their usual habits gives this soft, sorrowful bereavement drama a core of cold-blooded horror. Thea Hvistendahl’s impressively restrained debut feature may keep its genre intentions just up its sleeve until the final act, but it never feels like a trick or a compromise: It’s a living-dead nightmare with a brain and a heart and, most importantly and inedibly, a soul.
The film’s somewhat liminal genre identity presents marketing challenges for U.S. distributor Neon...
The film’s somewhat liminal genre identity presents marketing challenges for U.S. distributor Neon...
- 1/20/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Sometimes when you’re a cinematographer, the goal is to produce the richest and most exquisite possible look. Other times, it might be the opposite. The latter was the case for Pal Ulvik Rokseth, the Norwegian-born Dp who was tasked with producing the most downscale view of New York City possible for the three-part Peacock miniseries “The Continental: From the World of John Wick.” For this 1970s era prequel, Rokseth’s marching orders were to take the contemporary look and style of the four John Wick movies starring Keanu Reeves and turn them upside-down while exploring the origin of he iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe. He was tasked with capturing re distinctively grimy and decrepit look of the city in the 1970s, replete with trash-filled streets, steam churning out of the sewers and graffiti everywhere. It’s dark and messy and shadowy by design.
“Yeah, we wanted...
“Yeah, we wanted...
- 11/11/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Five TV cinematographers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2024 awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Wednesday, November 8, at 6:00 p.m. Pt; 9:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Ray Richmond and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.
RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix)
Synopsis: The story of Marie-Laure, a blind French teenager, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
Bio: Tobias Schliessler‘s career has included “Patriots Day,” “Beauty and the Beast,...
RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.
All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix)
Synopsis: The story of Marie-Laure, a blind French teenager, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
Bio: Tobias Schliessler‘s career has included “Patriots Day,” “Beauty and the Beast,...
- 11/1/2023
- by Chris Beachum and Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
In a film hinged on a killer ocean rift, the most outlandish portion of Norwegian disaster-movie-savant John Andreas Andersen’s “The Burning Sea” occurs when the people in authority — when presented with the scientific facts of the matter — make the right decision. In Norway, oil is truly liquid gold. Though the country, in reality, hopes to become a leader on climate change, the region stands as one of the world’s leaders in exporting that fossil fuel. For Andersen, the contradiction seems rife for big explosions and large devastation, for
The third film in a disaster trilogy that began with “The Wave” flowing seamlessly into “The Quake,” a fake documentary launches “The Burning Sea.” An older oil man, living in a cabin, wistfully recalls the country’s energy legacy: Footage from the 1980s of craned rigs, projectile plumes of oil, and birds covered in the noxious black liquid stitch a montage.
The third film in a disaster trilogy that began with “The Wave” flowing seamlessly into “The Quake,” a fake documentary launches “The Burning Sea.” An older oil man, living in a cabin, wistfully recalls the country’s energy legacy: Footage from the 1980s of craned rigs, projectile plumes of oil, and birds covered in the noxious black liquid stitch a montage.
- 2/25/2022
- by Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
TrustNordisk has closed key deals on John Andreas Andersen’s anticipated Norwegian disaster film “The North Sea.”
Now in post-production, the ambitious movie is produced by Fantefilm Fiksjon, which previously delivered the Scandinavian blockbusters “The Quake” and “The Wave” that TrustNordisk sold around the world.
The film, the trailer for which has just been unveiled by TrustNordisk, opens on Christmas Eve in 1969 as the Norwegian government announces that the country is home to the world’s largest offshore oil platform following the discovery of the Ekofisk field. The finding marks a turning point in the history of Norway and kicks off an unprecedented financial adventure. The thriller explores the consequences of 50 years of offshore drilling by the Norwegian government.
TrustNordisk has sold the film to Canada (Mongrel Media), Japan (Inter Film), South Korea (AtNine), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Hong Kong (Sundream Motion Pictures), Poland (Hagi Film), Former Yugoslavia (Cinemania), Czech Republic and...
Now in post-production, the ambitious movie is produced by Fantefilm Fiksjon, which previously delivered the Scandinavian blockbusters “The Quake” and “The Wave” that TrustNordisk sold around the world.
The film, the trailer for which has just been unveiled by TrustNordisk, opens on Christmas Eve in 1969 as the Norwegian government announces that the country is home to the world’s largest offshore oil platform following the discovery of the Ekofisk field. The finding marks a turning point in the history of Norway and kicks off an unprecedented financial adventure. The thriller explores the consequences of 50 years of offshore drilling by the Norwegian government.
TrustNordisk has sold the film to Canada (Mongrel Media), Japan (Inter Film), South Korea (AtNine), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Hong Kong (Sundream Motion Pictures), Poland (Hagi Film), Former Yugoslavia (Cinemania), Czech Republic and...
- 9/22/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
TrustNordisk has unveiled the trailer for “The North Sea,” the Norwegian disaster movie directed by John Andreas Andersen, and produced by the banner behind the Scandinavian blockbusters “The Quake” and “The Wave.”
“The North Sea” was co-written by Harald Rosenløw Eeg, who also penned “The Quake” and “The Wave,” and Lars Gudmestad, whose credits include the Norwegian thriller “Headhunters.”
The film opens on Christmas Eve in 1969 as the Norwegian government announces that the country is home to the world’s largest offshore oil platform following the discovery of the Ekofisk field. The finding marks a turning point in the history of Norway and kicks off an unprecedented financial adventure. The thriller explores the consequences of 50 years of offshore drilling by the Norwegian government.
“The North Sea” stars Kristine Kujath Thorp (“Ninjababy”), Rolf Kristian Larsen (“Cold Prey”), Anders Baasmo Christiansen (“Kon-Tiki”), Bjørn Floberg (“Out Stealing Horses”) and Anneke von der Lippe...
“The North Sea” was co-written by Harald Rosenløw Eeg, who also penned “The Quake” and “The Wave,” and Lars Gudmestad, whose credits include the Norwegian thriller “Headhunters.”
The film opens on Christmas Eve in 1969 as the Norwegian government announces that the country is home to the world’s largest offshore oil platform following the discovery of the Ekofisk field. The finding marks a turning point in the history of Norway and kicks off an unprecedented financial adventure. The thriller explores the consequences of 50 years of offshore drilling by the Norwegian government.
“The North Sea” stars Kristine Kujath Thorp (“Ninjababy”), Rolf Kristian Larsen (“Cold Prey”), Anders Baasmo Christiansen (“Kon-Tiki”), Bjørn Floberg (“Out Stealing Horses”) and Anneke von der Lippe...
- 5/27/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Torun, Poland – Norwegian cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth is making his mark with such recent high-profile films as Paul Greengrass’ “22 July” and Espen Sandberg’s “Amundsen,” both of which landed him in the main competition at the EnergaCamerimage Intl. Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Torun, Poland. Rokseth spoke to Variety about the challenges of shooting “Amundsen,” working with Sandberg and the difficult experience that was “22 July.” How did you get involved in “Amundsen”? I knew about the movie and was very interested in what kind of approach Espen Sandberg was going to take, telling the story of Roald Amundsen. I got the script from Espen Horn, one of the producers, and I was truly amazed at how the film was angled – not at all the action movie I thought it would be, but rather a character study, not only of Amundsen, but also his brother Leon and people...
- 11/9/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The Weinstein Company will begin sales in Santa Monica on the upcoming feature version of Lars Klevberg’s horror short.
The Norwegian will direct the story from a screenplay by Blair Butler.
Polaroid is styled in the vein of The Ring and Final Destination and centres on a high school loner, Bird Fitcher, who stumbles upon a vintage Polaroid camera.
Bird soon learns that the camera houses a terrible secret: whoever has their picture taken by it meets a tragic and violent end.
The girl and her friends must survive one more night as they race to solve the mystery of the haunted Polaroid before it kills them all.
Producing the film are Chris Bender, Jake Wagner and Jake Weiner of Benderspink, producers of the original short John Einar Hagen and Petter Onstad Lokke of El Dorado Films, and Roy Lee of Vertigo Films.
Dimension Films optioned the rights last year after Klevberg’s short made a...
The Norwegian will direct the story from a screenplay by Blair Butler.
Polaroid is styled in the vein of The Ring and Final Destination and centres on a high school loner, Bird Fitcher, who stumbles upon a vintage Polaroid camera.
Bird soon learns that the camera houses a terrible secret: whoever has their picture taken by it meets a tragic and violent end.
The girl and her friends must survive one more night as they race to solve the mystery of the haunted Polaroid before it kills them all.
Producing the film are Chris Bender, Jake Wagner and Jake Weiner of Benderspink, producers of the original short John Einar Hagen and Petter Onstad Lokke of El Dorado Films, and Roy Lee of Vertigo Films.
Dimension Films optioned the rights last year after Klevberg’s short made a...
- 10/29/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
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