Watch out – this is going to be the kind of zombie film that leaves you reaching for the tissues, no doubt. Described as a drama with horror elements, Handling the Undead follows three families whose lives suddenly change when their deceased relatives somehow return.

The Scandinavian film adapts the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Lindqvist wrote the vampire novel and film adaptation of Let the Right One In; if you’ve read or watched that, you probably have an idea for how Lindqvist crafts a story that both is and isn’t horror as you might expect. 

In the US, the film will be distributed by NEON. Check out the trailer for the feature below.

Here’s the official synopsis of Handling the Undead from Neon:

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.

Handling the Undead comes from director Thea Hvistendahl, who also contributed to Lindqvist’s script.

The film opens exclusively at the IFC Center in New York on May 31. Afterwards, it expands to select cities starting June 7.

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