SPECIAL FEATURE: Film Review: Opstandelsen

Film: Opstandelsen
Running time: 50 mins
Director: Casper Haugegaard
Starring: Marie Frohmé Vanglund, Mads Althoff, Jonas Bjørn-Andersen, Roxanne Tirkov, Hans Maaløe
Genre: Action/Drama/Horror
Country: Denmark

This film was screened at the Grimm Up North Film Festival in October 2010.

Not many people these days will say ‘no’ to a zombie movie. This is partly because they are now so popularised and watered down that anyone can handle them. It would seem everyone is jumping on the zombie bandwagon, as Hollywood studios churn out countless identical zombie films, a cinematic parody of zombies themselves: vacant husks of films that never truly live, but still continue to play and spread like a disease through video stores and cinemas everywhere. Opstandelsen (or The Resurrection) is different. It is a new breed of fast paced, purebred modern zombie film that has much to offer the jaded viewer. So, no surprise to discover that it won the award for Best Low Budget Film at the Grimm Up North Festival this Halloween.

The story starts with a family who have gathered in church for the funeral of Simon. However, it isn't long before the dead are rising from their graves - and feasting upon the mourners.

Simon’s two brothers, Peter and Johannes, fight for survival, trying to escape the horde of living dead that chase them through the churches catacombs, whilst, at the same time, facing up to the issues they have with each other…


Only a country as liberal as Denmark could produce a zombie film that’s shot on location in a real church - and have the real life church’s vicar play himself! This film, being set in a church, features tons of religious symbolism, which will no doubt anger church groups around the world. For some, the very idea that such evil could penetrate holy ground is blasphemy. However, there is a bit where a cross is picked up and used, axe fashion, to fight off zombies. Surely this holy weapon’s effectiveness is a testament if anything to the power of divinity and faith?

Although I think any such discussion is a moot point, since this is very much a postmodern movie, which isn’t trying to be clever beyond the point of its face value and aesthetics. It simply presents genre fans with a great premise, which they are usually denied: ZOMBIES IN A CHURCH!

As you can imagine, this leads on to lots of gory moments which are pulled off brilliantly. The initial kick off during the funeral is very intense and nothing less than a bloodbath. One particular gory highlight is when a man gets trapped under a door that is barged down by a crowd of the undead. This is perhaps a reference to Romero’s original Day Of The Dead, where a very similar scenario arises, although, impressively, this particular sequence manages to top even Romero by conjuring a horrific yet prolonged death.

Being only fifty minutes in duration and full of action, there is little time for a complex plot in Opstandelsen. However, characterisation is still present, and develops through the back story of the two brothers. One is a drug addict, who has caused the family much grief in the past, and being thrust into this heavily confining situation forces them to settle their feud, which proves to be too great to be put aside. Mads Althoff and Jonas Bjørn-Andersen both manage the action and the family drama capably, with some truly touching moments of fraternal bonding.

When asked why the film was only fifty minutes in length, director Casper Haugegaard explained, “We didn’t plan it that way, we just had a script to shoot and we shot it. Fifty minutes is what came out.” This unusual running time has caused the film some issues when being shown at festivals, since it is neither a short nor a feature. However, the relentless pace of the movie would be difficult to maintain for a full feature without it becoming tedious, and there is too much to cover to fit in to a shorter movie. Fifty minutes really is the happy medium in this case.

The film achieves the rapid pace and claustrophobic atmosphere by several means. Some may compare Opstandelsen to The Blair Witch Project, due to its heavy use of hand-held camera. In fact, the camera is constantly in motion throughout the film. As much a stylistic choice as a result of shooting entirely on location, there are few long shots. Most of the footage is very close and restrictive, giving rise to a rational fear of that which is off camera. Every sound makes us want to look around and check for danger - we feel we are watching from our own POV as the suspension of disbelief takes hold.

Unlike most zombie films, the editing style is almost entirely montage. At times, the edits fly thick and fast, particularly when the action warrants it. When our heroes are at rest (as much as they can be given the situation), the edits are more sparse, leaving us with lingering ‘calm before the storm’ moments. The editing almost replicates the heartbeats of the characters on screen, drawing us in to share their state of mind.

The other element at play is the lighting, which varies greatly from brightly lit white walled rooms to dark dingy tunnels with very minimal lighting. The terror is either perfectly illuminated, or left to our imaginations to fill in the gaps. With these two, approaches working in tandem, as well as the rapid editing and tight, claustrophobic camerawork, there is little rest for the viewer.


If you like your zombie films to be true horror films that scare, excite, thrill and disgust then this is the film for you. If you feel that mainstream horror lets you down time and time again, always falling short of the adventure you sat down for, and sitting on the fence instead of getting in your face and challenging you, then Opstandelsen is your saviour. If you’re not that bothered about such things, then it’s pretty cool because it has zombies in a church! DOB

SPECIAL FEATURE: Festival Review: Grimm Up North Film Festival

28th – 31st October 2010.

Manchester’s premier horror and sci-fi film festival returned this Halloween for its second year with another selection of the best movies the genre has to offer. This year, the festival moved to Manchester’s Dancehouse Theatre, which the festival director Simeon Halligan explained was originally built as a cinema in the 1940s. Grimmfest had so much to offer that they also had to make use of another smaller auditorium, where they showed even more movies that were previously unseen on these shores, since most of the films being shown were premieres in some way.

There was a lot going on outside of the cinema, with stalls selling all things horror, a display of special effects and prosthetics, academic seminars, and an endless sea of people in zombie makeup and Stormtrooper uniforms. However, the main attractions were the films, so let’s have a look at the subtitled highlights.

The festival opened with Mario Bava’s definitive version of I Am Legend by Richard Mattheson, The Last Man On Earth. This was a rare opportunity to see this classic on the big screen, and it was accompanied by electionica duo Animat. Animat’s replacement score added a new, tongue-in-cheek aspect to the camp, yet atmospheric ambience of the original, by mixing in pieces of Michael Jacksons Thriller and Human by Goldfrapp, as well as their own blend of creepy vibes. There was also a screening of the digitally remastered version of the classic Dario Argento giallo, Deep Red. Once again something a lot of us have seen before, but not on the big screen.

From Hong Kong, there was Dream Home, a powerful piece of Asian extreme cinema. Dream Home is the story of a lady who has been trying to buy a flat for most of her life and eventually finds herself going to great lengths to get it. It’s almost clinical style and mundane realism makes the dark deeds all the more effective. Dream Home is akin to films like American Psycho and Audition but much more extreme and graphic in its depiction of violence.

Chased By Satan was another highlight, although not entirely original. In many ways it works as an Indonesian version of Ring or Ju-On, this time with a haunted video camera rather than a tape. Many of the same themes prevail, although the story has nicely encompassed a lot of Indonesian folklore and offers several bits that will make you jump off your seat (and pretend you didn’t to the person sat next to you)! All in all, it is light on gore and a good fun ghost story.

Evil In The Time Of Heroes was a splatterfest of epic proportions. This Greek zombie movie is as visually stunning as Nightwatch and Shaun Of The Dead, and also mixes in a lot of comedy moments. The story is a little hard to follow, and is set in both ancient and modern day Greece, however, with the stunning comedic gore and visceral pace, being lost in the story doesn’t seem to matter so much. This was definitely one of the most enjoyable movies of the festival, making the audience gasp and laugh throughout. Oddly enough, it also features Billy Zane as a mystical warrior, although his Greek is flawless so one could be forgiven for missing him altogether.

The most artistic movie of Grimmfest was Amer, a French/Belgian homage to the gialli of the ‘60s and ‘70s. As you can imagine, it features all the usual iconography of giallo, from monstrous mothers to lace gloved hands and heavy breathing. The most impressive thing about Amer is its visual style, which creates a very raw exploration of sexuality. The narrative follows a woman at three stages of her life, almost echoing the life span of giallo itself. Although the almost avant garde visuals do overwhelm the story (and the viewer), Amer is undoubtedly an impressive piece of filmmaking. Not to be missed.

The only way to describe Alien Vs Ninja is fun. However, as one audience member kept shouting: “This is the worst film I’ve ever seen” - I guess it is not for everyone. Most of the audience did seem to laugh at this crazy Japanese comedy/action/sci-fi romp. As you can imagine, it involves a clan of ninja who come across a dangerous alien threat in the style of a Power Rangers version of H.R. Gigers Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. There are lots of laughs, lots of coolnessm, and if you want anything more you are watching the wrong film! This is a bit of a spoof, and much of the comedy is farcical and slapstick.

Opstandelsen (The Resurrection) was a real gem of a zombie film. At only fifty minutes long, it moves quickly and utilises a raw realistic aesthetic with a lot of hand-held shots, which may remind many of The Blair Witch Project. The story follows two brothers who come up against a whole horde of zombies at their brother’s funeral. The whole movie is shot in a real church. In fact, the priest conducting the funeral is played by the actual vicar who runs the church in real life! The gore is layered on thick, and the pace of the camera and edits leave you feeling like you just ran a marathon in under an hour. An awesome debut from director Casper Haugegaard, and a must for any zombie fan.

Already making a big splash with critics, We Are What We Are was one of the top films at the festival. Pitched as “doing for cannibals what Let the Right One In did for vampires,” this instant classic does just that. The debut feature from Mexican director Jorge Michael Grau explores the ideas behind family unit and sexuality as danger, with a dark tragic tale which leaves us identifying sympathetically with a group of people whose lifestyle breaches one of the most ancient of taboos. We Are What We Are is powerful, moving and sensitive - and manages to avoid being exploitative like almost all other cannibal movies. A real genre film.

The most powerful and impressive film of the Grimmfest was Korean movie Bedevilled. Loosely speaking, it is a rape-revenge film, although completely avoids presenting the topic in any sort of exploitative context. More powerful and relevant than films like I Spit On Your Grave, due to the social context of Korea and its treatment of women, Bedevilled is more than rape-revenge, it is about a lifetime of suffering and turning-the-other-cheek, and the almost entirely justified grisly revenge that ensues. This is a film that set a whole audience to tears, and I’m not sure anyone who sees it will ever forget it. It was easily the film of the festival, not just because of its immense power, but also because of its hidden charm and wit that punctuates the underlying darkness that it presents. Bedevilled is a pure cinematic force, and something to be watched and cherished for its sensitive treatment of such a difficult subject matter.


On the whole, Grimmfest featured an incredible line-up of films spanning the entire spectrum of horror. It made us laugh, it made us jump and it even made us cry like children. A first class event for any genre aficionado. DOB