Name this movie about the dead returning to their lives — not zombies!

September 1, 2011 1:51 AM

Can anyone tell me the name of the Scandinavian movie that has people’s deceased friends and relatives returning from the dead? Only they’re not zombies — they look rather well, in fact — and seem rather confused about why and how they’ve managed to return. They try to go on with their lives, taking jobs, resuming family duties… but strains appear, and social tensions. Plus, they just *aren’t* quite the same as they were before.

I’d say the movie is fairly recent, having come out in the past decade or so. As for tone, it’s somewhat like a dark comedy, but also asks some poignant questions.

posted by scamper to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Songs from the Second Floor?
posted by scruss at 2:09 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It’s funny, because I did see that movie too… but that’s not the one. And I hope I’m not conflating the plots in my head. That one was thought provoking as well, but this one was a bit less esoteric, and more about the social implications associated with our dead relatives attempting to rejoin society. Great answer though, and I recommend that movie to anyone.
posted by scamper at 2:13 AM on September 1, 2011

Best answer: Aha, I was conflating two movies, that one with this one! But I only got the setting wrong. The movie in question is called “Les revenants” and it’s French. Voila: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Came_Back

Highly recommended, btw.
posted by scamper at 2:27 AM on September 1, 2011 [8 favorites]

I was just remembering the bit from Songs From The Second Floor where a main character meets his dead childhood friend on the train, and there's much awkwardness over owed money.
posted by scruss at 2:28 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

What's funny is that I just noticed this movie on Hulu a few hours ago.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/268661/they-came-back

That's the link though I'm not sure if it works outside of the U.S.A.
posted by I-baLL at 3:06 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

The not-quite zombies theme brought back my fond memories of reading Stephen King's Pet Sematary.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 3:41 AM on September 1, 2011

I am glad you asked this question because this movie sounds awesome
posted by zoomorphic at 7:14 AM on September 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Y’all may also be interested in the question that led me to this post. Sci-fi writer Charlie Stross has a delightful blog where he posts all manner of musings. Yesterday he posted some interesting questions regarding how society might adapt to an outbreak of immortal science-zombies:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/09/zombies.html

The responses are usually interesting too.
posted by scamper at 11:11 AM on September 1, 2011