Cadaver is a Norwegian mystery/drama/horror kind of movie which is directed by Jarand Herdal and stars a few Norwegian actors which of course i don’t know and tells the story of survivors of a nuclear disaster who no longer have the privilege of necessities, such as food water and pretty much anything a human needs to survive, however one a man in a mansion who seems untouched by the disaster and still holds many-a-luxury, invites the people who bought ticket through charitable donations of whatever they can afford . However promises of thrilling entertainment and a whole meal for each attendee proves to be thrilling for all the wrong reasons.
First of all as mentioned above the movie is Norwegian however Netflix has provided a english dub to please those with a hatred of subtitles, however i found the english dub super super annoying. The actors’ physical performances are great from everyone, especially our two main leads Gitte Witt and Thomas Gullestad, however the voice dubs just seem a little goofy and cartoonish at times which clashes with the dark and mysterious tones the film sets.
The plot of the movie was really the selling point for me. It sounded really interesting and i was hoping i would have a really good mystery ahead of me with a great twist, However though the movie does have a few twists thrown in there, the twist that the movie hints towards or at least it had me guessing was the case was far better than the twist the movie actually opted for which seemed a little odd. Of course mysteries don’t want to make the big reveal obvious and it’s awesome when you think you have it and then suddenly a curve ball is thrown in. But the twist is curve balling you with cannot be better than the actual twist otherwise it’s less “Oh Shit!” and more “Oh”
Some highlights of the movie are the direction, the sets are pretty beautiful. It has a nice contrast of colours between the “Safety” of the abode compared to the dangers of the outdoors and when things start to go wrong in the house, the colours shift more similarly to the outside colour scheme which was a nice touch in adding a sense of danger and tense atmosphere to the characters situation
Another little gripe I have with the movie is its sense of completion, the movie creates different plot threads throughout its run time yet the main character drive of the movie is the daughter of the two main characters. Yet her plot starts and we have a few more threads sewn between… and then the movie shifts its main focus to another plot and then just resolves the daughter plot without any real explanation. Of course it’s hard to explain without spoilers but if you choose to watch the movie you should understand what I mean, its like they couldn’t explain the daughters storyline coherently so they just chose to go “well here is an ‘ending’ don’t ask, but we promise it makes sense”…well except it doesn’t, at least not to me.
Overall in short Cadaver seemed much better on paper than it actually plays out, yes the direction and the atmosphere is great, the mystery behind the whole scheme is interesting and intriguing but is quickly squandered by a lackluster twist that in hindsight would be ok if they hadn’t have teased a much better one, however there were a few details and plot points that didn’t really make much sense and seemed forgot about even though they were pivotal to character motivations. This is the sort of movie where I enjoyed my watch but I probably wouldn’t re-watch it, but if it came on TV i wouldn’t rip my house apart trying to find the tv remote to change channels. It’s just average…
Final Score.
Title: Average.
“The idea sounds superb on paper but teasing twists that don’t happen, opting for boring ones and handling plot threads in clumsy ways. Great direction, performances and overall great production design cannot stop Cadaver from being a just a lacklustre thriller in just an average movie. Not quite a ‘Cadaver’ but I was struggling to find a pulse.“
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