Cadaver premiered on 22nd October 2020 on Netflix. Directed and written by Jarand Herdal, the Norwegian horror film stars Gitte Witt, Thomas Gullestad, Kingsford Siayor, Maria Grazia Di Meo, Jonatan Rodriguez, Trine Wiggen, and Thorbjørn Harr.
Its Not As Absurd As It Seems
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Cadaver revolves around a family that survives a nuclear disaster leading to apocalypse. We eventually meet mother Leonora aka Leo (Gitte Witt), father Jacob (Thomas Gullestad), and their daughter Alice (Tuva Olivia Remman), making their way through the ruins and surviving on scraps available. As they are running out of food, with even canned foods absent, they hear a strange man making announcements on the streets about a show where the attendees will be fed as the survivors deserve entertainment and good food. From the very start, the idea sounds fishy and too good to be true but desperate times and hungry families decide to go for it anyway!
Mathias (Thorbjørn Harr), the organizer of this feast and play, looks like a generous man but you just know that he isn’t. As the story progresses, Leo loses her beloved daughter Alice in this play where everyone is given masks to distinguish between real and fiction. It’s creepy from the very start. Leo’s search for her daughter, however, unveils things beyond her wildest imagination.
As Cadaver starts, you expect a lot of post-apocalyptic scenarios like searching for food, PTSD, and more but nothing like this really happens in the film. The only thing that compliments the whole idea is the setting – broken and disrupted buildings and road and yes, newspaper that tells us of a nuclear attack. However, in a state of utter despair, how is the printing press working while everything else is up in flames? But other than the whole setting and newspaper insight, there is nothing that will build up the scenario for the viewers!
Belonging to the horror genre, the film has zero scares but still manages to be grotesque. The central theme, however, is predictable and as the movie progresses, it becomes more and more tiresome! Cadaver fails to engage its viewers as it lacks suspense, chilling environment, and horror elements. What sets this movie apart? Well, nothing! There is very little to talk about the film overall as it is not just slow but does not cater to or tingles your horror needs!
What’s exactly bad about it? The predictability and lack of an engaging storyline or characters to root for or sympathize with. The film would have done better in the black and white era but in contemporary times it fails to make a mark.
Coming down to the performances, disappointingly, there are no performances to remember at all. No character leaves a mark on you or impresses you throughout! The title also fails to match up with the theme that the movie was gunning for – you can’t name something “cadaver” just because it has corpses.
Stream It or Skip It
SKIP IT! Cadaver is a tiresome movie that takes time to make sense but ultimately makes no sense! It is a journey into a post-apocalyptic world you would rather not take! You don’t want to bite on such content, especially, during a pandemic.
Cadaver is now streaming on Netflix.
Read our other reviews here.