What We Become

A family of four, Dino, his wife Pernille, and their children the young Maj and teenaged Gustav are living in idyllic Sorgenfri, Denmark during the summer. Pernille dotes on Maj, who in turn dotes on her pet rabbit, Ninos. Another teen, Sonja, moves in with her mother across the street, much to Gustav's interest. At a picnic one of the neighbors, Casper, tries to persuade Dino to get a gun so they can go hunting together, but Dino refuses. Meanwhile, some picnickers begin showing signs of disease. An elderly neighbor reports her husband has died, but upon investigation his body has gone missing.

Over the course of several days, the situation escalates as a deadly virus that reanimates its hosts into hostile killing machines sweeps the neighborhood, but Dino lies to the children assuring them that everything is alright. Sorgenfri is then quarantined by the military which orders all residents to self-isolate. The military keeps the families supplied but each house is kept strictly incommunicado, hermetically sealed with plastic sheets, and the power frequently fails.

During the night some of the neighbors are dragged from their homes and placed in the back of trucks in a brutal purge, and many are shot. Gustav, having snuck out, witnesses this while spying on Sonja and, in a burst of fervor, frees the infected. The military is quickly overrun and retreats, abandoning everyone to their fate. Sonja and her infected mother are taken in at Gustav's insistence against Pernille's protests.

As zombies overrun the neighborhood, Casper's significant other Anna is finally able to flee after having made several attempts. Abandoned, Casper joins Dino and prepares for a siege while Sonja's mother grows progressively sicker and Ninos has gone missing. The infected begin roaming the night and Gustav's habit of peeping with the lights on nearly gets them all killed. Anna eventually returns, thoroughly traumatized. Sonja and Gustav have a romantic interlude as Sonja's mom's condition rapidly deteriorates. When Sonja wakes up in her mother's embrace, she slowly realizes that her mother is in full rigor mortis.

Dino and Casper scout the area, finding an abandoned landscape, except for dead neighbors, surrounded by a wall. After fair warning, and almost refusing to budge, Dino and Casper are fired upon by the military and forced back. Gustav and Sonja are caught red-handed by Pernille, and they discover Maj is missing. Gustav and Sonja go outside to find corpses in the street while, despite his posturing, Casper is killed. Dino then robs a woman of her meager supplies at rifle point..

Maj, having previously snuck out to find Ninos, is quickly bitten but then rescued by her family. The gunshot attracts a horde and the family retreats. Previous preparations to the house prove adequate against the approaching zombies for the time being. Dino finally decides to put a bullet into Maj's brain. Pernille fights him but she is bitten. Dino then hesitates and proves incapable of destroying what used to be his daughter.

Gustav uses fireworks to distract the zombies, although forgetting to take any extra with him, but nonetheless succeeds in escaping with Sonja just ahead of a nuclear blast which sterilizes the area.

• Troels Lyby as Dino
• Mille Dinesen as Pernille
• Mikael Birkkjær as Casper
• Marie Hammer Boda as Sonja
• Benjamin Engell as Gustav
• Therese Damsgaard as Anna
• Diana Axelsen as Dorte
• Rita Angela as Elna
• Ella Solgaard as Maj

The film was released in four cinemas across Denmark on March 31, 2016, prompting concern from reviewers that the film could flop due to this. However, the film was made available two weeks later via TDC's streaming service.

The film was released in the US on May 13, 2016.

The film received a mixed reception. Politiken gave the film five out of six of hearts and called it "the best Danish horror movie since Ole Bornedal's Nightwatch", while Ekstra Bladet and Berlingske Tidende both gave four stars. Jyllands-Posten gave three out of six stars, but both BT and Jakob Stegelmann of Danish film magazine Ekko only gave two out of six stars.

• What We Become at IMDb