Dead Snow (2009) Review: Gory Nazi Zombies
“Ein! Zwei! Die!”Synopsis: A ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies. | Watch now on Amazon |
Calamity Brains:
Dead Snow is appealing in its simplicity. This no-holds-barred gory comedy is fun precisely because it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. As a result, the audience gets to appreciate the surprising levels of polish and wit for an indie movie. Zombie movies have been done to death, and we all know it – but the filmmakers know we know it, and let us in on the joke.
(Director/writer Tommy Wirkola once said in an interview that the thought process behind making the script was “What’s more evil than a zombie? A Nazi zombie!”)
Actually, Dead Snow feels more like a slasher flick than a zombie movie. That’s mainly due to the bad guys being less zombies in the traditional American sense, and more just cursed undead. (Some have also drawn comparisons to the draugr of Norse myths.) Because the Nazi zombies retain some intelligence and aren’t driven by bloodlust but rather greed, we get slasher standards like people being picked off one at a time before anyone else knows what’s wrong. But don’t worry – we still get the hands-reaching-in-windows standard as well, and some eating of entrails just to be safe.
Dead Snow is full of tropes, and it’s supposed to be. All of the action takes place in a remote cabin with no cell service (and in Norway, when we say “remote,” we mean “REMOTE”). The group of medical students on Easter holiday includes all the stereotypes – the loving couple Martin (Vegar Hoel) and Hanna (Charlotte Frogner), the geek, the slut, the jock. A creepy old man provides a warning which goes mostly unheeded. All of this deliberate setup leads the audience down a completely familiar path that still ends up in a delightfully fun place – a place where Nazi zombies are sliced apart by chainsaws, internal organs become external, machine guns are mounted on snowmobiles, and just about everyone dies.
This flick is in Norwegian with English dubs, so while you will probably want a glass or two during it, be sure you can still read. It’s also more on the horror side than the comedy side, despite the inherent campiness of the concept. Fans of over-the-top gore will find a lot to like here – I know we did.
Calamity Brains’ Rating: B
Watch now on Amazon