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"I RECOGNISE TERROR AS THE FINEST EMOTION AND SO I WILL TRY TO TERRORISE THE READER. BUT IF I CANNOT TERRIFY, I WILL TRY TO HORRIFY, AND IF I CANNOT HORRIFY, I'LL GO FOR THE GROSS-OUT. I'M NOT PROUD." --- STEPHEN KING ::::::::::::: Spoilers for plot points and resolutions can occur within my movie reviews with or without warning. Read at your own risk.

Død Snø (Dead Snow)

June 15th 2009 04:34
Dead Snow movie poster
Dead Snow (2009) is Norway’s answer to The Evil Dead (1982), although it’s played mostly for laughs, so it’s closer to Evil Dead 2 (1986). Watching it with a packed Sydney Film Festival audience I admit I was caught up in the grotesque hilarity of this zombie spoof, but overall it wasn’t nearly as impressive as I hoped it would be.

A group of young university medical students are on an Easter vacation. They arrive at the cabin belonging to Sara’s folks. In the movie’s prologue we had witnessed a terrified Sara (Ane Dahl Torp) being chased by menacing figures in dark attire and helmets through the snow. Now Sara’s boyfriend Vegard (Lasse Valdal) is sure she’s just been delayed in her alpine trek to rendezvous with the others. A dodgy wanderer (Bjørn Sundquist) bursts upon the hapless students and demands coffee (as you do). He spills forth the local legend harking back to WWII when Nazi soldiers were chased into the mountains by villagers for raping, murdering and pillaging. Evil permeates the region.
Dead Snow zombie silhouette
Vegard decides to bugger off on the snowmobile in search of Sara leaving the others; Hanna (Charlotte Frogner), Roy (Stig Frode Henriksen), Liv (Evy Kasseth Røsten), Martin (Vegar Hoel), Chris (Jenny Skavlan) and Erlend (Jeppe Laursen) to play amongst themselves. They guzzle beer, and listen to bad Scandanavian hard-rock. One guy goes for a crap down the long drop, a girl follows him out to screw him on the crapper (a rather repulsive attempt at scatological humour), only to fall foul of the zombie menace. And so on and so forth as each of the medical students gets theirs.
Dead Snow
Nope, there’s nothing new here, except that there is no Final Girl. The Nazi’s rule the roost here. And there are a damn lot of them rearing their ugly heads out of the snow-laden mountainside. Yup, it’s all frightfully silly, stupid even, with plot holes big enough to drive a Panzer through. None of the students are worth rooting for, in fact I found myself more curious about Colonel Herzog (Ørjan Gamst), head of the undead Nazi battalion.
Dead Snow Lasse Valdal
Vegard (Lasse Valdal) decides cave exploring is more important than finding his girlfriend

The gory special effects are impressive, although one can see when the CGI has been employed, which always irks me. Most impressive was the blood: very convincing colour and consistency (and this is crucial, trust me). The pacing of the movie however left a lot to be desired; as did the uneven comedy (many gags just weren’t funny, while others were irritatingly incongruous). The blaring Norwegian hard rock music being used to drive the movie was dreadful. Still, like I mentioned earlier, I found myself laughing and clapping along with the audience at some choice over-the-top moments, especially the student’s head being torn apart (great prosthetic work there), and the student’s decision to amputate his arm after being bitten by a zombie (arguably the movie’s funniest scene).
Dead Snow cabin fever
Zombie lunch is worse than cabin fever
Dead Snow amputation
There’s another Norwegian horror movie set in the alpine snow, Cold Prey (2009), which has received much better reviews and Dead Snow is compared against, but I have yet to see it. I was reminded of the recent bunker horror Outpost (2008). One medical student wears a Braindead (1991) t-shirt, an obvious nod to the splatschtick of Peter Jackson, but Dead Snow doesn’t possess anywhere near the same ingenuity or intensity. It’s an amusing romp, and would probably go down well with the usual fodder: some raucous mates, a couple dozen beers, several large meatlover’s pizzas, and a fat spliff.
Dead Snow Nazi zombies
Hell hath no fury like ... zombie Nazis!


Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
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13 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Natalina

June 15th 2009 05:32


My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog
Well, heck. Any movie with scatological humor is a winner to me! (Gosh, I hope my sarcasm translated there! haha!)

I can see this movie being enjoyable with a group of pals. Even if part of the joy is poking fun at the movie itself!


Comment by Matt Shea

June 15th 2009 08:13


20/20 Filmsight
Bah - that's disappointing to hear, Bryn. I had high hopes for this... perhaps because I'm an idiot. Still, may have to check it out with your prescription of beery mates.

Comment by Damo

June 15th 2009 20:45
That is disappointing.
I was hoping that this would be a good piece of brain dead fun.

Comment by Bryn

June 15th 2009 23:45


Horrorphile
Natalina, Matt and Damo ... well, yes, there is brain dead fun to be had with it, but I expected more from the European zombie contingent. I'm just very fussy when it comes to horror-comedy ... and zombies.

Comment by Christopher Waldeck

June 17th 2009 21:38


Dunk Films
This movie is like inglorious Bastards meets Zombies. The only difference is that Quentin Tarantino was not involved.

Comment by Bryn

June 18th 2009 01:18


Horrorphile
Chris, a little tenuous I must say ...

Comment by Amy Wang

June 18th 2009 14:08


Why So Cynical: The Unabashed Ravings of a Loudmouth Malcontent
Films, Films And More FIlms
I really wanted to see this one but missed out!! Nazi zombies and believable blood. That's all I need

Comment by Bryn

June 19th 2009 00:06


Horrorphile
Amy, what are "FIlms" ... LOL

Comment by Jason King

June 20th 2009 23:53


Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness

The visuals look great - I will try and find a copy when available to view it - and toilet sex - have to see that!

Comment by Bryn

June 22nd 2009 00:50


Horrorphile
Jason, the toilet sex is gross. But if you like that sort of thing.

Comment by Amy Wang

June 22nd 2009 12:18


Why So Cynical: The Unabashed Ravings of a Loudmouth Malcontent
Films, Films And More FIlms
haha...yeah didn't even realise i wrote 'FIlms'. That was completely a typo. will fix that now actually!

Comment by JohnDoe

July 16th 2009 01:44


Film & TV on DVD
This one has been taunting me from the DVD shelf Bryn.

Despite your reluctance to endorse Dead Snow I still can't resist the siren call of KILLER NAZI ZOMBIES!!

Comment by Bryn

July 16th 2009 03:31


Horrorphile
JD, hahaha! Yes, I know ... and Norwegian babes too, don't forget!

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