Dead Snow (2009)

Sara is chased and killed by mysterious figures in the snowy Norwegian wilderness. Seven medical school friends go to Sara's isolated cabin expecting to join her. They are surprised by a creepy old man who tells them about a Nazi force that occupied the area during WWII. The Nazis led by Colonel Herzog were ruthless against the locals and disappeared when the Soviets arrived. The old man leaves and is then killed by a Nazi zombie.This has some good homage to Evil Dead including the chainsaw and self amputation. There is loads of good blood splatter. The snowy isolation and the Nazi zombies are good. However I do have a couple of problem. First, the cell phone needs to be useless. Instead, one character actually calls 911. The weird thing is that the guy calls after a whole night of zombie attacks. Apparently nobody remembers to call the cops during the attack. They have to wait until the next day.The bigger problem is that the movie needs to take place all at night. Zombie action during the night is more intense than out in daylight. There is a great intensity trapped in the cabin. There is no good reason for the zombies to relent in the attack. They're still around during the day. Also that girl has the reddest jacket possible. The movie needs to show that zombies see black and white because that red jacket sticks out in snowy white landscape. Overall, this is perfectly good bloody fun with lots of homage and some good moments of horror.

Given my Scandinavian origin and being a bit of a fan of all kinds of science fiction, fantasy, action and horror movies I of course had to have Dead Snow in my collection. Last Saturday me and my son got around to watch it.Dead Snow is a pretty classical teenage-group-gets-into-big-mess-with-supernatural-beings kind of horror movie. In this particular case a group of teenagers goes for a hike in the Norwegian mountains where they camp in cabin. Not very original of course but what the heck, it is a zombie horror movie so… One thing that makes the movie a bit original is that it is not so totally over the top with foul language and insane consumption of all kinds of drugs as the standard Hollywood crap. These teenagers actually behave fairly normally drinking a few beers and having a good time. Well that is until the mysterious stranger, who is in the movie just to set up the mood, shows up and tells his story about a unusually cruel Nazi officer and his men. Of course we all know where things are going from there… Here the movie starts to follow the usual recipe for these kind of movies. Naturally one of the teenagers needs to take care of some natural needs and separates himself from the rest of the party. Then follows the obligatory boy and girl having sex scene. This time in a old-fashioned Scandinavian "skithus" separated from the actual cabin. Anyone who has ever used one of these (I have and they stink) would know that you have to be pretty horny, drunk or both to have sex in one of those. Anyway, that was one less teenager in the party.Slowly the zombies become more frequent and the dire situation the party is in becomes more and more evident. As the zombies become more frequent so does the gory sequences and eventually the movie turns more into a comedy than a horror movie. I have to say that the Tommy Wirkola have little to learn from his Hollywood counterparts when it comes to horror movie violence. Body parts, external as well as internal, flies around like there was no tomorrow. Which for most of the characters involved is exactly the way it is.On the whole this movie was one part classical horror movie and one part comedy and I found it quite entertaining but you have to be into these kinds of movies to feel that way of course.

"Dead Snow" or "Død snø" is a teenager-slasher-horror-comedy with Nazi- zombies and a cabin in the woods, sounds a bit cliché but don't be put off, this film is BRILLIANT!!!Ingredients: - 1 group of young sexy kids - Beer - Music - Madness - 1 Weird stranger with warnings and evil stories - Ignorance - Partying - Handful of cursed killer Nazi Zombie psychopathsThis film was brilliant, it was the "Shaun of the Dead" of Norwegian Zombie films as it brilliantly mixed comedy with horror and gore. The kids are medical students on a term break in a cabin in the woods and snow. They meet a stranger who tells them of Nazi gold and Nazi zombies. After the stranger is gone all of the stories come true throughout the film - ALL come true!!The film is entertaining and gory, it had moments of tension as well as adrenaline packed moments sprinkled with tongue in cheek humour. If you have ever wondered any of the following then watch this film:Can a human fight on despite having no intestines? - Can Zombie's communicate with each other and act out military and tactical manoeuvres? - Do Norwegian medical students actually enjoy sex after defecating? - Is Nazi Gold cursed? - Can zombie's function in snow?Directed by Tommy Wirkola who got famous with "Kill Buljo: The Movie", which is a Norwegian parody of Kill Bill. Wirkola continues in the same comedy/homage/genre category to great effect. I really really enjoyed this film and can't wait for the sequel that the end of this film potentially offers. I am that impressed with this that I have no doubt at all awarding this 9 out of 10.

I don't know... Maybe I was expecting a lot more; I'm not sure. But, really with all the TRULY entertaining Zombie movies out there, not to mention some of the GREAT Nazi Zombie movies, eh... this one just left me kinda cold. And, it WASN'T just the snow...I mean, 'OUTPOST' (2007) and 'THE BUNKER' (2001), $h|t, even 1986's 'THE SUPERNATURALS' starring Lieutenant Uhura, were WAY, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY the hell better in just about every way that counts; at least to me. Of course I understand that those were meant to be completely serious and this one isn't. Still... It's just that there isn't anything for me personally to 'Grab on' to in this film in order for me to say that I really liked it. Frankly (and I hope you don't mind my calling you that...) I just didn't see what the big deal was. There was a LOT of standing around and breathing heavy; that got kinda old. I don't know; I just think that SOMEHOW it could have honestly been a LOT more clever, genuinely funny, creepier, something... It was just kind of... Nothing...There WERE some individual parts that were okay I guess. I liked the cool, kind of laid-back guy who was almost always smiling; some of the parts with him were all right. some of the individual stunts and effects I GUESS were okay. It just all seemed to me anyway to be kind of lazy, by the numbers, nothing really stood out. Not the mood, not the humour, not the Horror, nothing...I'm not saying that it was TOTALLY lousy or anything (thus the tepid '5' that I gave it - and, quite honestly, I am not that enthusiastic about giving it that much) But, these days with like a BILLION Zombie movies and about 1/2 BILLION Zombie / Comedies, I just think that there should be SOMETHING that stands out at least a LITTLE as far as the mood, the effects, the Suspense, the acting, especially the writing. Again, SOMETHING...I haven't seen the more recent film, 'IRON SKY' about finding Nazis on the moon (don't know if they are Zombies though...) But, I BET I'll like that one better.Like I said in my title summary... Even 'SHOCK WAVES', as dated and Cheeeeeezy as it is, surprisingly is a lot more moody and effective, and MUCH easier to immerse yourself into than this so-so offering. (Sigh... and I also have 'DEAD SNOW 2' on Blu-ray sitting here waiting for me to watch it. Oh boy... I can hardly wait...)