WAR HORROR MOVIE: Dead Snow (2009)

 

               “Dead Snow” is a Norwegian film directed by Tommy Wirkola. He co-wrote the screenplay. When he was developing a script he asked the question “What’s more evil than zombies?” His answer was Nazi-zombies. He put himself in the movie as one of the zombies.

            The movie opens with the Nutcracker Suite over the credits. Humor established. A young woman is chased through a snowy wilderness and it does not end well. Four guys and three gals are on Easter vacation which they plan to spend doing young adult stuff at a lone cabin without cell phone coverage. You’ve seen this scenario before. And these characters. The males are a hunk, a fat class clown, a nerd, and a sex maniac. The fat guy supposedly is a horror movie fanatic and yet the situation does not cause him any foreboding. Those are just movies, right? A grizzled old coot shows up to tell them the tale of a German occupiers in WWII who were uber Nazi war criminals that were chased into the wilderness at the end of the war. They left with a lot of loot. Naturally, our septet is unimpressed with the legend. What do they need to worry about, they are in a cabin with doors that lock. Unlike their tale-teller who is camping out in a tent. Warn yourself, buddy. The zombies need a reason to target the springbreakers. Oops, they discover a treasure box of gold coins and jewelry. They can pay off their enormous student debt. If they live to spend it.

            Let the whittling begin. Who will survive? It’s not who, it’s how. Keep telling yourself the deaths are supposed to be humorous. It will make the movie more entertaining. The Nazi bait go through the standard cabin assault, but it then puts them outside in several groups. Surprisingly, although the cabin scenes are at night, the rest of the mayhem occurs in daylight.The film intercuts between the groups. There will be a lot of running through the snow. And a lot of red snow. As in every good slasher film, the killing escalates with a variety of gore. No death is the same. Much of it tongue in cheek. If you laugh at a woman hanging over a cliff grasping the entrail of a zombie, this movie is for you. Or if you like a showdown between zombies and three dudes wielding a sledgehammer, chain saw, and a machine gun mounted on a snowmobile. All in good fun.

            “Dead Snow” is a fun movie, if you can stomach it. It is very gory, but it ramps up gradually so you can adjust. Or so you can anticipate the next hilarious death. There is a high corpse count as there are plenty of Nazis and they are relatively easy to kill. Since they are not traditional zombies, you don’t need only head shots. They are actually zombie draug. A draug was a Norse mythological undead who guarded a treasure. Oddly, the movie mentions the “don’t get bitten” rule, but then it does not enforce it. We don’t learn how the Nazis became zombies.

            The movie is competently done. It does not have a low budget feel, although it did have a low budget. The makeup people did a great job on the zombies. They look ghoulish. And a shout-out to whoever was in charge of the gore effects. The non-ghoul actors are fine. Although stereotypes, the characters are appealing. If not for the humorous vibe, the deaths would be wrenching. None of them deserve to die. Even the pair who have sex in an outhouse. Instead it’s “ha ha”, did you see that guy get torn apart by zombies?! I watched a subtitled version, but it seems to have a kick-ass soundtrack of Nordic rock.

            If you want a good scare to get you ready for Halloween, this movie will not get your heart racing. There is only one jump scare, but seven laugh out loud moments. Hope you hate yourself for laughing.

GRADE  =  B