Dead Snow

Directed by: Tommy Wirkola

Starring: Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen , Charlotte Frogner, Lasse Valdal, Evy Kasseth Røsten

Genre: Horror, Comedy

I was first introduced to Dead Snow back in August at the Toronto After Dark Festival.  I was unable to attend the film’s screening but I was delighted to learn that the film was going to be released very soon on DVD and that the store I work at actually got it!! (Another film that was shown at Toronto After Dark that has been recently released on DVD is Grace, you can view Erika’s review here: http://www.sharpobjex.net/film/2009/9/2/toronto-after-dark-2009-grace.html

The film follows a group of medical students that have ventured out into the middle of the wilderness to spend a weekend at one of their friend’s log cabin.  The song “Cabin in the woods” from Evil Dead: The Musical immediately goes through my mind at the immediate introduction of this story. And much to my utmost surprise, we learn that there is something sinister lurking among the snowy mountaintop, get ready for it… Nazi zombies… That’s right, the mountain was once used as a Nazi headquarters during the war, and who had also committed acts of atrocities against the neighbouring village.

If you haven’t picked up on it now, it would appear that this film is over loaded with horror film cliques right from the start.  I'm not complaining because the film seems to hold a quasi-self-awareness about itself, where one character would leave for the outhouse while making jokes around the lines of serial killers loving dark forests, and I think you can guess what might happen to the character. The best example I can think of to compare this movie would be the German film Must Love Death, a film the blended the tropes of heart warming romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle, with the heart in your hand gore of Hostel.

Must Love Death was made by a group of film students that had been clearly influence by Western cinema because their film was filled with references to numerous of memorable moments from films like Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction going through all the weapons in the pawn shop before choosing the katana. Dead Snow follow a very similar route where their characters would make word for word quotes from Hollywood films like Die Hard and Evil Dead.  The difference between the two films is that the characters in Dead Snow are film buffs making references to films as someone would between friends. While I do not think that one form of reference is better than another, I am simply differentiating the two styles, and I really enjoyed trying to count all the different references in both.

When our group of students is finally introduced to our fascist undead the film does not shy away from the gore. Limbs are ripped off and in one instance mirroring Ash in Evil Dead 2, but my only real thought about the film’s ‘zombies’ is that they do not behave in the traditional sluggish Romero style (nor Zack Snyder’s running zombies).  Instead they can be compared to the vampires from 30 Days of Night where they remain undead entities, highly resembling zombies, but possessing conscious thought as well as a clear purpose for their murderous onslaught.

Overall I thought the film was a lot of fun and makes for an excellent horror/comedy. However, while it's entertaining watching Nazi zombies attacking a bunch of students, it has nothing on Shaun of the Dead when it comes to zombie comedy films.

SHARP OBJEX Rating: 3 out of 4

Dead Snow Trailer