Saturday 13 July 2013

Review - Dead Snow (2009 - Dir. Tommy Wirkola)



Zombies. Nazis. I'm in.

Possibly the only thing that could make me giddier is: Zombie Nazis vs. Dinosaurs. Just imagine when the T-Rex gets bitten, turns into a flesh-muncher (er, isn't it already?) and then goes on a crazed blood-fueled rampage. Obviously whilst dragging its back leg in a slow, shambling zombie fashion. What am I supposed to be writing about? Oh, yeah. Dead Snow.



Hailing from Norway, this low-budget horror comedy has its work cut out. Going up against the likes of Braindead and The Return of the Living Dead is never going to be easy. At one point I was thinking that it might come close with an irritating character (aren't they always?) getting ripped in two. Vertically. An industrial sized vat of Savlon was needed to repair the damage. Sadly, that's as inventive as the gore gets. One scene involving a chainsaw is not too bad, but as the characters ran out of weapons to use against the Nazombie horde I wondered whether the producers ran out of money. It felt that way.



Some of the lighting in the film looks a tad flat. A soap opera feel is not that desirable for a full feature. It only occurs in the cabin but the outdoor scenes look fine with some rather delightful scenery.



I can't really say that any of the characters were particularly engaging but despite all of these problems, there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half of your life. (Asking a rhino to raise its foot and then nail-gunning your chicken nuggets to it?) The special features included also helped to endear it to me. Watching them struggling to film when the weather is not on their side, solving union disputes and having difficulties setting the cabin on fire despite copious quantities of petrol made me more charitable towards its failings.



Dead Snow contains possibly one of the most romantic love scenes in any film. A rather rotund chap has just been to lighten the load in the outside privy and before the smell has dissipated even in the slightest, a lady enters and proceeds to  do rudies, with him still sat on the lav. Classy.



Zombie and Nazi films are always going to be entertaining and Dead Snow is no exception. Next time, throw in some dinosaurs and I'll be a happy little fellow.



5/10
evlkeith



If you like this you could also try:
Outpost, Shock Waves, Zombie Lake.




2 comments:

  1. The movie does exactly what it sets out to do, which is so much more than can be said about so many other films in the genre. Even in the zombie sub-genre. Even in the nazi zombie sub-sub-genre.

    Great review.

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    Replies
    1. Very true. If you're after zombies and nazis you do a lot worse.

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