Dead Snow

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Review by: Roberto Azula

Like all great zombie films, Tommy Wirkola’s stylish Dead Snow breaks all the zombie movie rules, yet definitely will satisfy fans of the those lovable folk who shamble about in search of human flesh to munch on.  Half mockery and half tribute, Dead Snow often goes for laughs ala Shaun of the Dead and Evil Dead, but the film still packs some pretty gruesome scenes. 

Four young men and three young ladies (not my favorite ratio, but what can you do?) drive up to a cabin in the snowy mountains of Norway.  Little do they know that the mountains are infested by zombies (or they would have gone to the beach instead).  But these aren’t your everyday, run of the mill zombies that a turtle could outrun.  These are nothing less than Nazi zombies!  Back in World War II, a company of German soldiers was forced out of nearby village, and left to freeze to death in the mountains.  When these particular evil beings eventually rose up to feed on the living, they still retained their strict military training and discipline.  As a result, these zombies are agile, fast, and work in coordination; they could definitely keep up with the sprinting monsters of 28 Days Later. Uh-oh!

Dead Snow is wonderfully shot, and Wirkola creates a naturally creepy atmosphere in a very unusual way…by having much of the story take place in broad daylight.  The result is very disorienting, as not even the daylight can save you (as is the case in most horror films).  The film is sprinkled with dozens of cinematic inside jokes, including the leader of the zombies, Colonel Herzog (which I can only presume is named in “honor” of cult German director Werner Herzog).  The good colonel gets the biggest laugh in the film in a scene involving binoculars. The film is also well scored, so the music does not give away any of the delightful frights.

If you don’t care to see someone’s head torn apart, intestines unreeled like a clothesline, and a first-person perspective of a disembowelment (in the film’s most disturbing and inventive scene), you may want to give Dead Snow a pass.  But if you dug any of the other films I mentioned in this review, hop on your nearest snowmobile and head for Dead Snow!