(Long Island, N.Y.) Okay, folks, today we go a wee bit off the beaten path with this review. However, always remember that it’s important to give the little films a chance every now and then, especially when you’re tired of the cookie-cutter fluff the major Hollywood studios shell out on a weekly basis. Small in scope yet freed of the constraints of having a big studio breathing down their neck at every turn, independent filmmakers can often take chances with their product that others juggling 200 million dollar budgets can’t. It doesn’t always produce an excellent film, but every now and then you’ll come across something really fresh and original. Or horribly stinky. Or both!
Dead Snow is a Norwegian horror film starring actors you’ve never heard of and directed by Tommy Wirkola, whom you’ve also never heard of. The film made its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival where it was snapped up by IFC Films for distribution, and is currently enjoying a limited theatrical release (in addition to being available at home to In Demand subscribers). While not the most amazing horror flick you’ll ever see, Dead Snow is gory fun that’s sure to please fans of the Evil Dead films (which it is CLEARLY inspired by, from the plot all the way to the camera work). Oh, by the way, this film (or at least the version I watched) has been dubbed into English, evoking pleasant memories of Godzilla movies from my youth.
The premise is as simple as they come- in the middle of winter, a group of guys and girls (ensuring some nookie, although surprisingly very little occurs) make their way to a snowbound, isolated cabin in the mountains. Once there, they party hardy until the Old Guy Who Knows Everything (à la Crazy Ralph in Friday the 13th) shows up to warn them of the evil in the woods. In this case, flesh-eating NAZI ZOMBIES! Yes, it seems that the area they’re camping in is home to undead Nazis who had frozen to death out in the wild after being vanquished from a village they were occupying (and robbing) in World War 2. But despite having been dead for over 60 years, they’re still running around in the snow to this day looking for their ill-gotten gold. Of course, no one believes the Old Guy Who Knows Everything, not even when they find a box of gold belonging to the Germans. However, Nazi Zombies don’t take kindly to suckas that mess with their bling, so they decide to pay a visit to the cabin to explain this in a rather harsh manner. And from this point onward, blood and guts start flowin’ like the mighty Mississippi.
Dead Snow (is there living snow somewhere?) is an interesting film. It’s not really scary or suspenseful, but that obviously wasn’t the filmmaker’s intent- the majority of the movie is firmly tongue-in-cheek and at times borders on comedic. However, it never quite sheds its horror roots either, creating an odd hybrid reminiscent of Sam Rami’s Evil Dead series, as stated above. The characters all commit stereotypical horror movie blunders (they wander outside alone, they split up when its clearly safer to
stick together, they ignore helpful warnings) and aren’t really given any development at all, but this isn’t supposed to be a realistic character study- it’s just an excuse to tear bodies limb from limb. And Dead Snow doesn’t waste any time getting down to business, as evidenced early on when a victim of the Nazis has his head torn in half and his brains splattered on the floor (at which point his friend whines that he had wanted to go to the beach instead). And this is just the tip, my blood-hungry friends…the disembowelings and be-headings aplenty that follow clearly make a case for Dead Snow not being family-friendly viewing. But since this flick doesn’t take itself seriously at all, the carnage (which is admittedly very well-done with practical, physical effects and not CG) is more likely to make you laugh then recoil in horror.
And while Dead Snow’s plot (unlike it’s execution) is fairly unoriginal, there are a few elements that may catch you off-guard. First of all, in these types of movies it’s usually fairly obvious who’s going to survive to see to the end, but Dead Show pulls the rug out from under your feet several times in this instance. Also, the one guy you’d LEAST expect to land in bed (or, rather, an outhouse) with a hot babe scores, which personally blew me away. Then there was this weird scene where a guy playfully starts smothering his girlfriend, eventually requiring their friends to intervene when it’s clear that she can’t breathe. You’d think she’d be angry with her man, but two seconds later all is forgotten, the couple reverting back to happy lovebirds. This scene was pointless and went absolutely nowhere, and it makes me wonder if perhaps some edits were make to the film for it’s American release (or if it was just a brain hiccup on the part of the screenwriter).
So, let’s sum up our review as follows: If you’re a fan of horror movies or extremely black comedies, enjoy capacious amounts of blood and gore and a high level of campiness, then Dead Snow is clearly for you. It’s not overly original (yes, even Nazi Zombies have been done before!), but it tackles its tried and true concepts with a willingness to happily cross the line of good taste with such intensity that one can’t help but be overtaken by its charms. Either track it down in theaters, or order it on In Demand, but one way or another it would be worth it to support this film, even just to help the independent film scene as a whole get some well-deserved exposure.
