Review of Dead Snow (2009) by Dan P — 14 Oct 2010

I really had to think hard what rating to give here. I was in doubt between 60% and even 90%. The lower rating would be because Dead Snow really has some obvious copying from some older horror classics, with most resemblance to Evil Dead. The higher rating would be because Dead Snow is unbelievably funny, campy, gory and most of all ENTERTAINING. But as a zombie sub-genre fan, I understand some will say this is complete bollocks, probably aiming to criticise it's utterly bizarre story and behaviours of main characters. But I think this is the beauty of this movie. Directly and intentionally making fun of every other way too serious slasher in the manner of some legendary horrors.

The chewed-up-horror-setting tells us a story of young friends going on Easter vacations in snowy mountains of Norway to a friend's log cabin. They meet a man who tells them a scary story from the WW II which involves runaway Nazis with treasure and an evil force that lurks around there. Soon their vacation will turn into a bloody survival, running away from hordes of zombified Nazis.

This may not sound interesting when you read about it and I must be honest I wasn't too interested either, but the movie kept me perfectly entertained throughout it's 90 minutes.

Some scenes are just unforgettable. At times I laughed out loud, sitting alone in my room. Not to be mistaken, there are enough thrills as well but they are not memorable as the laughs. I liked the touch for details from the director like the fat guy wearing Braindead T-shirt or showing the hammer and sickle (which was hilarious) additionally pissing off the Nazi zombies. Oh and the sex scene was outrageous. I just loved it.

The performances were satisfying but I found them somewhat irrelevant. They were all scared, covered in blood, guts, drool or snow. Only one I remembered giving more than average was the wanderer who told the story of WW II. The actor's name is Bjørn Sundquist and he really stood out with his short performance.

Something I personally enjoyed was the soundtrack. What else can you expect from a country that is most famous for it's extreme metal. One gory ride deserves music like this, it fits in perfectly. Banea Reach song called Awakening was my personal favourite.

I think this was my first experience with a Norwegian cinematography, but when you pack it up with one recent Scandinavian (Swedish) horror Let The Right One In, I think "Norden" has really established itself in that field. I'll try to look up some more movies from Scandinavia because I am convinced now that they have some real talent there except for brilliant music. Dead Snow is a movie that knows what it is and does it's role superbly so if you are not one of those who roll their eyes when seeing campy splatterfest, then see this flick and enjoy it.