Død snø (2009) Reviews

• Norwegian Nazi-zombies!

  essi-22008-11-11

  I was lucky enough to be invited to see the Norwegian Nazi-zombie-movie, Død snø , in a private screening in Os International Film Festivalen in Norway. This film has the best tag line ever: Ein! Zwei! Die! So my expectations were pretty high on this one! The director Tommy Wirkola first got famous in Norway with a movie called Kill Buljo: The Movie, which is a Norwegian parody of Kill Bill. He now continues in the same comedy/homage/genre field and very successfully I may add. The movie really is as good as it sounds and on top of that it is actually unique. I really like Tommy Wirkolas ability to combine homage with something new and interesting; not a very easy thing to do folks! Død snø is basically a teenager-slasher-horror-comedy with Nazi-zombies. The storyline is pretty basic; it's about these teenagers that go up to a cabin in the mountains in the middle of winter and get ambushed by a punch of zombies. Yeah, you know the drill… But this one really delivers, and all the clichés are used to benefit the film. You can see a lot of influences from past genre movies and it is filled with homage towards them. Everyone who likes these kinds of films will have a blast at the movie theater; I laughed my ass off! So goo see this film!!! I give it 5 stars!

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• Ich bin ein zombie!

  ElijahCSkuggs2009-03-29

  Heading into Dead Snow I was pretty much expecting a Shaun of the Dead type horror flick. Something with more comedy than horror. Which isn't really the case here. It's consistently filled with small or big jokes, but thankfully it's more horror oriented. I suppose I thought this because of the awesome poster displaying a decapitated half-head of a nazi-zombie lying in the snow giving the onlooker a weird look. Not too mention a dude with a blood-drenched chainsaw behind the head. I'm not the biggest fan of hor-coms, but I was really interested in this one because of the whacky premise. So, was it a blizzard of bliss, or a storm of suckage? The story revolves around a bunch of medical students getting away for some rest and relaxation during the Easter break. Unknown to them, they've set up camp at the absolute wrong place. Back in the day, evil Nazi's used these hills for an escape route or safe haven way back when, and it's said that this is where they supposedly holed up and eventually died. Well, they ain't all that dead. They look it, but they ain't dead. Our medical students eventually meet these blood-thirsty German maniacs and the red stuff starts flowing. A mad dash for survival ensues, and it all ends up being a 'hail' of a lot of fun. The flick isn't perfect as it suffers some from small horror clichés, like dumb decision making. But at the same time, they handle these clichés in a somewhat refreshing manner. Some cheap scare tactics are used early on to get you on edge, but those are barely used later on, when violence and creative gore take hold. Dead Snow really surprised me. I wasn't expecting such a fun flick. The characters were all well-fleshed out, the dialogue well-written and funny, the gore aplenty, the horror nods abundant and awesome (Braindead t-shirts?!), and even the score and soundtrack were good. This should become a pretty big hit for horror fans, well I hope so anyways.

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• Uber Zombie Madness!

  Filmnerd19842009-01-09

  first of let me just say i am a huge zombie/gore/horror fan and there are few known movies i haven't seen during my years on this planet. with that said i have to say that "Dead Snow" is by far the best Zombie movie i have ever seen. everything clicked perfectly together. the humor was spot on and the gore was just priceless beyond belief. this film is just eye candy for the hordes of horror fans out there. i loved the theme music in the opening sequence, very appropriate and perfect for troll like Zombies. the countless references to classic movies like "Evil Dead", "friday the 13th", "april fools day", "braindead" and of course various Zombie movies was just phenomenal. The filmmakers make no attempt what so ever to hide the fact that this film is almost purely based on these movies, and that my friends is a golden ticket to a inexplicable gore-fest of uber Zombies, a Chainsaw and a lot of intestines being ripped out in the best of entertaining ways. WATCH this film and you wont regret it! i'll give you my word as a true horror fan.

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• Game Over US

  strck92009-03-25

  Norwegian film makers get it. This is how to make a cool movie; balance the humor and horror, special effects that don't over power the movie, and most importantly: actors that care what they are doing and do it well! Fritt Vilt one and two (Two not being as good as the first, but that's the norm) were leagues over what Hollywood has put out in over 20 years, just small budget horror from people who care what they put out. My only complaint is that it's hard to get these movies in North America and even harder to get English subtitles, but that is in no way a knock to these fine movies. If you can get hold of the these films and are a horror buff, find them, you won't be disappointed. Keep it up Norway!!!!!!

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• a sublime Grindhouse export that's self-knowing and completely comic-splatterific

  Quinoa19842009-07-27

  Do I have complaints about Dead Snow, a movie about a group of Norwegian medical students who take their skis up to a cabin away from everybody only to discover to their baffled horror that nazi undead lurk and kill and go all Lephrachaun over a booty of coins and jewels hidden in said cabin? Well, perhaps, it could have gone a little further in some spots. The Nazis are decked out in their military garb, suits and helmets, but only a handful have the swastika arm-bands, none with Hitler mustaches, and only once does a zombie (Col. Herzog, perfect name by the way) actually utter a phrase, which is "ARISE" for his horde of solider to stampede after the hapless teens. The rest of it? Nope, nothing much to complain really. The director is Tommy Wirkola, and he's done something I didn't expect going in: he made a movie that is shot with a level of competency that goes a couple of notches above just simple B-movie twaddle, or rather he doesn't rest solely upon it. Indeed some scenes, like when characters are buried under feet of snow or someone goes out into the dead of night, there's a dread that can be comparable to the recent film The Descent. It's a well made movie that happens to be about 55% of the time as campy and gore-riffic as anything one's seen this year outside of the Japanese Tokyo Gore Police school. On top of this, there's a clever twist on horror conventions; one of the characters is a movie geek (Evil Dead and Friday the 13th are mentioned), and the tropes like having sex and then getting killed or the stranger who explains everything early on and then gets slaughtered first, are chalked up royally... and then come the Third Reich. Oh it's such a blast, Dead Snow is. At first you get immersed with the characters, even if they are only marginally interesting or compelling, and then when it comes time for these medical students (who apparently have such mad skills at it they can do things like wield weaponry and sew up their body parts when need be) kick major ass. This movie is made for people who want a good solid zombie movie that combines comedy, tension, and enough ridiculous motions to go a long enough way to make things always entertaining. It's almost a study in how to uplift past conventional crap into something artful and electrifying. It's also cheesy and stupid and a bucket of crazy when it can get to that point (I mean, Colonel Herzog, come on!) Bottom line, pair this with and the other midnight movie festival hit Hysterical Psycho and you got a smashing double feature.

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