Dead Snow

Year: 2009
Director: Tommy Wirkola
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278340/

Rating:

Review:
A Swedish film, Dead Snow combines isolation in a frozen wasteland with Nazi zombies.  The movie references Evil Dead several times and could, itself, be called Evil Dead: Dead Snow.  Not only are there dialog mentions of the Sam Raimi classics, but several shots are executed in the same manner as the Evil Dead films.

The movie is fairly cliche,  something it makes no bones about by having the characters, a group of pre-med students on holiday, joke about how many bad horror movies start with a group of friends going to a secluded cabin.  Unknown to the kids, the mountains are home to the zombified remains of a particularly evil Nazi regiment.  After they discover the Nazi’s loot underneath their cabin, the undead attack and they have to fend off the evil Krauts.

While the movie is nothing new, the first half is quite tense and scary, with a particularly good scene where one of the campers notices their lost friend outside, only to discover that it’s merely the friend’s severed head being held by a zombie.  The movie was low budget, but this works well, making the gory effects, of which there are many, have a nostalgic feel that overdone CGI can’t replicate.

While the first half of the movie is quite engaging, it’s the second half, when the campers are fighting for their lives, that is the most entertaining.  The movie drops all pretense of seriousness and becomes a black comedy as the zombies are killed in a variety of ways.  The chainsaw and hammer bloodbath near the end is just ridiculously funny, and the wacky amputation scene (if you can imagine such a thing) is just inspired.

Make no mistake – the film is funny, but it is also extremely gory, with scenes of disemboweling, decapitation and, as mentioned above, amputation.  It’s not for the weak of stomach, but the film is charming and funny enough to let you get past the gore.  The subtitling was also well done, without feeling forced or edited.

Possibly one of the best non-US made zombie films, Dead Snow is movie no zombie fan should miss.