Customer Reviews

Dead Snow

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is the fifth Nazi Zombie movie That has been made, and it's one of the better ones. Of course if you are not a horror fan then you wouldn't like any of them. And the effects of the three earlier films can't compete with the last two but that doesn't matter really. The first was the classic 'shock waves" (1976) followed by the french low budget effort "zombie lake" (1980) and jess franco's 'oasis of the zombies" (1983) and then by the excellent 'outpost" (2007) and now by "Dead Snow" (2009). This movie has far more gore than the three early efforts; but that was different era; although "outpost" has more interesting characters than "dead snow" which is your typical in the know young people who are the target of the Nazi Zombies wrath. The acting is very good though and this is a professional movie.
Unlike the first time efforts of the many ultra low budget horror zombie flicks shot awkwardly and sometimes on video tape.

We are told that they killed villagers and then had to battle their way into the mountains when the vengeful Norwegians came for them. They died there and have been there ever since. This movie is part ghost story in that the zombies are protecting their loot rather than just killing people for no reason. And that's a good twist to this very good horror movie. The film has a english dubbed soundtrack (in stereo) and the original Norwegian soundtrack (with english subtitles in 5.1) to choose from as well. The best thing about the more modern flicks (outpost and this one) is that the movies prints look fantastic and are without blemishes. The three older movies while decent prints needed some cleaning up. This is a great entry into the Nazi Zombie genre and it's well shot and has a 'evil dead" type of humour to it which is fun enough. This movie is good enough to be made in America which shows how far some low budget filmmakers have come since the early 1980's. Not that "zombie lake" doesn't have it's own low budget charms; it's not on this level and couldn't be. So a hearty sieg Zombie to this
solid fun horror feature.

Hands down one of my all time favorite movies! The latest offering in the micro zombie nazi drama and its a good one, particularly on Blu Ray. A group of Norwegian (yes, its in that language subtited in English) kids head out to the mountains for some skiing and fun, only to find themselves the appealing target of nazi zombies. This is a fun movie. Its a horror/comedy, with somewhat equal emphasis on both genres. Where Shawn of the Dead was almost exclusively comical, this movie does attempt to pull off a few good scares, and some are actually pretty effective, albeit mild. It also does a good job of slowly unveiling the monsters similar to Alien; it takes a while before we fully see one, and the anticipation is well structured. The comic elements are good too; they're mostly not over the top, but good and will likely appeal to a wide viewer audience (i.e., not just those who find the sophmoric humor of american pie worthwhile). Some great scenery too; its filmed in an absolutely beautiful set of snowy mountains. It is also worth noting this movie presents a slightly modified version of a zombie. Similar to how the new Friday the 13th turned Jason into a hybrid olympian sprinter/weight lifter, so too these zombies are quite amped up and able to hunt down their prey with impressive alacrity. Don't expect to see Shock Waves-like zombies; these guys are out for the quick kill. Further, the Blu Ray audio/video content is outstanding. It has a surprisingly good video quality and ranks near the top of my collection in that rating. Very highly recommended.

Nazi-zombie horror isn't a new idea. For decades, horror filmmakers have attempted to capitalize on the greatest tragedy in modern history by giving the dirty Nazis their comeuppance. . . in undead form. The only bad thing about the cinematic destruction of Nazi brains is that most of these Nazombie flicks are just plain awful. The French, for example, did it a couple times with appalling flicks like 'Oasis of the Zombies' and 'Zombie Lake'. I guess they were still angry about losing Paris so they didn't even want to give Nazombies the benefit of a quality movie. A rare diamond buried in the pile of rotting Nazi flesh, however, is the new Norwegian zomcom 'Død snø' aka 'Dead Snow'.

In 'Dead Snow' a group of twentysomething medical students head up to a mountain cabin for an Easter vacation ski trip. After only a short while, the inevitable happens: A crazy old man barges his way into their lives and bores them with a ridiculous tale of evil Nazi curses and stolen treasure. When have crazy old men in horror movies ever been right? Not too long after that, those wacky Nazis show up seeking the gold that, well, wasn't really theirs to begin with, but they still want it back anyway.

With films like 'Zombieland' and 'Shaun of the Dead' being released over the past few years, it is very difficult to gain any kind of recognition in the zombie-comedy subgenre since every zomcom will undoubtedly be compared to one or both of them. 'Dead Snow', however, can definitely withstand the comparison. From the wicked fun opening scene and all the way through, the Nazombie horror-comedy is hilariously gross and grossly hilarious, it even has some good scares to go with it. From a technical standpoint, Tommy Wirkola's direction and Matthew Weston's cinematography very well capture the beauty of the snow-covered mountains, but the shakicam got a bit frustrating in a couple scenes. The gore is fantastic and over-the-top, especially the excellent little 'Dead-Alive' moment (maybe to go along with Vegard's t-shirt). The writing is fresh and well paced, leaving most of the characters one-dimensional enough so that it's not too much of a worry when they're executed by the Nazi horde. Sometimes shallow characters are useful. It does have some clichéd elements; but, the film seems self-aware of them, even mentioning a few of them in their references to other films. What will be more frustrating to horror fans than the clichés is the ridiculous statement made about 'Evil Dead II' being a higher-budget remake of the original. But, this is neither the time nor place to get into that.

Overall, 'Død snø' is a fine addition to the zomcom subgenre. If you want a fun zombie romp with some laughs and scares, check this one out. . . then check out 'Shock Waves' for, really, the only other worthwhile Nazombie film.

Final Verdict: 8/10

-AP3-

"Dead Snow" is a Norwegian comedy horror film, directed by Tommy Wirkola. In the film a group of medical students take a holiday in the mountains at an isolated cabin. They're meeting a friend who is traveling cross country, but she never makes it. In the hills, lying in wait, are the dead from WWII. We never really learn how these Nazis became zombies, but they're out for revenge on anyone who disturbs their burial grounds. "Dead Snow" will make you jump, and at times chuckle. It's campy fun, and the Nazis zombie's look great.

One thing about the zombie monster is that they're pretty much a blank slate and anyone with an idea on how to use them can add their own spin to this undead staple in horror. Some have made zombies be undead Templar knights who hunted by sound. Some have even been made in combination with Egyptian mummies. There has even been zombies underwater fighting and trying to feed on sharks. In 2009, Norwegian Tommy Wirkola filmmaker took the zombie and combined it with that other icon of evil in entertainment, the Nazi. What he was able to create with this combo is the horror film Dead Snow.

The film begins with a lone woman running frantically through the snows somewhere in the mountain fjords of Norway with unknown figures chasing her. Like most horror films which begins like this her fate looks to be predetermined and how she finally buys it shows the audience that this is not going to be the usual zombie film as undead figures tear her apart and devour her while wearing the typical Nazi regalia. This gory start segues into the unfortunate group who will end up having to experience and deal with the sudden problem of WWII-era Nazis who had occupied Norway during the war and had ended up being buried (and presumed killed by the Norwegians near the end of the war) for decades in the snows of the Norwegian mountainside.

There's really nothing too special about the seven students who decided to spend their Easter vacationing in the mountain cabin owned by the young woman killed earlier in the film. They're not one-dimensional characters, but they're also not the smartest tools in the shed as they make the usual mistakes young people make while staying at an isolated cabin high up in the mountain with a reputation for being haunted and cursed. The film's director also co-wrote this script with screenwriter Stig Frode Henriksen and one could almost sense they were trying to emulate the group dynamics of the group in Edgar Wright's instant zombie-comedy classic Shaun of the Dead. While Wirkola and Henriksen never reach the same level of creativity in their characters the actors playing them do a good enough job that we root for them to survive the siege of the suddenly hungry Nazi zombies outside their cabin.

Dead Snow does have something which raises the film from being dull and predictable into something very entertaining and thrilling through it's many gory set-pieces. These scenes as the survivors try to fight their way and escape the Nazi zombies (or are they zombie Nazis) doesn't skimp on the blood and gore. Wirkola may have known that the story of his film was very thin on plot with characters a step or two above cardboard so decided to just let the grue fly. It's here that Dead Snow suddenly becomes jet-fueled roller-coaster ride as bodies (both living and undead) get mutilated, decapitated, blasted, shot-up and everything in-between. The final stand-off with the final survivors and an increasing number of Nazi zombies makes this film worth watching.

Tommy Wirkola's Dead Snow doesn't bring too many new things to the zombie genre (Nazi zombies having been done decades earlier in films such as Shock Waves and Oasis of the Zombies), but he does add some dark humor and a healthy dose of over-the-top zombie mayhem that makes the film quite entertaining despite it's flaws. Plus, how can one go wrong with picking something to watch that has Nazi zombies gallivanting their bloody way through Norwegian mountainsides with a hankering for Norwegian students.

WARNING - MOVIE SPOILERS BELOW

Best spoof zombie film to date.

Unique and funny
1. These Zombies are Nazies.
2. Liked the fact that the girls and guys actively fought back using ingenious and sometimes funny zombie kill methods like biting the zombies themselves if they had nothing else, blowing them up with their own WWII bombs and aiming for a zombie head kill by whatever means handy. They all "finish" the job of killing a zombie if they have that advantage instead of running away allowing the zombie a chance to go after them again. Only one idiot guy in the bunch stood around scared while everyone rushed to protect the windows and he got eaten early on. Mounting a WWII machine gun onto a snow mobile was hilarious and an ingenious way to kill the Nazi zombies.
3. Unlike the usual run of the mill zombies, these zombies are smart. They use binoculars, have a leader to coordinate their attacks, etc.
4. These zombies have anti-freeze or something in their veins to keep from freezing solid in the winter snow.
5. Human cuts off zombie bitten arm to avoid becoming a zombie and then gets bitten in crotch.
6. Not too many zombie movies have people falling into an outhouse "hole"
7. Not very likely that the two remaining guys will play "bait" to draw zombies to them while the 2 remaining girls try to get away especially when one of the guy doesn't know one of the girls. In the world of equality today, not going to happen.
8. Hanging by zombie intestines over a cliff was very funny, unique and scary.
9. Usually zombies punch a hole with their fists though soil/dirt and make their way to the surface, these zombies punch up through snow.
10. The Nazis zombies were like pirates or that evil leprechaun, give them their gold and they leave you alone.

Gory
1. Not too many zombie movies draw and quarter their humans.
2. A lot of gory scenes

Scary
1. Liked the fact that most of the humans are ALONE when attacked which makes the film much scarier and each was brilliant in zombie killing strategies even while sometimes dying themselves.
2. Unique camera perspective of seeing death from a victim's eyes while being eaten alive.
3. These zombies can kill a human and instead of staying around to eat, they all leave their "dinner" to chase the stilling running humans which is scary because there is less chance for others to get away.
4. Can a guy who just sawed off one arm and was severely bitten in the crotch by a zombie outrun running zombies?

Stupid (on purpose or just plain stupid)but which make viewers scream "Don't Do That".
1. Do birds lay eggs in winter? If not, then the storyline of the mama bird (crow?) giving away the treed girl's position to the zombies was bogus.
2. One of the girls is wearing a bright red coat which against the white snow makes her stand out from miles away. It might have been a good idea to find another coat in that cabin or turn the red one inside out if the color inside was different/not so bright. The other girl is wearing a white coat that cannot be easily seen in the snow at least during the day. Both girls STOP running to STAND AROUND in the open arguing whether to split up allowing the zombies to reach them. Sadly, this did not end well for one of them.
3. 2 surviving men who are on full alert having just killed zombies are saved by a their friend on a snow mobile. The two men FACE the other man after the zombie kills and it is IMPOSSIBLE for them NOT to see 5 zombies walking up behind their friend close enough to kill him when there was an open field behind him and they could CLEARLY see anything coming. Unrealistic.
4. There is no way most women would go to an outhouse ALONE especially at night so that is an unlikely scenario> And it is just plain stupid for either a woman or a man to go alone as there are bears, wolves, etc. still around even without the zombie threat.
5. Blood comes out of zombies mouths who haven't bitten or eaten a human at all or bit one too far in the past to still have blood dripping from their mouths.
6. Girl who survives on her own killing zombies stupidly grabs her boyfriend who is busy killing zombies and who has no idea she was even alive let alone in the area and when she grabs him from behind, he swings around and stabs her thinking she is a zombie. It is hard to feel sorry for her for being that stupid or to believe she would be that stupid when she was smart enough to stay alive for so long on her own.
7. Why didn't one of the 2 remaining men jump on the snow mobile mounted with a machine gun to either get away (with or without the other guy) or to use that very convenient machine gun while the other guy was occupied with watching his girlfriend die? They both KNOW these zombies ALWAYS have more coming yet they stood around like idiots until the "head zombie" brought up more troops and then ran. Why did they drop their light cleavers and knives obtained from the shed? The guy with the shotgun should have had cleavers/knives tucked in/around his jacket/pants/boots. These guys left with no weapons at all.
8. The ending was predicable. WHY do "survivors" ALWAYS pause to lean against a vehicle to catch their breath and then when finally inside either stop to cry and/or STOP TO put on their seat belt which when you have one arm is hard to do? The guy could have tossed that coin or been long gone if he hadn't stupidly waited around.

Left Hanging
1 Never found out how the Nazis became zombies - infection? Evil spirit spell?
2. Never found out if a human biting a zombie or having a zombie bite a human, turned a human into a zombie.
3.Never explained who the older man was who came in for a cup of coffee and warned them about "Nazis". Why was he up in the mountains to begin with and camping alone in a tent in the middle of winter?
4. Were the zombies at the end of the film when the head Nazi says "ARISE" the zombies already torn apart by the humans (heads crushed/cut to pieces) and "healed" or were they new zombies laying under the snow all this time? If just healed zombies, then these zombies are indestructible.

I have a thing for foreign horror movies, I admit it. I get so disgusted by the lack of true horror and originality of the American films, that I actively search out foreign films. I have seen many very entertaining movies as a result and would like to pass on my reviews of them so that more people may enjoy and appreciate them. Once such gem is Dead Snow. This is a Norwegian zombie horror/comedy film that was released in 2009. Zombies, you say? Zombies have been done to death, right? Wrong! The genius of this movie is that it combines zombies and Nazis.


The film starts out with a group of young folks arriving at a cabin near Oksfjord for some fun and relaxation. Right away, they realize that one of their number, Sarah, is missing and not yet at the cabin as arranged. The group decides to continue on to the cabin and wait for her to show up. Later that night a strange old man shows up and tells them a very odd local story involving an invasion of World War II Nazis and stolen gold. He goes on to say that the locals formed an uprising and killed many of the Nazis, while others, including the leader, Herzog froze to death somewhere in the mountains.


The next morning, Sara's boyfriend Vegard decides to take the snowmobile and go look for Sara. Instead he finds a tent with the mutilated body of the old man. What follows is a horror/comedy delight of zombie Nazis, chainsaws, axes, and murder with a deadly snowmobile. This film is the closest thing I have seen to Evil Dead. It's at times gory, entertaining and even has some funny American pop culture references.


I loved this movie and would recommend it to anyone that likes movies such as Evil Dead, Dead and Breakfast, Dead Alive, Night of the Demons, Cabin Fever and Slither. Dead Snow is subtitled but don't let that scare you. If you are reading this, then you can surely watch this movie and read the subtitles!

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!. 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, Nazi's used these hills for an escape route or safe haven and it's said that this is where they supposedly holed up and eventually died. Well, they're not all that dead. Our medical students eventually meet these flesh eating Zombie Nazis 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, there's chainsaw action, decapitations, rope pulling with intestines, axe murders, machine gun concerts and disembowelment. The effects are top-notch in spite of the obvious budgetary restrictions, and the make up art on the zombies is very impressive. The rotting uniformed corpses look quite menacing, especially their leader. The snowy landscapes were beautiful picture to behold, although it's even more amusing to see the white snow color red with blood! Tommy Wirkola is a clearly talented director and hopefully a promising long career awaits him. The flick however isn't perfect as it suffers 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 with classical music 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 and 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.

I was urged to see this by fellow horror fans, and I'm glad I did. It doesn't have the slickness or vast appeal of a comedy like ZOMBIELAND, but it is plenty gory, very likable and cheerily fast-paced. There are a few cover-your-eyes moments, and some brilliant how-did-they-think-of-that whammies. The story overall is very European, but also happens to some thoroughly modern and Yankified Norwegian med students on vacation. They even quote Indiana Jones. It is worth watching at least twice (if you don't understand Norwegian), because trying to read the subtitles and not miss the intricate splatterfest on screen can be a challenge.

"You should have listened to me, and gone to the beach."
Ski-Dooing by Nordic students it is interrupted by Nazi Zombies. Hot babes and their guys fight back. Nothing new; but real fun...not camp nor silly, yet happy kicks. Photography is a star with fantastic Nordic landscapes, sports and cabin attacks. Zombi makeup is ... strange but ok.
Great looking Scandinavian Nazi Zombi Film with potent atmosphere; light cheese and spices.
BD sound is off the charts; had to turn down the sound. PQ is perfect. (scenes may vary) "In The Hall of the Mountain King " never sounded so good!