Film Review: Død snø (Dead Snow)
Død snø (Dead Snow) (2008)
Studio: IFC
Release Date: June 12, 2009
Directed By: Tommy Wirkola
Review By: Marc Patterson
Nazi fuckin’ Zombies. Nuff said. You’re either in or out. I don’t need to say any more. If you’re in then there’s not much I’m going to say that’s going to sway you one way or the other from this bit of snowbound Norwegian horror. If you’re out, then what the hell are you even doing reading this review?
There’s not much of a storyline here to explain, which I suppose is just fine. After all, those who want to see this film only want to see one thing. Some Nazi fuckin’ zombies. Oh yeah… a shit ton of bloody violence. Here’s the run down… A group of college kids take break from their higher learning at a secluded mountain cabin. It’s partying all day and partying all night, until their host Sarah doesn’t show up. Her boyfriend heads out on his snowmobile to go find her but what he finds is that the camp fire legends of Nazi’s in the Norwegian mountains holds some truth to it. Except these Nazi’s aren’t dead and pushing up daisies. They’re undead, and they want to feast on the flesh of humans. A battle of epic proportions commences and we’re hurtled headlong into one outrageous set piece to the next until the climatic face off occurs between our cast of geeky humans and an army of the undead.
First things first. These aren’t the slow moving lumbering zombies of Romero’s world. They’re fast. Like 28 Days Later fast. Maybe faster. This isn’t meant to start a debate. I’m just stating facts. I don’t care if they’re fast or slow, but damn do these evil bastards move fast, and fight hard. I didn’t totally expect it, but when all things came to a head I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
The first act of the film is damn near insufferable. Horrible acting and worse dialogue makes this treacherous terrain for any audience to wade through. Lucky for us it doesn’t last long and when the second act kicks in we get to the meaty portion of the meal and the stuff we showed up for. When the Nazi invasion begins you’ll be up to your eyeballs in nasty gore. It’s more sanguineous delight than you can shake a bloodied stump of an arm at. Gouged eyeballs, brain salad, and buckets upon buckets of blood and body parts will litter the pristine mountain snow. With plenty of allusions to a variety of classic horror films, most notably Evil Dead and Peter Jackson’s Braindead, you can expect outlandish, and over the top sequences that are designed less to shock and induce fear, and more to titillate the bloodlust of horror fiends everywhere. By the time we get to final act of the film we’re doused from head to foot in blood. You might forgivably think that there isn’t much further the line can be pushed, but get ready, because the high pressure cooker is turned into overdrive and we’re headed over the edge.
While I’m not going to praise Dead Snow for doing anything groundbreaking in the annals of zombie cinema, what it does do is provide 90 minutes of nearly non-stop entertainment. It boasts some nice effects, is bloody as hell, and purely unintelligent. But it delivers exactly what it promises. For optimum enjoyment we suggest watching with plenty of friends and loads of beer.
Right now it seems that Nazi Zombies are experiencing a bit of a comeback in pop culture, and while I’m not quite sure why I’m certainly not going to complain. What I am going to go is boot up the Playstation, pop in my Call of Duty, and blast through some Nazi zombies of my own.
Brutal As Hell Rating:
3 ½ out of 5
