DVD Review: Dead Snow
Dead Snow
Studio: IFC
DVD Release Date: February 23, 2010
Directed By: Tommy Wirkola
Review By: Marc Patterson
I don’t believe I’ve ever reviewed a film twice. That’s not to say that my opinions don’t change on certain films over a period of time. Indeed they do. When Dead Snow hit DVD I, like so many other horror loving fans, rushed out to snag this one up. The only chance any of us had to see the film prior was through the IFC On Demand feature, provided through choice cable TV providers. On my first viewing of the film I enjoyed it fine enough, but it was lacking in a more full experience. It hadn’t been available in High-Def, and it wasn’t available with subtitles. By default IFC utilized the English dubbing. If you’ve spent any time reading my opinions on foreign films you’ll know I’m a big fan of subtitles over the use of dubbing, though dubbing does have its place in the schlocky world of B-movie viewing.
In terms of story there’s not much to explain. I think I did a better job synopsizing the film in my original review. However, let’s give it the ol’ college try here: A bunch of college kids take to a remote mountain cabin for a weekend of relaxing and partying. The cabin is located on the site of an old Nazi base. Before long, dead Nazi zombies are rising from the frozen tundra to give these college kids some hell. Toss in a creepy old man who warns the kids of danger, and copious nods towards classic gore-fests such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Evil Dead, and Braindead, and what you have is 90 minutes of low-brow hijinks and more blood splatter than the best crime scene on Dexter. May the best man, woman, or zombie remain standing.
In my original review (read here) I criticized the first act of the film for being “damn near insufferable”, pointing out that the “horrible acting and worse dialogue makes this treacherous terrain for any audience to wade through.” To this point in particular I am somewhat changed in opinion. It could have been the non-optional English dubbing that irritated the ever living piss out of me, but for some reason on this second viewing, I wasn’t as put off. Yes the film still does take far too long to get up to speed. There’s no reason why a film with a non-existent plot, that depends solely on comedic gore to deliver the entertainment value, should take more than twenty minutes to deliver the set up. If this was sex I would have fallen asleep during the foreplay.
For the remainder of the film I stand by my original review. And I quote myself once again… “It’s more sanguineness 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.” And boy, do they ever. If this is your cup of gore, then you can’t go wrong with Dead Snow.
In terms of packaging you get a nice two disc set with plenty of extras. The DVD print noticeably looks better than what I was subjected to through the On-Demand service. I’m not sure the Blu-ray version will provide a drastic increase in quality over the DVD, at least enough to justify the retail price jump, but if it does… damn!
The extras are plentiful, but less than impressive. You get your basic making-of featurette, which is simply a slipshod behind the scenes, subtitled again. It’s about as boring as watching snow melt. There’s a teaser trailer and theatrical trailer, both of which are fun to watch. Then there’s some outtake reels, a featurette on the FX, and burning of the cabin (ho-hum), and finally a short on the sounds of Dead Snow. All in all… A LOT of extras, but little of substance. Oddly enough, that’s right in line with the film. Ultimately, the whole film and double disc set is like eating Chinese food. It’s tasty and fun to eat, but you’ll be craving more in rather short order.
