I was in a bit of a horror mood last night and this film came highly recommended from a friend. Dead Snow is a Norwegian film starring Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Lasse Valdal, Evy Kasseth Rosten, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Jenny Skavlan and Ane Dahl Torp. They play medical students who take a trip to some snowy mountains and while there they encounter a terrifying horror…Nazi zombies. Yes, that’s right, not just regular zombies but Nazis!
It’s clear from the outset that the writers and director of this film love horror movies as there are a number of references to popular and obscure classics. This gives the whole film a meta feel and there are a few sly winks towards the audience and this leads Dead Snow to walk a fine line between a satire horror films and a genuine film in its own right. I think sometimes it threatened to veer too much into the former side but overall it managed to keep its hold on the material and still provided the scares without descending into parody territory. However, it doesn’t escape the trappings of Hollywood completely and there are some infuriating decisions by the characters that remind you that these characters are still in a movie and aren’t just aware of movies.
The characters are pretty interesting and not all of them are the best actors, but they have genuine chemistry together and this makes up for the sometimes shaky acting. I liked the dynamics of the group and for the most part they’re the only human characters. They’re joined briefly by a random wanderer who fills them in on some of the history of the area, and tells them about some strange goings-on. The explanation for the Nazis isn’t original and this particular characters feels like Mr. Exposition rather than a character in his own right; he’s purely there to fill in the students and us about the horrors of the area. I did like the zombies though and they have more direction and intelligence than normal zombies, and this made them far more menacing than usual.
The scenery of the film was excellent and the white blanket of snow was beautiful. It was a bit of a different landscape to where zombies are usually found and this gave the movie a unique feel. It had a very visceral feel and the gore was at times horrific, at other times cartoonish (I mean that in a good way). There were some great laugh-out-loud moments and some other moments of genuine terror, which makes this an ideal movie to watch with a group of friends. It knew how to shift tone at just the right moments and the build-up in the climax is perfect.
It’s very much in the mold of traditional Hollywood horror films and as such it has some of the same failings, but it manages to capture the spirit of the best of them. It’s a really fun film that will have you laughing at the sheer absurdity of some things and jumping in fright. If you’re a fan of zombies or horror then you should definitely check it out, and there’s a sequel coming out soon so look out for that as well.
