Director: Tommy Wirkola
Writer: Stig Frode Henriksen, Vegar Hoel, Tommy Wirkola (Screenplay)
Starring: Vegar Hoel, Orjan Gamst, Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer, Ingrid Haas, Stig Frode Henriksen, Hallvard Holmen
Plot: If the worst day of your life consisted of accidentally killing your girlfriend with an axe, chain-sawing your own arm off, and watching in horror as your closest friends were devoured by a zombified Nazi battalion, you’d have to assume that things couldn’t get much worse. In Martin’s case, that was only the beginning.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Genre Changing Class Act
Story: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead starts by recapping us one what happened during the first film. Martin (Hoel) the lone survivor believing he was free makes a desperate escape from the Nazi zombies, after he escapes he is involved in a car accident. Martin awakens in the hospital where police believe he is responsible for the dead bodies and that they had reattached his arm, only for it to be the arm of the Nazi zombie general. The Nazi’s decide against going back to their resting places but instead to invade the nearby town and raising a new army for themselves. Martin meets a young boy from America who is reporting his story to the Zombie Squad back in America. The Zombie Squad have been training to fight zombies for years and they must travel Norway, led by Daniel (Starr) the team of three go to prove everyone wrong.
Herzog (Gamst) the leader of the Nazi’s and Martin both head to the World War II museum. Martin learns about Herzog and his men never completed their final mission and the people of the local town are going to become the victims of the slaughter they never did. Herzog on the other hand heads there to collect what was once his and his men’s. Martin along with his new power in his arm doesn’t only give him strength it can also bring the dead back to fight on his side. Martin teams up with the Zombie Squad to raise their own army of the undead for a showdown with Herzog and his army.
Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead can only real be described with one work ‘Bonkers’. It takes what was a very funny zombie comedy and turns it into something bigger, better and funnier. We do lose the true horror side the first one had, but we gain on the action and comedy. It feels like a fitting sequel and by the way this one is done the way ‘Aliens’ followed ‘Alien’ by changing the full genre to include much more action. The addition of the Zombie Squad a group of nerds from America into a story in Norway works brilliantly as they come off as die hard zombie film fans that want to fight real ones and look out of place but end up fitting in perfectly. All I would say negative about this film is that it does lack the true horror side of zombies and barely follows any of the traditional zombie rules, but this real is a good thing. You won’t guess what will happen next. (8/10)
Actor Review
Vegar Hoel: Martin lone survivor from the first film, he has had Herzog’s arm attached to him giving him the strength to kill with ease and with his new power he can also raise the dead, leading him to go up against Herzog’s army. Vegar gives a good performance in the leading role building on what he created first time around. (8/10)
Orjan Gamst: Herzog Nazi general leader of the zombies who isn’t going to take his men back to their resting place, instead he takes them to complete their final mission before they were killed. Orjan gives a good performance as the Nazi commander. (7/10)
Martin Starr: Daniel leader of the Zombie Squad who travels with his team of nerds to Norway to take down the zombies and prove to the world that zombies are real. Martin does a good job adding to the comedy levels in the film. (7/10)
Support Cast: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead has a few different groups of supporting characters, first we have the rest of the Zombie Squad two young ladies he quote anything geekish. We have the Norwegian police who want to take down Martin but end up deep than they can handle, all very funny. We also have fellow fighters who all end up adding to the laughs.
Director Review: Tommy Wirkola – Tommy does a good job directing and building on the first film to make one of the funniest zombie comedies of all time. (9/10)
Action: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead is filled with plenty of fights having mostly zombies fighting against each other or people. (8/10)
Comedy: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead has plenty of laugh out loud moments making this one of the funniest films in recent years. (10/10)
Horror: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead uses the zombie side of the horror well but it feels more like an action film with zombies. (5/10)
Settings: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead uses it settings in Norway very well to let you know how open the land is. (8/10)
Special Effects: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead uses great effects for the kills. (10/10)
Suggestion: Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead is one for all the horror fans out there, it is a great watch for all the fans out there. (Horror Fans Watch)
Best Part: Tank’s final shot.
Worst Part: Lacks the horror from the first one.
Action Scene Of The Film: Final battle.
Funniest Scene: The first zombie Martin revives keeps coming back funnier each time.
Kill Of The Film: Final Tank.
Believability: No (0/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: Could have one.
Post Credits Scene: Yes
Awards: Won 11 Awards in the Horror festivals.
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Tagline: Heads up. They’re back.
Trivia: Shot in both Norwegian and English versions.
Overall: Best Zombie Comedy Since Zombieland
Rating
