By Geno McGahee
I have heard about DEAD SNOW for a while, but never had any interest in it. Finally, I gave into the word of mouth advertising and bought the movie, feeling that with all of the surrounding hype it had to be good enough to purchase. It was.
A group of friends go to a remote location to join their friend, Sara (Ane Dahl Torp) at her cabin for some skiing and fun. When the group gets there, Sara is nowhere to be found. They gather at the cabin and begin having a good time. Although the characters are interchangeable, the movie is very entertaining and moves along at a brisk pace. Less is more with this film, initially, with very little zombie action. You see parts of them here and there, but you never get a really good look at one until the tail end of the movie.
We have Turgaer (Bjorn Sundquist) show up on the snowy night and tell the story of the Nazi soldiers that were chased into the mountains, but now they haunt them. I love characters like this and Sundquist does a great job delivering. Most horror films have an older guy that knows the truth and tries to warn the crazy kids, but they never listen. This film is no exception. He was just a crazy old man…but he knew the truth.
The movie kicks into high gear and the Nazi zombies are loose, and there are a shitload of them. They are very neat looking and very aggressive. The group does a good job fighting them off from time to time but they are too plentiful. At one point, it looks like they took them all out, but after a scream from the Nazi leader, Oberst Herzogg (Orjan Gamst), hundreds more arise from the snow. The zombies aren’t going to lose this one.
This film reminds me a lot of BURIAL GROUND. It’s just really cool and it has great visuals. Those two elements create an entertaining experience where you may not learn anything and you may not connect with any of the characters, but you have the time of your life. DEAD SNOW deserves the word of mouth hype that I’ve heard over the last three years. It’s not a great film, but it is as entertaining as it gets. I really loved it and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 8/10
