Dead Snow – Dead Snow (2009)

Directed by: Tommy Wirkola | 88 minutes | action, drama, horror, thriller, comedy, adventure | Actors: Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Lasse Valdal, Evy Kasseth Røsten, Jeppe Laursen, Jenny Skavlan, Ane Dahl Torp, Bjørn Sundquist, Ørjan Gamst

The tagline of ‘Dead Snow’ says enough: “eins, Zwei, die!”. Then you know; for this movie you have to put your mind to zero. In this Norwegian slasher we see how a group of young people take up residence in an abandoned log cabin in the Norwegian mountains as a mini holiday. Because of the thick snow, the four boys and three girls cannot get close by car. One of them therefore takes the snowmobile he brought along and the rest follow his trail. Number eight of the group was not in the car already, because he wanted to go skiing to his destination. While the youngsters are celebrating the start of their trip, there is no sign of life from the skier. Suddenly a strange man appears on the doorstep, who tells them that the mountains are not safe. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the Nazis stationed nearby are said to have fled there. And now it is a no go area for the locals…

Young people, an abandoned house in the mountains and ignoring a warning. You can feel it coming from afar, but the beginning still promises a lot. On the one hand, this is due to the exciting, beautiful setting (the snowy Norwegian mountains) and, on the other hand, to the ridiculous, but curious story of the unknown man. Because however stupid and far-fetched; let’s see how it all works with those SS zombies! Unfortunately, that turns out to be a vain hope. After the tension of not seeing the monsters in uniform has disappeared, ‘Dead Snow’ transforms into a kind of video game, without even attempting to add any depth to it. The main characters’ goal is to kill as many zombies as possible before they run off with them – and above all – their entrails. Hammers, chainsaws and other tools that can serve as weapons are thrown into battle with a lot of blood and flying limbs as a result. It’s not subtle at all and the why of all this is a question that you better not ask. That is not answered anyway. For a horror, ‘Dead Snow’ is nowhere near scary and exciting enough. It’s all gross. After being creative with cork, for example, here is a demonstration of how you can also be creative with intestines…

You better laugh about it then and that is how the makers of ‘Dead Snow’ undoubtedly intended it. But even if that was the goal, the acting could at least have been better. That is really dramatic! The special effects are also nothing to write home about, but for the sake of convenience we attribute that to the small budget that Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola had to deal with. Do you like zombies, lots of blood and a totally nonsensical story; then this is your movie. Anyone who wants to see a good horror can safely ignore ‘Dead Snow’.