Review: Dead Snow

From the opening sequence, you know Dead Snow is going to be a good movie. The film opens against the stark white backdrop of Norwegian mountains and snow on a lonely arctic night. A woman is running through the trees, pursued by what? We don't know. Music from the Nutcracker blares in the TVs speakers as you struggle to discern what's happening...and just as you do and the woman meets her untimely end? Opening credits roll. Genius. I'm instantly engaged.

After the credits, Dead Snow begins like many movies of its type. You are introduced to a number of stock characters of varying levels of acting ability. They're all supposed to be college students, but they all look they could have been guests at my late-twenties Halloween party. The girls are too attractive for the boys, but hey...it's film. I was wary for a little bit at the beginning, as the dialogue pirouetted around sex jokes and cheesy puns, but this film won back my allegiance very quickly.

Dead Snow is a gore-lover's dream. The filmmakers were certainly not shy with their karo syrup and red food coloring, and they seemed to hold a special place in their hearts for intestines and other internal organs. By the end of the film, every character is shellacked in a lovely coat of fresh blood, and every stab wound seems to hit a vital vein...sending pumping and squirting blood everywhere...even on to the camera. Yum. Definitely not for the faint of heart. That being said, the effects are actually quite nice and realistic looking (with a couple reasonable exceptions). For a small budget flick, they made some pretty involved gore look pretty damn realistic. You'll be screaming and squirming the whole way through.

From a zombie standpoint, I'm a little on the fence. The movie was certainly a good horror movie, but it's hard to title it a straight, classic zombie flick. The monsters are clearly dead, they're referred to as zombies, and the makeup artist certainly intended for you to think that the are the living, brain-eating undead. But here's where I get a little iffy. They're nazi zombies, which of course means they are still in full nazi regalia, but these zombies also use binoculars, lead organized charges, and stab, punch and kick like actual, living soldiers. My only other complaint would be that they don't seem to eat their victims at any point, although they do disembowel them and dismember them like true zombie pros. So don't expect a whole lot of zombie gluttony here, but as long as you go in with that in mind you'll be fine.

From a film making standpoint, this film usually gets it right. The narrative is clear, focused and honest. The cinematographer was original and gutsy, but everything he tries really tends to work. Sometimes his choices seem a little out of place stylistically, but they really do help to tell the story. My personal favorite is a moment when one character is buried under the snow...you'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. Great camera work. Also, while the film is foreign and is therefore subtitled, you get used to it very very quickly. There isn't much dialogue in the final 1/3rd of the film, so it isn't too distracting even if you don't watch many foreign flicks. My only filmmaking complaint would be the editing (both sound and video). It seemed too abrupt and actually impeded the story telling at times. There were a few moments in the film where I was left like "wait...what just happened?" because of the editing, and I don't really feel like that was intentional.

Overall, it was well worth the 90 minutes I spent watching it. It had a sort of Shaun of the Dead vibe, and I both gasped and laughed numerous times during the film. It has a good handle on the balance between black comedy and horror. Also, the backdrop certainly adds to the creepy factor in a very The Descent kind of way. You keep thinking, even if they can avoid the zombies...how the heck are they gonna get out? On the first really snowy day of the year here in Chicago, it was a perfect choice.

You can check it out on Netflix (it's available on streaming), or you can purchase it for $14.99. After watching it, I may have to add it to my amazon wishlist. Until then, here's the trailer...