The moment you hear even a dollop of the plot from the Norweigian fright flick Dead Snow you are drawn in with unadulterated curiosity. The catch? Nazi Zombies, and while premise goes a long way when marketing a film like this, you need substance to keep the premise supported and it is something that never quite realized in this gory B-movie camp-a-rama.
Sprinkled with moments of hilarity, even genius, Dead Snow perhaps does all that it can with its one-note gimmick. But regardless of intention, I topped out at around the hour mark and than the watch checking began. Really, this film is a very conventional horror film, simply with unconventional antagonists. Where the film truly succeeds is in its uniquely dark humour, because as the Nazi corpses mount at the climax, so does tedium. I am certainly not going to nitpick at the plot and continuity of a film like this, but even under no intentional scrutiny I began to be struck with numerous inconsistencies which only detracted more from the action.
For open minded western audiences the Norweigian leads will be a relief from the aura of convention that masks many of Hollywood's horror efforts. The subtitles alone demand more attention and the crisp mountain summit on which the heroes reside becomes almost a character of its own. The group of friends comprised of either very new or first time Swedish actors all do solid jobs as well and lend to the charm of the click nicely. You have all the conventional players: the cool guy, the jokester, the hot hussy, and the coward but as I said the leads pull it off and the Nazi zombie factor drowns out such clichés nicely enough. The plot itself is really a moot point; the gang are in a remote cabin for a weekend of drinking when the goose-stepping starts and they try to escape. Still with me?
One of the more frustrating aspects of Dead Snow is the egregiously varying strength of the zombies. Some are killed with a single kick to the head while others amble around with an axe in their head. And I'm not going to nit pick on physics, but when seventy year old frozen corpses spurt blood like it's a Tarantino movie you can't help but notice. The final thirty minutes is a single tedious chase sequence and really detracts from the charm built up by the dark humour and bloody fun of the middle segments. This void is made even more depressing as it unflatteringly highlights against the former acts and reeks of what could have been. While a fun enough film to have running in the background on a drunken night with friends, Dead Snow never reaches the level its premise boasts.
Read all my reviews at: simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com
Sprinkled with moments of hilarity, even genius, Dead Snow perhaps does all that it can with its one-note gimmick. But regardless of intention, I topped out at around the hour mark and than the watch checking began. Really, this film is a very conventional horror film, simply with unconventional antagonists. Where the film truly succeeds is in its uniquely dark humour, because as the Nazi corpses mount at the climax, so does tedium. I am certainly not going to nitpick at the plot and continuity of a film like this, but even under no intentional scrutiny I began to be struck with numerous inconsistencies which only detracted more from the action.
For open minded western audiences the Norweigian leads will be a relief from the aura of convention that masks many of Hollywood's horror efforts. The subtitles alone demand more attention and the crisp mountain summit on which the heroes reside becomes almost a character of its own. The group of friends comprised of either very new or first time Swedish actors all do solid jobs as well and lend to the charm of the click nicely. You have all the conventional players: the cool guy, the jokester, the hot hussy, and the coward but as I said the leads pull it off and the Nazi zombie factor drowns out such clichés nicely enough. The plot itself is really a moot point; the gang are in a remote cabin for a weekend of drinking when the goose-stepping starts and they try to escape. Still with me?
One of the more frustrating aspects of Dead Snow is the egregiously varying strength of the zombies. Some are killed with a single kick to the head while others amble around with an axe in their head. And I'm not going to nit pick on physics, but when seventy year old frozen corpses spurt blood like it's a Tarantino movie you can't help but notice. The final thirty minutes is a single tedious chase sequence and really detracts from the charm built up by the dark humour and bloody fun of the middle segments. This void is made even more depressing as it unflatteringly highlights against the former acts and reeks of what could have been. While a fun enough film to have running in the background on a drunken night with friends, Dead Snow never reaches the level its premise boasts.
Read all my reviews at: simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com