Just as Dan O'Bannon pays a comedic homage to George Romero with his hilarious and gory Return of the Living Dead (1985), nearly 20 years later Edgar Wright would do the same with his brilliantly funny Shaun of the Dead (2004). Now, another fresh brain come to town trying to pay homage to the likes of O'Bannon, Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi. Norwegian director/writer Tommy Wirkola has tried to do just that with his 2009 release Dead Snow. Wirkola mixes basic elements of horror, comedy, and a shitload of dead Nazis, all wrapped tightly with cliches. And what better way to kick a zombie movie up a notch? Add Nazis!

Previous to watching this movie, I knew nothing about it other than that it was a Nazi zombie flick but I was stoked to watch it. The set-up follows just about every cliched horror movie and may seem long, boring and tedious to some but tries to make it essential. The movie starts with a serious tone as director Tommy Wirkola introduces the characters and sets the premise. It promisingly opens with Sara (Ane Dahl Torp) being chased by shadowy figures through the snow and unfortunate for her, the last thing she sees are her intestines being devoured before the shot goes blurry and fades to black. The main story is about seven friends taking a weekend vacation from their medical studies to camp at a remote cabin up in snow covered mountains. Here, we find the typical horror movie typecasts - Erland (Jeppe Laursen), the nerdy movie buff; couples Martin (Vegar Hoel)/Hanna (Charlotte Frogner) and Roy (Stig Frode Henriksen)/Liv (Evy Kasseth Røsten); horny bimbo Chris (Jenny Skavlan); and Vegard (Lasse Valdal) the rugged athletic type. One of the medical students even has an aversion to the sight of blood, which plays into a comedic act later on in the movie. Vegard leaves the group to go look for Sara who should have arrived at the cabin much earlier but we know what happened to her. Well into the evening, the rest of the partying guests are interrupted by a weird old man (Bjorn Sundquist) who tells them a story about how Nazis led by Colonel Herzog (Ørjan Gamst), brutally occupied a nearby town near the end of World War II. After stealing all of valuables in the town, the Nazis are chased into the mountains by the angered townsfolk. Their valuables were never recovered and the villagers assumed it was lost with the frozen Nazis. The old man warns them that their foolishness will awaken them if they're not careful. The last bit of seriousness in this movie ends after the old man doesn't take his own advice and becomes a midnight snack. During their late-night partying, the group comes across a hidden box full of very expensive valuables. Could this be the lost treasure the Nazis stole? Apparently so as the horde of Nazi zombies now make themselves apparent and attack the barricaded cast.

From here, Dead Snow becomes a horror comedy and pushes the gore to the hilt. This gave Wirkola free license to treat each kill in the goriest and nastiest ways because none of it was meant to be serious. Silly antics and gallons of blood reminiscent of Raimi's Evil Dead and Jackson's Braindead abound as the special effects take center stage. There's something surreal about blood splatter on virgin white snow! Wirkola even advertises this influence by having Erland wear a "Braindead" t-shirt while he's getting his brain literally squeezed out of his head! Much like other zombie movies, as the movie progresses, it becomes zanier and bloodier. One of the best highlights is when Vegard is attacked by a zombie and thrown from a cliff. He is saved by using another zombie's intestines as a safety line and climbs it to safety. But nothing could possibly match the scene where Martin (earlier, it is revealed that he faints at the sight of blood but yet is covered in it by the end of the movie with no ill effects!) and Roy take on the zombie horde with nothing but a chainsaw, hammer and sickle.

The problem is that the characters are exactly what they are molded to be and nothing unique is ever brought out about them. They are the same characters you see in every other generic horror movie. The guys were all trying to be Bruce Campbell wannabes with their one-liners that sometimes fell flat and the women were defenseless screamers. I never cared for any of them and theirs deaths were treated nonchalantly. The only surprise was to see who would make it to the end and actually that didn't matter either. Also, Wirkola tries to cover up the plot holes by shoving so much gore into your face (gore is good, though.) There is no explanation as to how or Why these Nazis have become denizens of the undead. At least in every zombie movie I've seen, they've attempted to explain it by way of a rogue asteroid, alien parasite, pollution, voodoo curse, or chemical rain. Not in this movie. We're never told and it was hard for me to understand the motivation of the zombies - although zombies really don't need motivation other than eating brains! Much of the gore works but there are occasions it looked like the effects team raided the local Halloween shop for props. And, the movie never stands out on it's own. Wirkola relies too heavily on gimmicks from other movies. For example (and there were tons of them), just as Ash in Evil Dead cuts off his own hand, one of the characters willingly cuts off his own arm...how blatant. And how about this Colonel Herzog, the coolest looking one of the zombie group. I know commanders aren't supposed to get their hands dirty but come on...he's a zombie and isn't supposed to be able to put together complete thoughts. He just stood there staring at the victims and ordering the other zombies around.

Now, Dead Snow is not the first movie to feature Nazis zombies but it is the better one in this sub-genre. If you are interested in more, from the top of my head others include The Frozen Dead (1967), Shock Waves (1977), Zombie Lake (1981), Oasis of the Zombies (1981), Night of the Zombies (1981), and the more recent The Bunker (2001), Horrors of War(2006), and Outpost (2008). Shock Waves and Outpost are the better ones and be prepared for pure schlock with the others. The quality of this movie far outdoes any I've seen. The location was beautiful and the mountainous region in Norway was gorgeous. This helped create a mood of desolation and remoteness (and probably helped keep the budget low, as well.) Supposedly from what I've read, the budget for the special effects alone was $600,000 (source: Norwegian Film Institute) and used 475 quarts of "blood!"

I would have to favor watching this movie for a couple of reasons. The fact that the zombies are Nazis is a huge reason I like it and without them, this movie would have barely been a blip on anyone's radar. The gore factor is wayyyyyy up there so all you weak stomach wimps should be prepared to cover your eyes. A lot! Combined with the comedic tone, the over-the-top brain bashing was entertaining but in an intentional "so bad it's good" way and really didn't hinder my experience. And, don't watch this for a good story because there isn't one. This movie drowns in other movie influences and cliches so don't look for anything inventive. And lastly, if you are turned off by reading subtitles or listening to bad dubbing, beware! It is in Norwegian. I tried watching a bit of it in English but the dubbing reminded me too much of those campy Italian peplum films (sword and sandal movies of the 50's and 60's) where the voices totally don't match. This is nothing but pure gorehound entertainment and although I didn't fall in love with it, I did liked it enough to recommend it.