Dead Snow (2009)

A ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies.

Director:

Tommy Wirkola

Writers:

Tommy Wirkola, Stig Frode Henriksen

Stars:

Jeppe Beck Laursen, Charlotte Frogner, Jenny Skavlan

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Vegar Hoel	...	Martin
Stig Frode Henriksen	...	Roy
Charlotte Frogner	...	Hanna
Lasse Valdal	...	Vegard
Evy Kasseth Røsten	...	Liv
Jeppe Beck Laursen	...	Erlend
Jenny Skavlan	...	Chris
Ane Dahl Torp	...	Sara
Bjørn Sundquist	...	Turgåer
Ørjan Gamst	...	Oberst Herzog

Storyline

Several friends take to the mountains and shack-up in the wilderness of back-of-beyond to enjoy a little R and R together. Their peace is soon interrupted by a mysterious old man who informs them that during WWII, Nazi invaders of the area were brutal and harsh in their methods of control until, according to a legend, a villager's revolt drove the invaders up into the cold, dark mountains, where they perished. But now there's the rumor that they returned in the form of zombies --evil Nazi zombies.

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Plot Keywords:

zombie | nazi | snowmobile | snow | medical student | 

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Taglines:

Ein! Zwei! Die!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Norway

Language:

Norwegian

Release Date:

9 January 2009 (Norway)

Also Known As:

Dead Snow

Filming Locations:

Norway

Box Office

Budget:

$800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,363, 21 June 2009

Gross USA:

$46,742

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,166,797

Company Credits

Production Co:

Euforia Film, Barentsfilm AS, FilmCamp

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally it was going to be called "Rød Snø" (or Red Snow in English), as an homage to the Swedish/Norwegian mini-series with the same name.

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Goofs

One of the zombies (one of the two chasing the girl up the tree) is wearing a white (snow) camouflage jacket. The jacket shows plastic parts (or is completely made out of plastic) which can only be found at modern day jackets. Maybe the zombie took it away from a earlier victim but as all the others wear "original" war gear this is supposed to be a WWII Jacket - and is way too modern.

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Quotes

Herzog: Rise!

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Alternate Versions

DEAD SNOW 1+2 [Fan-Edit] - The Final Redemption (2014) is a Fan-Edited back-2-back double feature [Runtime 03:05:45]. As detailed here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2832470/alternateversions?ref_=tttrv_ql_5 Using all-original audio [no dubbing] and subtitled throughout (for the English-speaking audience) only where needed - ie; Norwegian parts. The films meet at the point when Herzog smashes Martin's car window.

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Connections

References The Simpsons (1989)

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Soundtracks

NR2
Written and Performed by Cyaneed (All rights reserved)
Frisk F Music AS

User Reviews

A bloody Nazi twist on the zombie and cabin in the woods flick

How do you create a unique take on the cabin in the woods motif? How about undead Nazis in the Norwegian mountains? Tommy Wirkola's "Dead Snow" starts off terribly, like every uncreative zombie movie you've ever seen, but by the film's end you might even be impressed.

The film, written by Wirkola and creative partner Stig Frode Henrikson, follows a group of medical students and their friends/significant others on a ski trip to the remote village of Oksfjord. When they arrive at their cabin, a creepy old man scolds them for being ignorant to the history of Oksfjord, where German soldiers tormented the locals during World War II until the people ultimately had enough and drove the Nazis into the mountains where they froze to death. Or did they? The friends soon find themselves under attack by hordes of Nazi zombies (Nazombies?).

Almost the entire first hour of the 91-minute film unravels slowly and predictably, to the point where you might start guessing which characters will die first out of sheer boredom. It's almost an uncomfortable watch knowing a movie about Nazi zombies has to descend into bizarre, bloody chaos at some point yet there's all this waiting.

But the final act delivers for fans of horror comedy and is by and large worth the wait. The gray-faced Nazi zombies are stupid but also malevolent and fast-moving, and the characters face all kinds of unpredictable obstacles in trying to take them down. You'd think filmmakers would've run out of ways to kill zombies by now, but Wirkola finds ways to turn the action in completely unexpected ways with outcomes that are at times way beyond the norm for the genre.

Wirkola plays it by the book stylistically for the first half of the movie with suspenseful fake- outs and bad jump scares, but then gets creative later. Visually, his style is slightly reminiscent of how Edgar Wright handled "Shaun of the Dead." His skill set on the whole appears much better suited for action and tension than for pure horror.

"Dead Snow" features some seriously low-budget effects, but no CGI. The zombie makeup is average and there are a few moments that appear to involve green screen, but fans of old- fashioned blood mixtures and flesh and guts in gooey puddles will praise the film for its commitment to old-school values.

The sense of humor also shines in the end, redeeming the clichés of the first hour. It doesn't ever reach too far for laughs, thanks in large part to not taking itself too seriously. After watching the beginning you'd swear not a single clever person worked on this movie, but by the end you'll realize how wrong you were.

"Dead Snow" puts a strange and oddly satisfying twist on an all-too familiar genre, but it comes too late. Not too late to salvage the film, but too late to be classified as one of the best modern zombie pics.

~Steven C

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