Dead Snow (2009)

Just, a complete joke ... but not very funny.

Given my Scandinavian origin and being a bit of a fan of all kinds of science fiction, fantasy, action and horror movies I of course had to have Dead Snow in my collection. Last Saturday me and my son got around to watch it.

Dead Snow is a pretty classical teenage-group-gets-into-big-mess-with-supernatural-beings kind of horror movie. In this particular case a group of teenagers goes for a hike in the Norwegian mountains where they camp in cabin. Not very original of course but what the heck, it is a zombie horror movie so…

One thing that makes the movie a bit original is that it is not so totally over the top with foul language and insane consumption of all kinds of drugs as the standard Hollywood crap. These teenagers actually behave fairly normally drinking a few beers and having a good time. Well that is until the mysterious stranger, who is in the movie just to set up the mood, shows up and tells his story about a unusually cruel Nazi officer and his men. Of course we all know where things are going from there…

Here the movie starts to follow the usual recipe for these kind of movies. Naturally one of the teenagers needs to take care of some natural needs and separates himself from the rest of the party. Then follows the obligatory boy and girl having sex scene. This time in a old-fashioned Scandinavian “skithus” separated from the actual cabin. Anyone who has ever used one of these (I have and they stink) would know that you have to be pretty horny, drunk or both to have sex in one of those. Anyway, that was one less teenager in the party.

Slowly the zombies become more frequent and the dire situation the party is in becomes more and more evident. As the zombies become more frequent so does the gory sequences and eventually the movie turns more into a comedy than a horror movie. I have to say that the Tommy Wirkola have little to learn from his Hollywood counterparts when it comes to horror movie violence. Body parts, external as well as internal, flies around like there was no tomorrow. Which for most of the characters involved is exactly the way it is.

On the whole this movie was one part classical horror movie and one part comedy and I found it quite entertaining but you have to be into these kinds of movies to feel that way of course.