Tuesday 27 January 2015

DOUBLE REVIEW: Dead Snow (2009) / Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014)

Dead Snow
Originally written on: 22 July 2013 on personal blog

IMDB rate: 6,4
Genre: Comedic, Zombie
Starring: Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Hendriksen, Charlotte Frogner

I really enjoyed watching this movie. I've seen it once before and I must admit that I thought it was a weird movie. It is a weird movie, but an excellent one.
I think it look a lot of courage to make a movie about nazi zombies. It's brilliant.

Several friends take off to the mountains and shack-up in the wilderness of back-of-beyond to enjoy a little R & R together, their peace is soon interrupted by a mysterious old man, warning them of a local curse that during the German occupation of the local area that these Nazi invaders were brutal and harsh in their methods of control. Telling of the legend of the villager's revolt that drove them up into the cold, dark mountains where they perished, that is until rumour of their return in the form of zombies, evil Nazi zombies.


The first 40 minutes of the movie are kinda slow. Nothing really happens and you never get a look of these intruders. And when you finally get to see them it almost feels like a serious zombie movie. Luckily it switched very quickly to a comedic zombie movie that feels a lot like Shaun of the Dead.

The movie feels a lot like an old zombie movie, something like Night of the Living Dead. The zombies are not infectious I believe, also they are rising dead zombies, instead of virus zombies. A nice throwback to the past!
My favorite part is when a filmfreak character mentions to not get bitten by one of the zombies, and when one of them gets actually bitten in their arm he chops of his arm to prevent infection (if that's indeed infected at all). Right after he cuts of his arm he gets bitten in his balls... well, this was hilarious as you can imagine, especially his look on his face.
The acting is good, I don't know any of the actors but I liked them.

The zombies look very scary but are also a bit funny. They are slow and very patient. Violent as hell and they look a lot like angry dogs.


The images are very beautiful, the blood mixed up with the snow gives a very nice look. The music is very cool. And the humor is brilliant.
I absolutely recommend watching this movie. It's very funny and scary at the same time. For those who enjoyed Shaun of the Dead might enjoy this one too.

My personal rate: 8/10

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Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead
Originally written on 26 January 2015 on personal blog

IMDB rate: 7,1
Genre: Zombie, Comedic
Starring: Martin Starr, Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Hendriksen

You wouldn't know how much I'm bummed out that I only watched this movie in 2015, because otherwise this movie would've been on number 1 for my top 5 horror movies of 2014 for sure. What an absolutely brilliant movie. I already was a big fan of the first Dead Snow, but this one is even more awesome compared to that. The nazi zombies were already a brutal way to approach the zombie genre, but in Red vs. Dead this approach is going a few steps further by brutally murdering children, elders and the disabled. I can already tell you that if you're easily offended this movie is absolutely not right for you.

Here is what Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead about:
If the worst day of your life consisted of accidentally killing your girlfriend with an axe, chain-sawing your own arm off, and watching in horror as your closest friends were devoured by a zombified Nazi battalion, you'd have to assume that things couldn't get much worse. In Martin's case, that was only the beginning.


Dead Snow was already an amazing movie, funny, brutal and a true gore-fest. Surprisingly enough the sequel happens to be even better compared to Dead Snow. It's very different compared to the previous movie, not only in setting but it's also funnier, even more brutal and it's filled with even better gore. Right after Martin's arm is being reattached (Idle Hands meets Dead Snow) you'll laugh your socks off with a certain reanimating scene. At that moment I knew how awesome this movie was going to be.

I thought it was pretty cool that they did some sort of America-European crossover, mainly because I think it might prevent Hollywood from remaking Dead Snow. I like Martin Starr, he is in some of my favorite comedies and not to forget the great show Freaks and Geeks. I thought the Star Wars fan was a bit lame, but well, it fits the movie I suppose. Vegar Hoel returns as Martin and while he was a bit of a pansy in Dead Snow, he became pretty badass in Red vs. Dead. Definitely a great performance by Vegar Hoel. Another familiar face is Stig Frode Hendriksen (who also happens to be one of the writers, besides Vegar Hoel), who returns in a different role since his previous character was pretty much... well, butchered off.

I must admit that the entire movie I felt incredibly sorry for the zombie-sidekick. Even though he had some pretty nasty moments, he was pretty much fucked the entire movie. It was a nice touch to the movie though. Not so nice-looking was the zombie sex - gross!


As with Dead Snow, the make-up was great looking in this part. Perhaps even better looking too, it was quite noticeable that the budget was a bit higher compared to Dead Snow. Nazi-zombies were never better looking than this. Some great camera-work and nice special effects as well.

Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead is not only an excellent sequel, it's just an amazingly brilliant movie overall. It contains great acting, some good jokes and some great gore. Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead is even more over-the-top than the first one, and I LOVED it. Definitely not a movie everyone will enjoy, but for those who love movies such as Shaun of the Dead, Cockneys vs. Zombies and Evil Dead will most definitely like this one.

My personal rate: 8/10

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