Happy Halloween week everyone! It's been awhile since I've done some reviews, so I thought what better way to jump back in, than with a spooky batch of horror movies! The first movie I've chosen to get the week rolling, is the sequel to one of my favorite zombie flicks of all time, 'Dead Snow.' 'Dead Snow' was a 2009 Norwegian film, that followed the story of a group of friends who are terrorized by Nazi Zombies as they vacation in the mountains of Norway. The film struck a cord with 19 year old me, as I hadn't yet been introduced to all the awesome foreign films that are released. The story was original and over the top, the kills were brutal imaginative and everything was just plain fun. Now, half a decade later, I'd like to think I've matured a little bit. But, as you can tell by the poster at the top of this review, I'm still that 19 year old at heart. 'Dead Snow 2' or 'Dead Snow: Red Vs. Dead' is a movie that you'd normally think couldn't be as well done as the first. This is the horror genre after all, but I was more than happy to gather a bunch of friends to watch this. Needless to say, I had a blast.
'Dead Snow 2' follows the story of Martin (Vegar Hoel), the lone survivor of the events of the first movie, as he reaches his car at the bottom of the mountain and begins to escape. The Nazi zombies catch up to him, but are unable to stop him from driving off. Colonel Herzog (Orjan Gamst) was hanging onto his window before Martin finally escapes, but Herzog ends up losing his arm in the car. Not long after, Martin crashes and wakes up in the hospital. He is tied to his bed under the assumption he killed his friends, but what's worse, is that they sutured Herzog's arm onto his body. The arm has enormous strength and he uses it to escape the hospital. Martin gets into contact with three American siblings, Daniel, Monica and Blake (Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer and Ingrid Haas), who have been preparing for the zombie apocalypse their whole lives. Martin and the Zombie Squad, as they call themselves, are in for the fight of their lives, as they must stop Colonel Herzog from leading his troop of Nazi zombies, to destroy the town they were ordered to all those years ago.
'Dead Snow 2' follows the story of Martin (Vegar Hoel), the lone survivor of the events of the first movie, as he reaches his car at the bottom of the mountain and begins to escape. The Nazi zombies catch up to him, but are unable to stop him from driving off. Colonel Herzog (Orjan Gamst) was hanging onto his window before Martin finally escapes, but Herzog ends up losing his arm in the car. Not long after, Martin crashes and wakes up in the hospital. He is tied to his bed under the assumption he killed his friends, but what's worse, is that they sutured Herzog's arm onto his body. The arm has enormous strength and he uses it to escape the hospital. Martin gets into contact with three American siblings, Daniel, Monica and Blake (Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer and Ingrid Haas), who have been preparing for the zombie apocalypse their whole lives. Martin and the Zombie Squad, as they call themselves, are in for the fight of their lives, as they must stop Colonel Herzog from leading his troop of Nazi zombies, to destroy the town they were ordered to all those years ago.
This movie worked on so many levels it's unreal. There's the underlying fright, that there is indeed Nazi zombies ready to rise from the grave and continue Hitler's bidding. But there's also the brutality done with each kill in this movie. Even the kills that are lighthearted and comedic, are done is a bloody barrage of violence. It's not just getting hit in the head with a bathroom sink, it's getting annihilated by the bathroom sink, while your significant other is destroyed in a bathtub. It works for this type of film, it really does. The action scenes were done well and the set pieces were fun to watch explode. All while the "final battle" was a giant, fun, zombie filled street fight. Amidst all the senseless and blood spurting terror, there's a self-aware sense of humor. They know this is a film about Nazi zombies, we know we're watching a film about Nazi zombies, so setting the humor dial to low, is just gonna turn this movie into almost every other horror sequel, mediocre at best. The kills are great, houses are destroyed, no one is safe and hell, they're just cruising along this Norwegian Countryside in a tank. A TANK! The story is highly original, just like in the first film and I don't think I ever got bored throughout. You'd think that "Nazi zombies" is a one off phenomenon, but if they keep making scripts and stories as good as the first two films, I'll keep watching until 'Dead Snow 5: Castro Vs. Jong-Il.' (Never mind that neither have anything to do with Nazis or snow for that matter. Just go with it.) The acting throughout was also pretty good. Vegar Hoel reprises his role well as Martin, while Martin Starr and company provide a lot of heart and humor, while also making the second half of the movie highly entertaining. The score and music are great as well, nothing felt out of place and generally sounded good. The runtime of 100 minutes, is a little long, but if you're anything like me, you'll be into this movie once it really gets rolling
'Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead' is a movie you just have to watch for yourself. I mean that, go watch it. It doesn't even matter much if you haven't seen the first, cause they give you a quick run through at the beginning of the film. I will say, this is a fun film that's probably not gonna scare you. The acting is okay as is most everything else in the film. If you love an original story, tons of blood and violence, awesome kills and a few laughs along the way, 'Dead Snow 2' is a movie you'll want to go out of your way for.
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