DARK WINTER
It is not very often that I find a horror film AND it’s sequel that blow me away! I am not a zombie fan. I also do not like war movies in general — which is why I was completely thrown off by how much I LOVED these two films.
Dead Snow is a Norwegian zombie film directed by Tommy Wirkola released in 2009. The sequel directed by the same person was released in 2014.
The first film follows a group of seven medical students who go snowmobiling in the mountains of Norway. The film opens with a young lady running through the snow to escape someone or something. She doesn’t make it. In the next scene we meet a group of students on their way to the mountains for Easter vacation. The first night they are there a stranger knocks on their door and proceeds to issue a warning about the area they are staying in. He explains that during WWII Hitler sent Colonel Herzog and his soldiers on a mission to this region.
During their time there, Nazi soldiers tortured and killed many locals. The soldiers realized Germany was losing toward the end of the war so they decide to loot all the townspeople of their valuables before they left. Unfortunately for them, the townspeople staged an ambush and killed many of the soldiers. Herzog and any surviving soldiers were chased into the mountains where it was assumed that they all froze to death. The stranger makes it clear to the kids that these parts are cursed and they should be on alert. Later that night the kids meet the monsters stalking these mountains and it does not go well!
Dead vs Red picks up right where the previous film left off. In this film, the story of these monsters, the WWII Nazi soldiers, is expanded upon. At the same time there are humans looking to destroy them once and for all. I’ll stop here because I not do spoilers and these films are too crazy to explain.
When I think of a zombie, I think of the traditional variety. Zombies are slow, lumbering, mute, and useless. Their whole life consists of trying to eat the living which sometimes kills and sometimes results in another zombie. Zombies don’t run, think, or speak. They have no special powers and if you are bitten by one you become one. These zombies are different! They punch A LOT. They stab. They kick. They stomp. They drive tanks. Their bites don’t turn you — though they do bite. These zombies have a mission or purpose beyond eating people.
The Dead Snow Nazi Zombies are based on the draugar, an undead creature from Norse mythology which is a subset of Germanic mythology.
Draugar live in graves guarding treasures buried with them. Draugar are animated corpses and have retained similar abilities to those they had in life. While these creatures are most assuredly dead, decaying and a general mess, they possess more human qualities than your traditional zombie. They also seem to decay much slower than traditional zombies.
These films on top of being the most fun I’ve had in a long time, have informed me about the draugar of which I previously had no knowledge. I also have to note that the monster makeup in both films was exceptional.
The first film while having plenty of comedy elements, was more low key, darker, and took around 30 minutes for the action to begin. That doesn’t stop the film from being an amazing, hilarious, eye popping adventure. There is plenty of guts and gobs of blood, sex in an outhouse (yuck!) , and action. These kids could not catch a break!
Red vs Dead ramps up the action, campiness and gore while somehow also giving you characters whom you like and root for.This time around there is limb switching, kid murdering, Catholic church defiling, priest murdering, zombie vomit, dead Russians and more! If you are not offended by murdering, Nazi zombie soldiers or any of the other equally awful and disturbing things I mentioned check these movies out. They are currently streaming on Netflix.
LITTLE MISS HORROR NERD’S RATING:
Dead Snow – 4 out of 5
Red vs. Dead – 5 out of 5
I thought my readers may enjoy this article I found online regarding zombie lore and pop culture. Check it out here!
Dead Snow trailer…
https://youtu.be/55uGN58UOkk
Red vs. Dead trailer…
https://youtu.be/n4FoV9iiLmI
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