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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Mountain of the Dead, 28 Nov 2009
Eight Norwegian medical students (it's a Norwegian film, English subtitled by the way) take an Easter vacation in a mountain cabin belonging to one of them. One (Sara) decides to cross country ski there whilst the more sensible remaining seven drive before making the final few miles on foot and skidoo.
Night falls and after a day of jolly snow based japes, they settle down with beers and Twister, as you do. Sara still hasn't arrived but a taciturn stranger does. He settles back with a coffee and tells them the story of the Nazi occupation of the area during the Second World War. Led by the sadistic Colonel Herzog, the occupying forces had made the townspeople's lives a misery with abuse, rape and torture commonplace. As the war came to an end, a final act of looting and murder before the Russians arrived drove the locals to take their bloody revenge and the mountains were soaked in German blood.
In the dark, one of the students soon comes to regret the outside facilities but back in the cabin, a wooden box containing gold coins and antique jewellery is discovered. The fight to the death with the gold-hunting Nazis is on.
It's Evil Dead in the snow. But with Nazis. What's not too like ? Oceans of blood, buckets of entrails, heads flying, great scenery and some real laugh out loud moments (the soldier climbing onto the skidoo, the badly aimed Molotov cocktail) made this a very entertaining movie. Not for the squeamish, this film does what it says on the case but fans of the genre will lap this up quicker than a thirsty cat in a bucket of milk.
Like zombies, like gallons of blood, like "biting" humour...Nazis...chainsaws ? You will love this. Poor yourself a large Schnapps, sit back and enjoy the ride. Might even be worth paying a bit extra for the Blu-Ray so you can enjoy the fantastic scenery and convince yourself it's educational.
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14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a real no-brainer, 12 Nov 2009
Nazi zombies attacking annoying, middleclass students amongst some spectacular scenery - what's not to like?
Well, several things actually...
Firstly, the story is very basic to say the least. A group of teenagers decide to have a vacation in a cabin miles away from civilisation (so far so very Evil Dead). The cabin is situated high up in the snow-covered mountains of Norway. Shortly after arriving they are attacked by nazi zombies and must fight for their lives. That's it, that's the story. If zombies had devoured most of your brain, you'd still be able to follow this film's plot.
Another problem is we never really care about any of the characters and whether they live or die. This film would have benefited greatly from having a likable Bruce Campbell-type as the main character - whom the audience could root for. Also, Dead Snow features many horror clichés, such as a creepy old man who conveniently turns up to fill in the back-story, and when two students have sex in an outdoor toilet - we just know they'll be the first to die.
What may put some people off watching this film is that it has a Norwegian language soundtrack with English subtitles. However, once the action kicks off there's little in the way of dialogue so it doesn't really matter what language is spoken.
Although this is a modern horror film from Scandinavia, it has absolutely nothing in common with the utterly brilliant Let The Right One In (2008). Dead Snow doesn't really offer us anything new, there's a real feeling of having seen it all before. It very much lacks the originality of recent zombie classics such as Shaun Of The Dead (2004) and Dead Set (2008).
The zombies in Dead Snow look quite good. But unlike Romero's zombies, these undead flesheaters are the sort that can move incredibly fast (even in deep snow?!). One would expect a certain amount of rigor mortis to have set in during the intervening sixty-plus years of death - but apparently not. Of course, there have been several films over the years featuring nazi zombies - including the must-see Zombie Lake (1981).
On the plus side, there is plenty of realistic gore and some decent attempts at humour - two essential ingredients for any zombie film. Dead Snow never takes itself seriously, there is nothing pretentious, no ideas of grandeur, and it never attempts to pass itself off as a piece of art (unlike many recent US horror movies). The CGI effects are kept to a minimum and don't look too obvious. And with a running time of just 87 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome. The second half of the film is way more enjoyable than the first. The fact that the second half takes place outdoors, during daylight, amongst bright white snow and breath-taking scenery probably reduces its scariness considerably. However, it's the locations that set it apart from all the other millions of zombie films.
Despite its faults, I would recommend Dead Snow to any zombie aficionado. And movie buffs may have fun spotting the numerous references to well known films (One of the Germans is called Herzog. One of the teenagers is called Martin - presumably in homage to Romero).
Extras on the DVD include: a making of documentary (49 minutes), cast and crew at Sundance (18 minutes), make-up featurette (6 minutes), special effects featurette (3 minutes) and some trailers.
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23 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A modern classic!!!, 21 July 2009
I saw this at the Belgian film festival in April 2009 and have been hooked ever since. Odd how no one really thought of the wealth of situations that zombie Nazi's lends itself to before. Anyway, the deadpan humour is divine as are the non-stop action/chase scenes. Most of all, the colour contrast of the lumpy, boiling red blood strewn against virginal snow is most pleasing on the eye. The kind of film you watch over and over and over again and then bore everyone you know about...
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