DVD Review: Dead Snow

Ah, our love of zombies around here. ;) DH and I recently added Dead Snow to our collection.


Dead Snow is actually a Norwegian movie - there are English subtitles throughout. Not that it matters, you don't even need to read the subtitles. This doesn't mean that everything is easily guessed, but rather that these folks managed to take a low budget and turn it into a treasure. You don't need expensive special effects for this film, but rather a few well placed moments of kitsch, and good zombie make up.

Oh, and a trip to your local army surplus store where you can dig up some old military items, because these aren't just zombies, these are Nazi zombies. Priceless.

The story starts off with a bunch of young college age students off to the mountains for a weekend of fun, like so many in the horror genre. Because it's Norwegian, the entire movie is set in the snowy mountains of Norway. For this alone, watch this movie on a big screen on Blu-Ray. It's absolutely gorgeous.

At the first evening, an uninvited local stops by and tells them that they shouldn't be there (Again, standard horror fare). He explains about the area being full of evil, and gives the back story of the German Nazis, just enough that the kids thinks he's nuts, but no mention of the zombies. He leaves, everyone is drunk, and the chaos begins. If you have a morbid sense of humor, this movie is right up your alley. Blood and gore overall is about a 5/6 out of 10 - there is plenty, and look for some great disembowelment scenes, but it's not overly graphic in a sense that all you see is blood. The blood and gore is well-placed, not just there to be there.

I have to give Dead Snow two thumbs up due to the scenery, the zombies themselves (wardrobe and make up deserve a round of applause), and the ironic happenings. (Without giving a spoiler, look for the chainsaw being used by someone on themself!) If you've never heard of this movie, Click here for the Dead Snow trailer.

I really do wish they had done more with the whole explaining of how the Nazi soldiers became zombies. Experiments? Curse? Virus? For those wondering what kind of zombies are featured (I know, some of you reading this didn't even know there were different kinds of zombies!) - these are fast moving, daylight and night time zombies.

Dead Snow is Not Rated (definitely R rated material, do not show around the kids), and runs 91 minutes long. It is widescreen format. The suggested retail price for Blu-Ray is $29.99, but Amazon has it on sale as of this posting for just $20.49.

I didn't receive anything for this post. All views expressed are my own. The poster used is different from the US DVD cover - I used it to keep my blog a little more friendly.