Dead Snow

Ein! Zwei! Die!

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Release Date: 23 February 2010 (DVD premiere)
Runtime: 91 min
Rated: Not Rated
Language: Norwegian
-Subtitles: English

Zombies, Teens, Nazi's and in the Snow, What more could you want in a movie? Dead Snow is the latest Zombie movie to make my Must own list. Its not too hard to honestly do that because i very much just enjoy zombies period. But thankfully this movie is better then alot of the other stuff.

Normally you wouldn't really need a story for a zombie movie or well a horror movie even, This time around...Well okay so its nothing groundbreaking when it comes to the plot of the film. But....

The plot of the movie is a group of friends head out to a snowy cabin in the Norwegian Alps to party it up, drink and have all the sex they can imagine. This of course changes when the teens find out that the they have planed their party on an old battle ground from World War 2. The Nazi's are not very happy about this...Maybe if they had invited them to the party it would have been cool.

The run time on the movie is about and hour and a half in length, just long enough to build a tad bit of character and to give us a backstory into the zombie's mind. Then they bring on the gore. Plenty of time to bring us some exciting movie magic.

Cast isnt very big as we have a group of friends, but one of the friends doesn't make it in time for the party and the other decides its in his best interest to go find her. We also have the Zombie Nazi's of course along with the crazy old man who must tell the story of the snow covered land.

The story does have a few solid laughs from time to time, Almost a perfect blind of laughs and gore for a zombie film.  the Make up effects are pretty solid for a low budget zombie film and some of the scenes shine over others, as do most kills seem to get worst as time goes on. Without spoiling it too much, The amputation scene is amazing and is my favorite part of the whole movie, This scene alone i think is worth the view of the film.

I really enjoyed the last act of the movie, it makes the movie stand on its own by not really falling victim to the same old story, Given the very end might still make you smile and remember a few classic films, but it still added its own flair to the party.

I do want to point out that this movie is not on the level of say "Shaun of the dead" as that has a way different type of humor and of course a more laid back comedy side to it then Dead Snow has. So if you are heading into this movie expecting Simon Pegg to make you cry...You will be deeply saddened.

This is also the first movie I have reviewed that is Not in English, it happens to be in Norwegian,  As i enjoy foreign films alot and do plan to review more in the future. I know this sadly limits the views the movie will get but it still has English Sub's which i hope will allow people to give it a go.

Over all the movie is worth a solid view, I also do plan to buy it, As i find myself to be a die hard zombie fan. But the movie does seem to dance around the idea that it is a parody or typical teen party film. I found plenty of laughs and solid gore in the movie to give any Horror or zombie fan the go ahead view.



Nothing beats The UnFrozen Dead, let them warm up to you.

Stan Helsing

The most feared monsters in cinematic history have met their match

Director: Bo Zenga
Release Date: 27 October 2009 (DVD premiere)
Runtime: 108 min

Helsing of a parody, or was it? Stan Helsing falls into the parody films such as Scary Movie and its off shoots. With its focus on the horror gene with characters based from Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and others but the over all parody rest on the shoulders of the movie "Van Helsing"

Plot of the parody is Stan has to deliver some movies on the other side of town, He gets his friends to take him, along the way they get lost and horror icons of some sort start to stalk the heroes. They get to an old movie studio an they must face the monsters. Parody follows.

The movie has more laughs then some of the other films of its kind, Of course everyone has their own pick when it comes to these types, I wouldn't say the movie has a very great rate of laughs per minute, but it doesn't leave you hanging the whole time.

Load of the little jokes come from just bringing up classic horror movies or common sexual jokes. Movie lovers of the genre should get a solid amount of enjoyment out of it.

A small cameo from comedy legend and parody man Leslie Nielson was a nice touch for me, His small part may not have really added too much to the film but he is always at his best in parody films. Thankfully tho he doesn't play the same character from say the Scary Movie franchise.

As far as the acting may go, for parody films I would say everyone plays their little roles fine, nothing really stands out but i must say it was very nice seeing Kenan Thompson in something, But he also seems to have the best lines of the movie which is a good thing. Steve Howey does a fine job as our lead character.

Costumes used in the movie are pretty funny and way beyond dumb, Pinhead has needles, thumbtacks, and darts in his head, Chucky is a creepy dude in some one piece looking outfit and scars on his face. Freddy is basically flava flay with his gangster clock and so on. At times it might bring a laugh. A CGI raven did give me a laugh but the CGI(or whatever it was) did seem horrible, but at the same time who cares much in this type of movie?

The camera work wasn't bad for what its worth, nothing horrible or wonderful but the main focus is on the one liners in the movie other then anything else.

My final thought on the movie is, I wanted to dislike it just like the rest of the parody films we have seen over the past few years but watch it with a group of friends and it will bring some laughs to a crowd, However watching it solo will no doubt limit the enjoyment of the film, I would highly recommend this over Date, Epic, Superhero, Dance movie. Also knowing a thing or two about horror films will lead to a bit more enjoyment in this parody, I know it did for me.


A fine pick for Horror buffs and parody lovers looking to kill time on a random lazy night.