By Seth Metoyer

Dead Snow (starring horror genre actor Bill Oberst Jr.)is a stylish and clever Zombie splatterfest directed by Tommy Wirkola. This Foreign Horror Film treats its viewers to a band of blood thirsty Nazi Zombies and enough gore and entrails for all to feast upon.

The Norwegian dialect wasn’t much of a distraction for me since I tend to watch movies with subtitles regularly. The actors of Dead Snow were cast well and the storyline was as fresh as the soundtrack. The Zombie makeup and movie effects is top notch, with only a few notable cases of visible discrepancies (one being a characters arm noticeably tucked in his shirt after it was sawed off with a chainsaw).

The film dialogue made some pleasant references to older horror movies such as Friday the 13th, Evil Dead 1 and 2, and the 1984 version of April Fool’s Day. Other fun moments in the film were when the characters play a game of Twister (remarking that it’s a Hollywood game) and there was also a wonderfully bizarre “outhouse” sex scene that I’ve by no means seen before in a movie.

Additionally, I enjoyed the historic looking Nazi uniforms and thought it was interesting to see the Zombies move faster than in other Zombie films. In ,my opinion Dead Snow ranks amongst the top 20 of all Zombie movies.

Dead Snow Movie Trailer

Plot (Caution: Spoiler Alert)

Dead Snow (Norwegian Død snø) is a Norwegian comedy horror film, starring, among others, Charlotte Frogner, Stig Frode Henriksen, Bjørn Sundquist, Ane Dahl Torp and Jenny Skavlan. It is directed by Tommy Wirkola.
A woman (Ane Dahl Torp) is being chased through the snows of Norway. She is ultimately cornered and eaten by zombies in World War II Nazi uniforms.

Seven medical students on Easter vacation arrive at a small cabin near Øksfjord, about a 45-minute walk from the road where they have left their cars. The cabin is owned by Sara, Vegard's (Lasse Valdal) girlfriend. She has been skiing across the mountains to meet them, but has not yet arrived.

The group begins to drink and party until a mysterious hiker (Bjørn Sundquist) arrives. He tells them the dark history of the region; during World War II, a force of Einsatzgruppen led by the dreaded Standartenführer Herzog (Ørjan Gamst) occupied the area. For three years the Nazis abused and tortured the local people. Near the end of the war, with Germany's defeat looming, they looted all the town's valuables before starting to withdraw from the area. The citizens managed to stage an uprising and ambushed the Nazis, killing many. The surviving Nazis, including Herzog, were chased into the mountains, and it was assumed that they all froze to death. The hiker says the area still has an evil reputation. He leaves to continue on his way and is later killed by zombies while camped in the snow.

The next morning Sara has still not arrived and Vegard takes the group's snowmobile to look for her. He finds the body of the hiker in his tent, but then falls through snow into a cave. The other students find an old wooden box filled with valuables hidden under the floor. They consider taking it, but eventually put it back. After it gets dark, one of the students, Chris (Jenny Skavlan), goes to the outhouse and is murdered while on the toilet. The others go outside to look for her to no avail, but do find Sara's rucksack buried in the snow.

A little later, the zombies arrive at the cabin. Erlend (Jeppe Laursen) is murdered before the remaining students manage to seal the cabin windows and door and survive the night. Vegard comes round in the cave. He discovers WWII German firearms and helmets, as well as Sara's severed head. He is attacked by zombies and is badly bitten in the neck by one. He manages to escape on the snowmobile, which he equips with an MG 34 machine gun.

Meanwhile, the remaining four students in the cabin have decided to split up. The two men, Martin (Vegar Hoel) and Roy (Stig Frode Henriksen), attempt to distract the zombies, while the two women, Hanna (Charlotte Frogner) and Liv (Evy Kasseth Røsten), run for the cars and go for help. Enroute to the cars, the girls are ambushed and Liv is killed. While she is being disemboweled, she manages to destroy several of the zombies by activating one of their hand grenades.

Martin and Roy hole up in the cabin, accidentally setting fire to it with Molotov cocktails. As they escape, they discover that the shed next to the cabin contains a chainsaw, hammers, and axes, which they equip themselves with. More zombies attack, but Martin and Roy manage to fight them off, aided by Vegard, who returns on the snowmobile. However, Vegard is killed during the fight and Martin accidentally kills his girlfriend Hanna. Herzog arrives with another group of zombies, including SS men, but Martin and Roy also manage to fight them off. Martin is bitten on the arm and cuts it off with the chainsaw to avoid turning into a zombie. Herzog then raises many other zombies from all around and the two students run. Roy falls and is killed.

Martin finally realizes that the zombies are after the box in the cabin. He runs to the burnt-out remains of the cabin, and gives the box of loot to Herzog and runs for the cars. Upon reaching the car, a coin falls out of Martin's pocket. Swearing, he looks round to see Herzog smashing in the car window.