Nazi Zombies Return in ‘Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead’

Greg Vellante

When the movie, Dead Snow, was released in 2009, the market was sagging under the weight of all the zombie movies coming out. Diary of the Dead had come out the year before which was George A. Romero’s second zombie film in twenty years, proving to be the weakest entry in the series to date. Movies with titles like Ninjas vs. Zombies and Make-Out with Violence were being churned out constantly. In the middle of this oversaturation, Dead Snow premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival and was quickly snatched up by IFC Films.

It was not until June that this genre fans would be able to get their hands on the sexy, tongue-in-cheek action comedy that Dead Snow proved to be.  Produced in Norway, the subtitles are rarely an issue, but this is an extremely visual movie.  The premise? After disturbing old Nazi loot stolen from small-town locals during WWII, a group of teenage snowboarders find themselves accosted by Nazi Zombies looking to get revenge. Yes, you read that correctly, Nazi Zombies.

From there, the film turns into a fun action thriller as actors use flamethrowers, shovels, and whatever else they can find to survive. Stylistically, the film borrows heavily from Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead. The quick cuts and visual creativity improves the film, seeing bright red blood splatter against white snow give the film a contrasting color palette of its very own.

The sequel, Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead, picks up right where the first film left off. The protagonist, Martin, after barely escaping the zombie attack, wakes up in a hospital to discover that the zombies are still after him.  Director Tommy Wirkola has returned for the sequel after directing the 2013 action fantasy, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.  This film, like the original, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was quickly snatched up, this time by Wellgo Entertainment US, a distributor of genre fair. The Hollywood Reporter reports that while the film was shot half in English and half in Norwegian, the film will be released in the United States entirely in English. It’s unclear whether the film will be re-cut or only redubbed.

Creating a worthy horror sequel is a feat rarely pulled off successfully (see Insidious 2). In Dennis Harvey’s review at Variety, he writes, “Red vs. Dead lacks the slow build-up of the original film, but retains the same of level of over-the-top comedy horror of the original’s finale. This is not necessarily a good thing, Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead marks an instance where too much of a good thing means it just isn’t good anymore.”

When the original Dead Snow was released in theaters, the film brought in just $46,000 domestically.  Yet, if the 4.3 million YouTube views for the movie’s trailer are any indication, the movie may have picked up a cult following looking for something zany and over-the-top.  For them, Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead may be just the film they are looking for.

Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead will be in limited theaters and available On Demand October 10th.