Dead Snow

Norwegian zombie movie – trailer here.

My disappointment that they appear to be fast zombies is mitigated by the fact that they’re fast nazi zombies.

Looks like it opened in Europe already, will hit the US this summer. Anyone seen it yet?

That is just marvelous. ‘Ein, zwei, die!’ You can’t beat that.

Even better, checking IMDB tells me it will be part of the Seattle Int’l Film Festival, so I can be part of the early crowd to view this one! Oh yeah!

edit: Looks like the Norwegian title for the movie is ‘Død snø’, though I have no comments about that. Particularly not about the nastiness of moose bites.

I love they had completely unnecessary subtitles for “Oh Fuck”.

They take translation seriously in the frozen north.

Atleast we don’t dub our movies ;)

Its got zombies, they are nazi, you can’t get much better than that. Also It has a steaming sex scene done in an outdoor toilet in mid winter.

Thats probably the life goal of any Norwegian …

So far I’ve come up short :(

I’ve seen it.

Yes, they are fast zombies. In fact they have what seems like normal human abilities(except not talking). Picture the DotD remake zombies, but not as mindless.

I think it’s mostly an entertaining movie. It does not take itself seriously, so if you’re looking for a hardcore zombie movie you might be disappointed. On the other hand, it’s not as flat out full of comedy like Shaun of the Dead. It’s sort of like Evil Dead 2 in terms of horror/comedy mixture.

It’s a great looking movie though, so it has that going for it, which is nice.

I’m in

It is excellent. Go see it. One of the highest grossing movies in Norway this year actually.

The other big movie was some porn, torture or torture-porn set in the second world war.

HAHAHA! I love it!

I saw a rip of this at my friend’s house. I thought it was great – they’re really not zombies, just undead nazis with pretty much regular human capabilities, aside from being able to take substantial amounts of damage before being completely “dead.” I felt that in the Dawn of the Dead remake the zombies seemed faster than regular people and were able to keep on moving despite being sliced and diced and way beyond the means of normal survival. It really was fun, though. I especially liked the scene where…SPOILERS…

AGAIN SPOILERS:
…The guy amputates his arm with the chainsaw thinking he’s going to turn into one of them after getting bitten, then one of the zombies pops out of the ground and bites him in the nuts. All the while his friend is telling him “hey, your grandfather was half-Jewish, I don’t think they’re exactly looking for teammates.” I lol’d.

How is it that an “undead Nazi” – those are your own words – is not a zombie? Dude, their flesh is rotting off. They’re freakin’ zombies. I can’t stand this new wave of intolerance towards the newer varieties of zombies. Resident Evil 5, 28 Days Later, House of the Dead: Overkill, I Am Legend. They’re zombies! You are a bigot if you’re going to deny them their zombie heritage!

I enjoyed the movie, but really it’s just a goof for the second half. Which makes me wonder why they bothered with the first half. These Norwegians are no Sam Raimi.

Also, trailers, man. The trailer for this movie totally ruins the money shot.

And Juste, are you saying Dead Snow is one of the highest grossing movies in Norway among all movies? Or one of the highest grossing Norwegian-made movies? If it’s the former, I’m pretty impressed (with what freaks the Norwegians must be!).

 -Tom

You can be an undead nazi without being a zombie undead nazi. I’m appalled at your lumping of all undead, rotting, flesh-eating monsters into a single category! All jokes aside though, they didn’t really fit the usual mold of zombies, fast or slow. I still don’t think the “zombies” from 28 days later are zombies either, because they’re alive. The ones from Resident Evil though – definitely zombies. The ones from all Romero movies except for 2, one from Day and the other from Land – I’m sure you know the two I’m talking about if you’ve seen both movies – definitely zombies. The ones from the DotD remake, definitely zombies.

“It kills you, and then it brings you back.”

I did like the way 30 Days of Night handled their undead. They were kind of a cross between a vampire and zombie. I also really enjoyed that movie too – lots of gruesome shit and some really ruthless zombovamps. Predictable ending, though.

It’s one of the highest grossing movies in Norway this year regardless of nationality. The press around release was amazing, and the guy who directed it had a huge cult hit a couple of years ago with a movie called “Kull Buljo” (a sami version of Kill Bill no less) so people were lining up on release day. It is just out on DVD and i would be surprised if it does not top the DVD rental and sales lists for weeks.

We have had several good genre movies coming out of Norway in the last few years, looks like we’re in a bit of a horror golden age which suits me just fine.

And yes, we are freaks. You try living in the cold and snow for 6 months a year and see how you turn out Tom :)

I’m freezing right now. That should tell you how horrible it is up here.

Oooh, do tell! I can rattle off a whole passel of Danish filmmakers and of course Bergman was a Swede, but I can’t think of anything Norwegian that was really exported. What are these movies so I can look them up?

 -Tom

“Hey, Swedes!”

“They’re Norwegians, MacReady.”

How many times have I told you not to use the z-word?

I hit a blank after von Trier with Danish film-makers.

I liked that film as well and for some of the reasons that you list. My biggest criticism of it was that it doesn’t really convey the passage of time effectively so it really just feels like one or two days of night rather than thirty. I always wonder how many people saw it expecting a sequel to that other Josh Hartnett film with the similar title.

Lars von Trier is the big one. But there’s Billie August who did Pelle the Conquerer and Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Nicolas Winding Refn who did the Pusher trilogy (three excellent movies!), Susanne Bier who did Brothers and recently a terrible American movie called Things We Lost in the Fire. The Substitute, an alien invasion film I recently watched, is Danish. Thomas Vineterberg – everyone knows Celebration, right? – is a Dane. I thought maybe Moodyson was Danish, but he’s a Swede, not to mention pretty effed up. Lilya 4 Ever is great, but I don’t think I’d recommend Hole in My Heart to anyone. Ick.

So, yes, more about the Norwegians! Recommend me some movies, Juste! Then it’s on to Finnish filmmakers!

 -Tom

Ask and ye shall receive Tom (By the way when do you have time to watch all these movies?):

Fritt Vilt and Fritt Vilt 2. the first has an American release now as Cold Prey (youtube trailer in english). Teenagers go snowboarding, teenager breaks leg. They camp in an abandoned hotel. You guess the rest. Fritt Vilt 2 picks up where number one ends (youtube trailer in norwegian). I won’t spoil it any more. Both good genre movies.

Rovdyr (Manhunt). From IMDB - Its the summer of 1974. Four friends have planned a recreational weekend hiking and camping in the forest. At a remote truck stop they pick up an anxious hitch-hiker who only after a short ride demands they stop the vehicle. She is clearly frightened of something but what she cant begin to describe in her carsick terror. Suddenly the group are ambushed and left unconscious. When they wake up deep in the woods, all they can hear is the sound of a hunting horn. The game is on and they realise with nightmare shock that they are the prey. Another faithful genre movie with good scares. They are filming a follow-up as we speak. (Youtube trailer in Norwegian)

Villmark. The crew of the TV show “Real TV” with controlling boss Gunnar on the front line will soon begin production of a reality show for which participants are selected to survive in the wilderness. Gunnar has gathered a production team of four people: The friends Lasse and Per , the Swedish girl Elin and the new girl Sara. To test his new employees, Gunnar takes them to a log cabin where he used to spend summers as a kid. They find a dead body and mysterious things start to happen. An homage to “De dødes tjern” (lake of the dead), the first norwegian horror movie from 1958. Damn spooky movie. (Youtube trailer in Norwegian).

[B]Skjult /B. Horror/Ghost story from the director of Villmark. Just premièred and I have not seen it yet but the buzz is that it’s very good. Youtube trailer in Norwegian.

So from not having any horror movies made we have made quite a few good ones in the last few years. None of them are ground breaking or exploring much new territory but the quality is surprisingly high. Recommended viewing of you ever get the chance.