Film is a universal thing. Though dominated by America, the moving picture is an internationally valued method of storytelling. More so than even literature or music, movies show us just how alike we are in ways that other mediums can not. Though comedy won’t always translate from culture to culture, a good action film from China, sci-fi from Japan, or drama from France will cross international barriers easily. It is the subtleties in these films that will inform us most readily about another culture, however. The slight differences in the very DNA of these movies that will give us the flavor of a nation. It is no different in the world of Horror, where filmmakers will draw from the nation’s cultural legends and folk tales - the things that scare them. It is in this spirit that from out of Norway came 2009’s DEAD SNOW.
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DEAD SNOW has a premise that will be familiar even the most casual of Horror film viewers. 7 friends head up to an isolated cabin the northern mountains of Norway. They are headed there over Easter for a relaxing ski trip before resuming their college studies. On the first night, they are interrupted by a middle-aged hiker who asks for a cup of coffee. They let him in and he proceeds to tell them the cursed history of the region. He explains that the village below was occupied by a vicious group of Nazis during World War II, and that after the townsfolk revolted the Nazi’s retreated into the mountains carrying with them all of the silver and gold they had looted from the village. They disappeared, but there have been rumors. Rumors of an evil that must never be awakened. It’s pretty easy to see where the movie is going, and you’d be right. The evil is awakened, and the friends must fight to survive.
Even though on the surface there is nothing really new here, DEAD SNOW is a Norwegian production with Norwegian creators. And what could have been a standard zombie gore-fest becomes an interesting mini-lesson in Norwegian folklore. You see, the zombies here more closely resemble a specific type of undead unique to Scandinavia called Draugr. Draugr are undead that inhabit burial sites that contain treasure. They can inhabit their own tombs or take over the burial mounds of others. As long as there is treasure - and they will guard their possessions jealously and mercilessly. This gives the Nazi zombies of DEAD SNOW a motivation that we really haven’t seen here in the States. By adhering to the folklore of their nation, the makers of DEAD SNOW give us something new even while following a standard Horror premise.
However, let’s be clear. This is no stodgy lesson in cultural understanding. DEAD SNOW is a rip-roaring zombie movie. Director and co-writer Tommy Wirkola has crafted a relentlessly nasty, gooey, and hilarious zombie flick that skillfully balances Horror and Comedy. It is a wildly entertaining romp that will please Horror audiences all over the world and remind us that - though the little things may always distinguish us - we are far more alike than we are different.
DEAD SNOW fun facts - The original title of the film was “Red Snow”.
Erland’s exit from the film closely resembles one of the kills from the 2007 film BRAIN DEAD. Erland wears a BRAIN DEAD t-shirt in the film.
While fighting the zombies, Roy uses a hammer and sickle - the symbol of the Soviets, who ultimately drove the Nazis out of Norway.
Erland - “How many movies start with a group of friends on a trip to a cabin with no cell phone signal?“
Hanna - “I just saw Chris‘ head!”
Herzog - “ARISE!!”