Review: Dead Snow

I have a confession to make--I'm not a big fan of zombie flicks.  There are exceptions, of course--Versus and Junk are two of my favourites, and of course Shaun Of The Dead is a classic, but overall I think post Romero zombie flickds tend to be formuliac to the point of tedium.  So even before I hit play, Norwegian zombie opus "Dead Snow" (Dod Sno) was at a disadvantage.  A couple of hours later the movie ends and I'm kind of ambivalent about the results.  On the plus side, it had pretty likable characters, good pacing, passably stomach-turning special effects and a decent soundtrack.  On the down side, there were huge plot holes, and unoriginal (if competent) plot, and for a movie billed as a horror-comedy*, virtually no laughs.

Heres the plot in a nutshell:  A group of students head to an isolated cabin in the mountains for a weekend of skiiing, drinking and general carrying on. A crusty old man shows up unannounced to convey the story of WW2 horrors and an evil "presence" before heading back to his tent to get slaughtered by undead nazi soldiers. While one of the students heads off to search for his girlfriend (who was making her own way to the cabin but was sidetracked by becoming lunch for the zombies).  While he's gone, the others find a box of WW2 loot hidden under the floorboard.  Unlike the audience (who likely figured it out after about 30 seconds), the students are oblivious that their find will summon legions of dead to the cabin.  After the first attack they decide to split up (of course) and try and find help.  Meanwhile the boyfriend finds the old codger's corpse, the secret lair of the zombies and his girlfriend's head in quick succession before heading back to join the fight.

That's enough to give you an idea--you can probably guess the rest by piecing together every zombie movie cliche ever committed to film.  Like I said, it's not a bad film, nor is it a great film.  If you're a zombie fan, you'll likely find it a worthy addition to the canon.  If you aren't, it's not going to change your mind.  Might make a decent double feature with the underappreciated "The Bunker" if you want to invite a bunch of friends over for pizza and beer

Bottom line:  Better than I thought it would be, not quite as good as I'd hoped it would be.