Dead Snow

Tommy Wirkola
2009

The Nazi/Zombie genre is woefully underpopulated and a seeming slam-dunk in the appeal category, but Tommy Wirkola's attempt suffers from a slow start and cribs too heavily off "The Evil Dead" series. On paper everything is there: decent gore effects and great photography, resourceful med students fighting back with makeshift weapons, and a snowmobile armed to the teeth. But despite the cool imagery and obligatory hack 'n slash, much of the picture feels soulless and phoned in. For one thing, "Dead Snow" isn't all that scary, with a confused atmosphere and an action movie sensibility. At this point I can't remember a single character's trait or name, and was disappointed by the shots ripped off almost identically from the aforementioned "Evil Dead." It's one thing to homage, but in this case it's just too brazen. At the end of the day this is an ambitious example of a great concept with mediocre execution.