Dead Snow(2009) has been sitting in my Netflix instant queue for a couple of years now, and I finally got around to watching it. And, of course, it was a great movie and now I'm disgusted with myself for waiting so long(Nazi zombies, ya'll!) We might have mild spoilers here, mostly in regards to the gore scenes(no spoilers on who lives or dies!)
1. Hanna-(Charlotte Frogner)
For the better part of the movie, I had no idea what Hanna's name was, so I referred to her as "Granola Girl," what with her dreadlocks and her organic coffee. She seemed to be the resident hippie, and I can admit I made some general assumptions about Hanna in the beginning, but she came to be the person I was rooting for the most (Vegard was a close second, the rest of them- meh. Also, am I the only one who had a problem believing that all of these kids were medical students? How about Hanna's lame ass boyfriend and his fear of blood?) Hanna kept her wits about her from the get-go, not hesitating to pick up a meat cleaver and begin hacking away at zombie appendages to save her friends. She helps formulate a plan, and then things really get good. My girl clotheslines and then head stomps a zombie to give her friend a running chance. She snatches up a squawking Raven/Crow and bludgeons it to death to escape discovery(it doesn't work, the zombies figure out where she is, but damned is Hanna doesn't handle that like a champ, too) She even survives falling off of a cliff(while taking out a zombie) Oh, Hanna, my Granola Girl, I loved you till the end. Even covered in zombie blood.
2. Good gore! Aside from some CGI blood, there were some really great special effects. Tons of entrails:
Intestinal bungee jump, anyone?
There were ample neck and crotch wounds, eye gouges, heads ripped apart:
Bodies quartered by hand(while the victim was still alive, I might add)
I'm a big fan of practical effects, and I appreciated every single geyser of blood, and every shred of torn flesh. To hell with CGI.
3. Vegard(Lasse Valdal) sews up his own gaping neck wound(probably the only thing that happens in the movie that made me consider that at least one of them might actually make it through med school)
He uses a fish hook and some line, and it was fantastic. I have a fondness for people sewing up their own wounds. I feel compelled to mention that I was on Vegard's team before this moment, but this one scene really cemented my desire to see this dude survive.
Bonus- I saw a zombie use binoculars, which probably pleased me more than it should have.
I had such mixed feelings about this film! But ultimately I ended up on the "Loved it" side of the fence.
ReplyDeleteThe weird thing about the whole thing was that it felt like it was running through a tutorial on how to do every "kind" of horror film out there. The first half felt like a slow boil and a "serious" film where you are genuinely feeling creeped out. There were homages to SO many different films throughout. There was a bit of serious Evil Dead 1 in there, and the foreboding build-up stuff was great.
Then the second half of the film goes out of its way to be kind of over-the-top ridiculous physics-defying slap-stick gore that felt more like Evil Dead 2 than anything else.
Overall though, if I just relax and go with it, I enjoy the hell out of both sides of the coin. So we're all winners!
Great 3 points here!
I understand the mixed feelings, as this was my second attempt at watching Dead Snow. My first go round I made it about 10 - 20 minutes in, and it was obviously a little too slow for my liking (at the time) I am glad I gave it another go, because once the action picked up and the gore started, I was like a happy kid in an amusement park!
DeleteThank you! Glad you enjoyed!