Dead Snow 2, 2014.
Directed by Tommy Wirkola
Starring Vegar Hoel, Ørjan Gamst, Martin Starr
SYNOPSIS:
After encountering a unit of Nazi zombies and barely escaping with his life, a terrified Martin (Vegar Hoel) makes his way back to town, but it’s not long until trouble follows him there.
If your film’s pitch ends with an exclamation point then you’re pretty much obliged to deliver on certain ridiculous aspects, and ‘Nazi zombies!’ falls well within those parameters. If nothing else you’ll be able to tell if this is your type of film within roughly ten minutes. Beginning with a recap of the first Dead Snow we pick up exactly where that film left off, with our closest-thing-to-a-hero Martin having escaped the zombies (minus one arm) and struggling to find a way back into town. Unfortunately for Martin he forgot to return all of the hidden Nazi gold which triggered the events of the original film and so Herzog (Ørjan Gamst), the zombie’s leader, sets off in pursuit. After Martin escapes yet again Herzog instead sets his sights on a nearby town which Hitler had ordered the squad to destroy in 1944 and the stage is set for a sequel.
Expanding on the exaggerated nature of Dead Snow was no small task, but director Tommy Wirkola and his writing partners clearly put everything into making this film more than a bigger-budget repeat of the first. The quantity of gore is of course taken up several notches across the board, but it’s the additional elements like a supernatural arm imbued with the power of necromancy and a climactic showdown between two zombie armies that make clear how determined cast and crew were to outdo themselves. There’s even time for self-congratulation as Martin Starr’s zombie-hunter states “I’ve seen a million films and this never happens in any of them; you’ve created a whole new genre.” It’s fair to say this is where Dead Snow 2 excels: phantasmagorical imagery with a stream of jokes so steady that if one misses then another one will be by in a second to make amends. The failings are more often than not found in the dialogue, with the American characters’ vocabulary in particular lacking a degree of sharpness necessary after delivering an axe to the face of an undead bystander. The Norwegian characters fare somewhat better, including a bumbling police chief and his weary assistant providing room to breathe between head-stompings, but if they were removed from the film the only thing impacted would be the running time. The film throughout is littered with visual set-ups and flaccid punchlines, including a final scene which tries a little too hard to be remembered.
The presence of three American characters makes clear the film’s intention as far as international appeal, and while there may be numerous references to other classics of the genre this is a film which stands apart from them, pushing the concept to breaking point. There’s a hint to a third film in a brief post-credits scene but it’s hard to imagine where Wirkola could go with the idea outside of an expected increase in scale – having said that, it’s hard to imagine where you could go with vengeful Nazi zombies seeking their hidden gold, but to see just that here is Dead Snow 2.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
John Lucking
Originally published October 6, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
