Confession: I enjoyed the gory Norwegian Nazi zombie opus that was DEAD SNOW. It was gross, but seriously, how do you deny the pure entertainment value and sheer audacity of a horror flick that features a man bungee-jumping by way of human entrails and a sex scene that takes place in an outhouse? Having said that, DEAD SNOW didn’t exactly scream “sequel.” Yet, five years later, here we are.
DEAD SNOW: RED VS. DEAD opens where the first film left off. Following the the grisly zombie attack that took place the night before, lone survior Martin (Vegar Hoel) awakens to find that he will be left to pick up the pieces — literally — and move on with his life. When he learns that Herzog, the commander of the the Nazi undead, is planning a village attack, he decides to spring into action in an attempt to thwart the pending attack. Martin ultimately joins forces with a team of American zombie hunters and together, they opt to fight fire with fire by way of summoning an army of Russian zombies. For the record, yes, it’s crazier than it sounds.
DEAD SNOW built its action around a familiar horror trope: 20-somethings barricade themselves in a cabin and try to survive the night as evil tries to find a way in. Following a fast-forward recap of that, RED VS. DEAD goes for something a little more grandiose.
Original DEAD SNOW director Tommy Wirkola (“Hansel and Gretel”) returns for the sequel, and he’s fashioned a splatterfest that is gorier, zanier, and more ambitious than its gleefully over-the-top predecessor. It’s clear that Wirkola was weaned on ’80s masterworks like EVIL DEAD 2, RE-ANIMATOR and DEAD ALIVE. The gorier the merrier, and on that level, DEAD SNOW 2: RED VS. DEAD succeeds.
The make-up effects in this picture, the majority of which are practical, are fantastic, and there are several noteworthy gags in RED VS. DEAD that are sure to get a rise out of the biggest of gore-hounds. There’s one involving the superhuman strength of a re-attached severed arm that I won’t soon forget. Beyond that, the Nazi zombies themselves are effective and harken back to the days of those terrifying Nazi werewolves in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.
DEAD SNOW 2: RED VS. DEAD certainly won’t win any Oscars (although it is totally worthy of a make-up nomination), but as over-the-top splatter-fests go, you could do much, much worse. This is perfect midnight movie fare, but more importantly, with Halloween upon us, RED VS. DEAD is the kind of campy, high-energy horror flick you definitely want to watch in October.
As an added bonus, check out this fun interview with DEAD SNOW 2: RED VS. DEAD actor Martin Starr and writer/director Tommy Wirkola, courtesy of Sheldon Demke and Bernadette Brady of KTIM’s “The Local Celebrity Show With Sheldon Demke”;
