By Keri O’Shea
Ah, Nazis. There’s a definite fascination with the Nazis in modern/trash culture, and in horror movies they turn up with perplexing regularity; maybe it’s because they were our foes, maybe we feel most comfortable playing out fantasy scenarios which involve them because we feel safe to mock those whom we beat – or maybe it’s the smart uniforms, but in any case, they crop up an awful lot, whereas the Soviets – who threatened us with worse than even blitzkreig – rarely appear. Well, whatever the reasoning there, you can’t deny that undead Nazis make for fun films, and Dead Snow 2, like the first film, knows just how to play it: picking up right where the first one left off, with the escape of the last survivor of the cabin, Martin, thereby quickly setting the tone for the madcap movie to follow.
Martin manages to make it to a nearby town and seeks medical help but, perhaps unsurprisingly, he finds himself in the frame for what has happened. The bodies of his friends have all been recovered, and as such, Martin winds up handcuffed to his hospital bed. Things are not looking good for him…especially when it turns out that the well-meaning doctors have found the severed arm of the mean, reanimated Einsatz commander General Herzog – and attached it to him. Anyway, Martin assumes – or rather hopes – that the Nazis have been beaten. After all, they were after their gold, right? Nothing else? How wrong he is. Not only are the Nazis still around, but they’re on the move, and even seeking new conscripts. Via the use of his new arm, which boasts super-human strength (and contributes to some hilarious scenes as a consequence), Martin manages to escape, and concentrates his efforts on finding out where the division are going. Luckily, it turns out that some self-styled internet zombie specialists have been following the case – and they’re coming to help…
Dead Snow 2 balances an awareness of itself and its place in a burgeoning horror genre with its sparky elements of creativity perfectly; although, as with the first film, it pitches in the odd quote here or the fan reference there, it never feels like it’s trying too hard or desperately wants to belong. It just works, it feels genuine, and more than this, some of its most memorable scenes come from its clear links to genre classics – the way it takes an idea and runs with it, turning it into something novel. The reanimated arm element, for example, seems to my mind to be a clear nod to Sam Raimi (as with lots of the film’s visual gags) but because the film goes so incredibly overboard with it, it’s definitely out there on its own. This is also a film which is pretty merciless in its plentiful splatter, and everybody gets it irrespective of age or gender or anything else; the effect of this was to have me laughing out loud a lot of the time, often because I just couldn’t believe who they’d just killed and how. The film has a huge sense of humour, lots of physical jerks and a whole host of ingenious, graphic kills which boast spot-on comedic timing. Its tone is playful and as a Saturday night movie, it really works well.
Despite the ubiquitous ‘let’s make a remake/sequel and add American characters in order for it to be a success’ schtick, the ‘Zombie Squad’ who turn up to help out aren’t the cavalry we might be expecting. Sure, they help, but they’re mocked pretty hard (as is everyone present) with director Tommy Wirkola having some fun picking over American preconceptions of Norway, and vice versa; their arrival is played for laughs, albeit not unduly mean-spirited, and it still feels very much like a Norwegian film – for which I’m very grateful. I’m also grateful for the fact that our lead character, Martin (Vegar Hoel) is a regular-seeming guy, not a 6′ speak-your-weight machine with impressive dental veneers or a bloody Final Girl. The film is stronger for its characters being, well, frankly a bit shit in a crisis. And as for the zombies themselves, due to the interesting spin on the zombie genre we get here (where they have more in common with ideas of vengeful ghosts than your conventional mindless flesh-biters) they come across as real characters, despite having more or less no dialogue, some perfectly-pitched one-liners aside. Although we’re not meant to root for them, I couldn’t help give a little inward whoop of joy every time Herzog and his men appeared on screen, because let’s be fair – they owned it.
Dead Snow 2 is a joy to behold, frankly, if you like your horror gory with lots of black comedy throughout. You won’t get any profound messages about World War II or the Occupation here, or at least I didn’t, but you will get characters of every stripe being sent up relentlessly and in good style. (Oh, and you know that thing I said about how the Soviets never get an airing in horror? No more. And it’s fucking glorious.)
Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead is available on DVD and Blu-ray now from Entertainment One.