Norwegian Film Dead Snow at Cinemas Across the US
Director Tommy Wirkola (with black hat) during the making of the film. Photo: Nfi.no
The group of friends had all they would need for a successful Easter vacation; cabin, skis, snowmobile, toboggan, copious amounts of beer and a fertile mix of the sexes. Certainly, none of them had anticipated not returning home alive! However, the Nazi-zombie battalion haunting the mountains surrounding the aptly named Øksfjord (Axefjord) had other plans…
“There is a storm of scary fun to be had in this Scandinavian splatterfest” writes Rolling Stone Magazine, while The New York Times says Director Tommy Wirkola “doesn’t just hit every horror beat; he pounds it to an indistinguishable pulp.”
1945: Northern Norway is severely stricken by the German invasion, but few places worse than Øksfjord. The German soldiers rape and pillage with sadistic zeal, and ultimately the civilian population has had enough. They attack the occupants armed with any available weapons and an escalating thirst for revenge after years of abuse. Soon they have slaughtered almost everyone, but Colonel Herzog and some of his men escape into the mountains where they freeze to death …
Several years later, eight medical students go for their Easter vacation to the mountains around Øksfjord. They are bringing skis, snowmobile and copious amounts of beer, so expectations are high for a pleasant vacation. Perhaps some of them might even get laid? Sara, who has traveled in advance, is the one most familiar with the mountains. She has picked a different route to the cabin, and none of the others find it strange that she hasn’t arrived before them. Maybe she was trapped by the weather and had to dig a snow cave. Certainly, none of them fear that she could be the victim of an inconceivable cruelty hidden in the mountains all these years. That is, until they are visited by a rather shady hiker who tells them the story about the German occupants’ cruel fate. Suddenly, the cabin is surrounded by a battalion of German zombie soldiers, eager to rip them apart. A long night is ahead of them. Can anyone survive this painful ordeal?
With “Kill Buljo – The Movie”, director/scriptwriter Tommy Wirkola, co-writer Stig Frode Henriksen and their able assistants proved that with great enthusiasm in place, you do not necessarily need a big budget to create a phenomenon. The gang returns, once again with a groundbreaking movie in Norwegian cinema: A Nazi-zombie movie.
Dead Snow features established actors and a very proficient technical crew. The special effects budget alone amounts to $600,000, more than any other Norwegian movie. 475 quarts of blood were used in the scenes where the Nazi-zombie soldiers arise from their graves and attack the non-suspecting medical students on their Easter vacation. The feelgood-Nazi-zombie-splatter-comedy “Dead Snow” is a very different Norwegian horror movie.
