RELEASING: IFC Films SYNOPSIS: 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 Oksfjord (Axefjord) had other plans. (Provided by Studio)
CREW: Director - Tommy Wirkola; Screenplay - Stig Frode Henriksen & Tommy Wirkola; Producers - Tomas Evjen and Terje Stroemstad; Cinematography - Matthew Weston; Score - Christin Wibe; Editing - Martin Stoltz; Production Design - Liv Ask; Set Decoration - Morten Jakobsen; Costume Design - Linn Henriksen; Special Makeup Effects - Lene Bruksås, Ragnhild Prestholt, Gudmund Saksvik, and Elisabeth Haugan Sørensen; Visual Effects - Storm Studio. CAST: CHARLOTTE FROGNER… Hanna; ØRJAN GAMST... Herzog; STIG FRODE HENRIKSEN... Roy; VEGAR HOEL... Martin; JEPPE LAURSEN... Erlend; EVY KASSETH RØSTEN... Liv; JENNY SKAVLAN... Chris; BJØRN SUNDQUIST... The Wanderer; ANE DAHL TORP... Sara; LASSE VALDAL... Vegard; and a Platoon of Nazi Soldiers. OFFICIAL WEB SITE: http://www.dodsno.no/
Story:
$10.50
Direction:
$12.50
Acting:
$12.50
Editing:
$12.50
Production Design:
$12.50
Special Effects:
$12.50
Score/Music:
$12.50
Costumes:
$12.50
**"REEL" Value:
$12.25
- Even if the lines of dialogue that mention Sam Raimi’s classic “Evil Dead” films were omitted, any genre fan worth their gore could tell that director Tommy Wirkola was a fan of those films. It’s not just the location, or the editing of some of the action sequences, not to mention the sloppy buckets of gore, but there is this balance of comedy and horror, with a slapstick flair to the violence that all harkens back to Raimi’s classic films. Wirkola is an excellent student and DEAD SNOW is an action backed zombie romp in the snow. Adding another level to the film is the breathtaking work of Cinematographer Matthew Weston. There are these dazzling panoramic vistas that are stunning to be hold. Place some Nazi zombies and gore into the shot and the colors and contrasts are brilliant. You need to see DEAD SNOW on a big screen to appreciate its scope. The casting is above average and each of the guys has their “Bruce Campbell” moment. I also appreciated that even the women are strong characters and are not your typical American Scream Queens. The costumes are great and the special effects team does an incredible job of making the zombies not look like they were all churned out from the same mold. Okay, their zombified Nazis but they all seem to have individual looks. I enjoyed the score and felt the musical numbers were a nice touch to the scenes they were used in. My only concern was that the story felt a tad thin and the plot elements seemed just an afterthought, a good idea with little foundation. However, it all works and DEAD SNOW earns its place alongside not only the “Evil Dead” films, but other classics from “Night of the Living Dead” to “Shaun of the Dead.”**Based on the regular $12.50 ticket prices at a Manhattan theater June 19th, 2009.
