Dead Snow ★★★★

A MEDICAL student scared of the sight of blood is forced to defend himself with a chainsaw in a fight to the death against Nazi zombies.

How good is the 2009 Norwegian horror comedy Dead Snow? Bloody good.

This is one of my favourite horror films released this century and the 2014 sequel is another.

Writer/director Tommy Wirkola set out to make a simple, full-throttle gorefest and succeeds on every level. Like Evil Dead, the first film is more serious than its sequel, but is always giving a knowing wink to its target audience.

Martin and six friends are on Easter vacation at a small, remote cabin. After enjoying a day in the snow they settle in for some drinking and games.

But a strange hitchhiker arrives who reveals the area’s dark history from World War II when the town was oppressed by a sadistic Nazi commander, Herzog, and his men who looted, tortured and killed many.

At the end of the War the townspeople turned the tables on the Nazis, killing some and driving the remainder into the mountains to die…or so they thought.

The set-up, basic structure and narrative may follow all the familiar beats, but when those Nazis rise from the dead the mayhem that breaks out is next level.

Chainsaw, axe, sledgehammer and even a snowmobile are used as weapons in the increasingly absurd and almost slapstick action sequences, but there are still plenty of scares and tension as well.

The sequel, Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead, which I have reviewed previously, takes up the story immediately after the events of the first film.

They make for a fantastic double feature.

Watched on Bluray.