Tommy Wirkola

(In French, On Cable TV, May 2022) Now that’s more like it. As much as the first Dead Snow was hyped and disappointing, Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead exceeded my modest expectations. Thankfully undoing the nihilistic implication of the first film’s everyone-dies ending, this sequel almost immediately then strikes out in much wilder territory. Limbs are swapped, American reinforcements are called in, the Nazis and Russians revive, there’s some zombie wizardry and a big fighting finale. There’s even a tank that finds its use during the wild climax. All of this takes place over Nordic greenery, further helping visually distinguish this sequel from its predecessor. Director Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow 2 exceeds expectations set by his previous film in most ways – the budget is bigger, the set-pieces are wittier, the script controls its horror/comedy blend much better (it feels like a fully integrated horror comedy à la Evil Dead 2 and not like a horror film with occasional gags as the first one did) and it works itself to a true climax. I liked it quite a bit, even when it amps up the gore and goes for some cheap laughs. That coda… wow, that coda… has there been a more twisted use of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”? Anyway – clearly not meant for everyone, Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead fully realizes the potential left unfulfilled by its predecessor, and makes a welcome addition to the relatively few films able to integrate stomach-churning levels of extreme gore with a tone that nonetheless remains darkly comic.

(In French, On Cable TV, May 2022) The first Dead Snow has an interesting place in pop culture history, helping bring about a new wave of Nazi zombie films and videogames. I’m not calling it the root of the sub-sub-genre (with a decades’ worth of zombie films by the end of the 2000s, someone was bound to put Nazis + Zombies together, and many did so at the same time) but it was reasonably popular and played into a wider trend. Alas, finally seeing it thirteen years later, I was disappointed by the result. Clearly put together on a small budget by writer-director Tommy Wirkola, the film struggles at first: the tone is an uneven mixture of comedy, horror and clichés as a few college students go to an isolated cabin for a weekend of snowy fun and then get attacked by undead Nazis. While the film whips itself up to some good old-fashioned zombie splatter, it doesn’t have full control over its tone. It doesn’t feel like a horror comedy like its obvious Evil Dead inspiration — it feels like a gory horror film with moments of comedy, and those are different things. This can be seen all the way to the ending, which takes a very easy way out that may leave viewers wondering if it was all worth it. As a result, the film struggles to keep audiences invested beyond the most obvious elements – since its characters are expendable, little effort is made to distinguish them beyond blunt distinctions. Elements of the execution are well-handled: cinematography and special effects make this a well-crafted film despite its weaknesses. But it should have been much better. [June 2022: The sequel is fortunately much better.]