BLOOD WORK: HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 2: DEAD SNOW 2

Last October I reviewed one of the most enjoyable zombie discoveries of the last decade, a little Norwegian film called DEAD SNOW. Directed by Tommy Wirkola, the 2009 film was a sleeper hit among horror fans the world over, earning him a gig directing HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, and now he has given us the long awaited sequel DEAD SNOW 2 - RED VS DEAD.

The original Dead Snow was very much an homage film to the horror renaissance of the 1980's. The movie was a fairly straight forward slasher flick. A group of friends travel to an isolated area in the woods, unwittingly disturbing the resting place of a garrison of cursed Nazi zombies. One by one the friends are all dispatched until only Martin remains. And just when you think he's safe the zombie Nazi commander, Super Zombie Herzog, makes one last appearance.

Director Wirkola channeled the essence of movies like the original EVIL DEAD and Peter Jackson's BRAINDEAD. It was a love note to the horror films of the 1980's. Dead Snow was filled with impressive gore, brilliantly executed situational humor, and every horror film cliche in the book. The movie reveled in everything it did and what it did was nothing but fun. As a horror film it was worthy of standing on its own. As a tribute to everything we love about the genre it succeeds magnificently. And now we have the sequel.

THE PLOT

The film takes up immediately where the last film ended. Super zombie Nazi commander Herzog punches through the window of the van and grabs Martin, the lone survivor from the first film, by the throat. Martin hits the gas and takes off dragging Herzog with him. He rips Herzog's arm off and escapes. A half mile down the road he passes out and crashes. Remember how Martin lost one of his arms in the last movie? When he wakes he finds himself in a hospital with Herzog's arm attached to his body. The arm is super strong with a desire to kill and the ability to raise the dead into zombies.

Meanwhile Herzog and the remainder of his zombie Nazis make their way down the mountain, raise up more zombies to pad their numbers and head for the small Norwegian town of Talvik. Martin, now having Herzog's arm, is mentally connected to Herzog. Martin discovers that Herzog and his men are cursed zombies destined to fulfill the last mission they had in life given to them by Adolph Hitler himself: Destroy every living person in Talvik. Martin also learns of a garrison of Russian POWs who were executed by Herzog in WWII. To fight Herzog, Martin is going to need an army of his own. Martin raises up the Russian POWs and marches them to Talvik where the biggest zombie showdown in history takes place!

THE GOOD

Where the first film was basically an inspired horror homage, Dead Snow 2 moves into a world all its own. It's wilder. It's crazier. It's friggin awesome! The gore is upped to the Nth degree. The action is through the roof. And the level of fun you'll have while watching this movie is only equaled by the original. Basically everything is revved up to the next level. You've never seen zombie mayhem like this before. The magic of this film definitely lies within the zombie violence. When we finally get to the title bout, Russian zombies vs the Nazi zombies, it is nothing short of spectacular.

Wirkola basically creates his own world and rules with this movie. We kind of knew where we stood in the last movie. After the first five minutes of this one we find out that we knew nothing. The rules are hashed out in rapid succession and we're off and running. The movie keeps a brisk pace and doesn't slow down. And it has fun with it all too. Never does the film take itself too seriously. The movie introduces new characters like the Zombie Squad, a group of inept Norwegian cops, and a guy named Glenn whose sole purposes in the film are to make light of things and make you laugh. And there's the epilogue scene set to the song 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' that just brings a smile and cringe to your face.

THE BAD

The first film certainly had fun with itself, but it never went so far it lost the tension. The biggest difference between this film and the first is that all sense of dread and fear is thrown out the window. It takes on a slapstick quality that, in all honesty shouldn't have felt like something out of left field, but yet I found it jarring. It took me out of the movie actually. It wasn't until the second time around that I was able to embrace the slapstick and really enjoy the movie. It's like making the jump from Evil Dead to Evil Dead II or better yet Evil Dead II to Army of Darkness. I was expecting something similar to the first film, something that still retained a little serious mood that still had fun. Once I got past that and realized this movie was going down a new path, I could follow it.

THE VERDICT

This movie could've gone any number of ways. The route it took threw me the first time I saw it. But after a second watch I enjoyed the movie way more. I saw it how it was meant to be seen and the movie took on a whole new level of fun. DS2 followed the humor of the first film and left behind the tension and fright. The only precedent for this that comes to mind would be what Sam Raimi did with the Evil Dead Trilogy. That was hard to wrap my mind around the first time I saw those movies too. But now I love those movies just like I love this one.