Blu-ray Review: Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead (2014)

As much as we loved the first Dead Snow (our review HERE), we enjoyed Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead even more.

I don't know what it is about Tommy Wirkola, and the way that he approaches filmmaking, but the guy just knows how to make an entertaining movie. *And yes, we thought his Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was a hell of a lot of fun too.

Whatever his magic formula may be, it's in high gear with Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead; this movie is crazy, bloody, gory, silly, offensive, and it may just be our favorite Horror flick of the year, thus far.

Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead picks up right where Dead Snow left off: with Martin sitting in his car, believing that he has escaped the terror of the Undead Nazis, until he realizes that he still has one of those cursed gold coins.... which Colonel Herzog promptly shows up to take right back, because he's materialistic like that. 

Dude, it's one coin. Just let him go.

While attempting to escape (yet again) from the Nazi Zombies, Martin wrecks his car, and wakes up in the Hospital, handcuffed to his bed. You see the Police think that he's killed all of his friends, and when he tries to tell them that Nazi Zombies were responsible, they also believe him to be insane. The good news in all of this though is that his arm has been reattached; of course it's Herzog's enchanted arm and not his, but hey, at least he now has super strength and stuff.

That hand can do things!

Knowing that Herzog and his cronies will be coming for the coin (and also to kill people), Martin escapes from the Hospital, calls in the Zombie Squad (for real), and sets off to stop Herzog and his Undead Nazi menace. Of course, before said menace can be stopped, they happen upon a town, where they kill everybody that they can find. To make things worse, Herzog reanimates everyone that they kill, thus adding to his creepy army of Nazi death. Now if only Martin had the power to do the same thing...

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Zing!

Can Martin and his trio of American nerds stop the Nazis from taking over Norway, and then the World? Will Glenn Kenneth just admit that he's gay so that he can begin living the happy life that he's always dreamed of? Will that poor little Sidekick Zombie ever catch a break? Far be it from us to spoil what happens here, but suffice it to say that there will most likely be a Dead Snow 3, and we're completely fine with that.

Don't just stare at it, throw it!

What isn't good about this movie? I can't recall the last time that we enjoyed ourselves this much while watching a Horror flick... Trick r' Treat? Black Sheep, maybe?

Yes, the story is ridiculous, and most of the things that happen on-screen are just plain bat-shit crazy, but that's the genius of it all; it's meant to be over the top, as Tommy Wirkola is more interested in his audience having a kick-ass time watching his movies, than he is in accomplishing anything else with them. I mean the dude had his Zombies killing kids, handicapped people, elderly folk... nothing was too sacred or taboo in this movie. It was really nice to watch a movie that threw political correctness out the window and just went for whatever if felt like going for.

It was really surprising (and pretty fantastic), to find that a gang of American actors found their way into this Norwegian/Icelandic production, and that at least half of the movie played out in English. We had no clue that Martin Starr was supposed to be in this one, and when he appeared on screen, we were thrilled; dude is crazy, crazy funny, and he was great in this movie. We also didn't realize that Derek Mears was in this one, or that Kristoffer Joner played Martin's Zombie Sidekick... for once, we're really glad that we avoided IMDB until after seeing a movie, because surprises like that are always welcomed.

Now we need to go watch Freaks and Geeks and Party Down again. Dammit.

***SPOILERS*** Why did Glenn Kenneth have to die, and right when he was about to "come out" to the world, too? Couldn't Martin touch his face and make him into a little gay pet Zombie or something?

All he ever wanted was to be gay and happy!

This movie walked the line between being clever and ridiculous. For the most part, it was absolutely clever, but there were one or two times when things almost crossed over into "...and it was gong so well up until now" territory. For instance, the triage scene; a fucking plunger for a leg? Come on. Thankfully, that scene was short, and it didn't kill the mojo that the movie had going for it.

 Mojo.

This movie is an out and out Gorefest of near-epic proportions.

Why yes, that is vomit.

Nope.

Tease.

Russian Zombies hate Nazi Zombies. Also, Zombies are really just dreamers at heart.

Also, Norway sure is beautiful at night.

Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead is a barrel full of crazy fun, and along with The Raid 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy, it's one of the most enjoyable movies that we've seen this year. If you haven't seen the first Dead Snow, you should get ahold of a copy now and watch it, that way, when Dead Snow 2 finally gets released all over the world in October, you can jump right in and enjoy.

This movie is destined to be on many Best of 2014 lists, come December. It will most certainly be on ours.

A

Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead will available be on Blu-ray and DVD on October 10th (Tentatively.) If you don't want to wait that long to see it, then you could always import the Norwegian Blu-ray and give it a go. Be warned though: the Norwegian disc doesn't have any English subtitles for the Non-English speaking parts of the movie.

The ladies of Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead: Amrita Acharia, Jocelyn DeBoer, and Ingrid Haas.