Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead

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Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead
Starring Vegar Hoel, Orjan Gamst, Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer
Directed by Tommy Wirkola

Synopsis:
Taking place right after the events of the first film, Martin (Vegar Hoel), the last survivor, manages to escape the Nazi zombies on the mountain only to end up in a hospital under arrest for the murders of his friends.  His arm, which he had sawed off, has now been replaced by the arm of the zombie Nazi leader Herzog (Orjan Gamst), and has taken a life of its own.

After escaping the hospital, Martin discovers that the Nazi zombies are on an eternal mission to complete their orders given by Hitler to wipe out a small Norwegian town.  At first he's only aided by Glenn (Stig Frode Henrikson), a gay WWII museum worker, and three Americans known as the Zombie Squad, things look bleak for the heroes.  Then Martin discovers that the undead arm attached to him has the power to raise the dead, and sets out to bring back to life a Russian army that Herzog killed decades earlier, bringing them back for one last chance at revenge.

Review:
The "Dead Snow" series is Norway's answer to the "Evil Dead" series in America.  It's a rip-roaring good time filled with enough sight gags and deadpan humor to make even the hardest horror fan laugh out loud.  This is a film that knows not to take itself too seriously, and allows the viewers to sit back and enjoy the ride with such outrageous acts like a daughter leaving her wheelchair bound mother behind, only to have the mother try to roll away and fall backwards, or having two mothers and their babies blown up by a tank, and it doesn't even seem like a bad thing.

Some characters are too over-the-top, such as the American Zombie Squad, but those are the small moments of weakness in an otherwise perfect whole.  There's even one zombie you feel incredibly bad for, known only as "Sidekick Zombie," who keeps being brought back to life by Martin's zombie hand after getting re-killed over and over.

Summary:
One of the characters said it best: "This is something never before seen in a zombie film."  This is very true, and in a sub-genre that seems to repeat itself a lot, it's a fresh change.

My Rating: A-

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