Død Snø

There is an evil here, an evil you don't want to wake up.

Why do we watch Zombie movies in the first place? We do it for the blood, the guts, the gore, and for the opportunity to escape reality for just a bit. In this case we escape into the "Dead Snow" for about an hour and a half of healthy blood squirting zombie fun. When watching "Dod Sno", be prepared to see some excellent B movie scenes. Ignore some of the minor goofs in continuity, a few plot holes that a main character could fall into, ignore those, and you will enjoy this movie just fine.

Leading off the movie is a hunting scene, reminiscent of the beginning of "Jaws", the girl who ventures out on her own, is running through the white Norwegian snow, over hills, down snow paths spotted with trees absent their foliage, like running through  barbed wire. The Zombie Nazis soon made short work of our introductory character, Sara. 

Our anti-heroes, four male and three female medical students driving in separate care to rendezvous with each other in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere (cabin in the woods). The rest of the movie is somewhat predictable, lonesome cabin, no cell coverage, creepy stranger appearing with a warning, people going missing, reminds me of a "Scooby Doo" episode. "If it weren't for those darnn kids!" the Nazi zombie Colonel, grunted in German, blood oozing from his mouth, necrotic flesh pulling away from his teeth.

Let me warn you right here and right now. DO NOT TURN OFF THE MOVIE! If you do, you will miss getting to know our sex crazed, beer drinking, medical students, and some genuinely impressive zombie killing scenes. Watch for the many horror movie references, director Tommy Wirkola threw in to this movie. My wife and I had fun after the movie counting them all up.

Vegar Hoel as Martin, a blood squeamish medical student on Easter vacation, is along with friends, for a week of sex, alcohol, and fun in the snow. Obviously learning to cope with the sight of blood is an area of growth for Martin. The main cast, Stig Frode Henriksen as Roy, Charlotte Frogner as Hanna, Lasse Valdal as Vegard, Evy Kasseth Røsten as Liv, and Jeppe Laursen as Erland, all have experience in less than a dozen movies. Director Tommy Wirkola, can say the same.

No doubt, this movie has some issues, such as images in the trailer are not in the movie, continuity issues, and a few story holes, but don't let that get in the way of this fun movie. While watching "Død Snø" I noticed how tense my body was, knowing that our heroes are going to get it.

You will not learn anything new about zombies, nor will you find any deep meaning to this movie, however, this is a terrific foreign film offering from Norway..

Movie Data

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller

Year: 2009

Staring: Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Producer(s)Tomas Evjen, Terje Stroemstad

Written by: Stig Frode Henriksen, Tommy Wirkola

Rated: Not rated in the USA
Running Time: 91 minutes
Release Date: 1/9/2009

Cold Heart and 'Warm Bodies'

S ometimes a classic story takes on a different form.  In the case of "Warm Bodies" that story may be familiar, however, in the case of life in a post-apocalyptic nightmare of zombie hoards, which form comes in the form of a wishful dream.  A fun, shambling foray into the romantic comedy genre with a side of horror, "Warm Bodies" stars Nicholas Hoult ("X-Men: First Class," "Clash of the Titans," "A Single Man") and Teresa Palmer ("I Am Number Four," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice") as a cute mismatched couple on a journey of discovery.  "Warm Bodies" is rated PG-13 for some of the violence. 

It doesn't take long to realize that you are watching the most recent adaptation of Shakespeare's adaptation of the 1562 Arthur Brooke's Italian tragedy "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet."  An older version of the story comes from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," called "Pyramus and Thisbe." Our story's protagonist, is named 'R' because he can't remember his real name, other than it may have started with an 'R.' He spends his days shuffling around an airport terminal.  R, unlike other zombies tends to be introspective wonders why he doesn't seem to be like any 'normal' zombies.  Why he has flashes of thoughts, almost memories, while he ponders the mysteries of life, somewhat odd for a zombie, don't you think?  R is a hoarder, a collector, and he appreciates music.  'Warm Bodies' is based on Isaac Marion's book of the same name and explores the world of zombies as more of a metaphor of the dull grind of everyday life that we find ourselves trapped in.  A world where we, as humans, live day to day without any real friends, any real thought of what is happening around us.  However, occasionally that one special person appears in our lives and things change. 

Enter Julie (Teresa Palmer).  Julie lives with her father, Grigio, played by John Malkovich.  Grigio is the leader of a walled fortress near the center of town.  Malkovich plays the father and leader as sort of a gray character, not sure, where he stands in this film other than a minor antagonist.  Julie and her boyfriend, Perry (Dave Franco - James’s younger brother), along with a small group of armed scavengers are raiding a pharmacy for medical supplies when R and his group of shamblers smell human flesh and attack the pharmacy.  During the melee of humans against the shambling corpses most of the group is killed except for Julie, her friend, Nora (Analeigh Tipton), and of course Perry.  At this point, I have to mention that "Warm Bodies" main flaw is a lot of exposition, rather than action.  For the first 20 minutes of the film is almost total voice over by R.  I guess, that can't be helped, because eh, R is dead.  Throughout the film, R interjects humor as we hear his thoughts like when he is munching on Perry's corpse he takes a moment to think about how nice Perry's gold watch is.  Or when R and his zombie 'friend,' M (Rob Corddry - 'Hot Tub Time Machine,' 'What Happens in Vegas')  try to have a conversation that consists mostly of grunts and groans while the two try to express their feelings for each other.  Another road bump that 'Warm Bodies' runs into is that in some cases the pacing is a bit slow.  Either because director/screenplay writer, Jonathan Levine (50/50), and editor Nancy Richardson ("Twilight," "The Vow," "Red Riding Hood") were trying to take their time to develop the character of R and Julie, as people (zombie) meant to be together, or perhaps, zombies just don't move that fast. 

Like the Shakespearian story, R and Julie come to terms with their differences and although he is dead, R does his best to come off slick in front of Julie despite his handicap.  The audience witnesses what we as young adults in love go through.  It is about half way through the second act that the pacing picks up.  What I liked about this film is the sense of hope that the film gives the audience in its schmaltzy kind of way.  'Warm Bodies' also brings to mind another concept that I like is that in the acceptance of diverse states of being or just differences in people.  What I didn't care too much for was the amount of exposition along with the concepts that by eating someone’s brains you get their memories.  I thought that this one concept I thought was just too farfetched.  In this case, R's feelings for Julie are not only due to a physical attraction for her, but mostly by the fact that he ate her boyfriend's brains.  In spite of my minor objections, 'Warm Bodies' is just a fun film to take your older kids to, or a great date movie. 

Movie Data

Genre: Comedy, Horror. Romance

Year:  2013

Staring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, John Malkovich

Director: Jonathan Levine

Producer(s): David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Bruna Papandrea

Writer: Jonathan Levine, Isaac Marion (novel) 

Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 98 minutes

Release Date: 2/1/2013

The Zombie Apocalypse, Metaphor For the Coming Collapse?

I know there are plenty of fans of the Walking Dead, or any film or TV Series that presents the horror of life we once had and considered sacred, as destroyed and defiled. I think it isn't so much that the world as we know it is long gone, but man's (I mean women too) journey to survive and overcome this disaster without losing what we consider just a precious - our humanity. 

In the last two seasons of the Walking Dead, we have seen a small group of characters, lie to each other, fight with each other, turn on each other, abandon members of their group, betray one another, and generally act human.  However, we have also seen our beloved characters, rise up and take a stand about being the type of people they want to be.  We see Rick not wanting to leave any members behind.  Last season, we saw Dale stand up to Shane, and Daryl earn the trust and respect of the group. 

The question I must ask as to why shows like Walking Dead tend to appeal to us?  Is it that we see these shows as just a metaphor for our current lives?  Is the Zombie Apocalypse just a metaphor for the what we fear will happen in the near future?  I am talking about the possibility of a general economic collapse; throwing our lives in to the toilet.  An allegory about our current civilization and the direction it is heading?  Is this show just a mirror and we see our awful reflections, causing us to seek to better ourselves as human beings? 

For a long time (four seasons) I thought Battlestar Galactica had a monopoly on stories about humans struggling to maintain their identity as a people, their culture, and their humanity.  One of my favorite quotes comes from the first night of the original mini-series in 2004.  Commander Adama, in his decommissioning ceremony says the following: "The Cylon War is long over, yet we must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom. The cost of wearing the uniform can be high, but...sometimes it's too high. You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question, why? Why are we as a people worth saving? We still commit murder because of greed, spite, jealousy. And we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything that we've done. Like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play God, create life. When that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't our fault, not really. You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore." 

You can replace the term Cylon with Zombie, Vampire, Un-dead, Walker, Racist, Enemy, or what ever term you like.   When we look back at the last decade we must think to ourselves.how much of this mess we are in is our fault and how far are we willing to go to survive?..