It
turns out that old “fight fire with fire” idiom also applies to zombie
uprisings. The National Socialist
zombies are back and they are on the march in Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow; Red vs. Dead (trailer here), which screens
during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
If
you forgot the intricate plot of Snow 1,
Snow 2 is considerate enough to bring
us all back to speed. Martin was the only one who survived when an army of Nazi
zombies attacked his friends’ ski lodge.
However, he did not make a clean getaway. A few days later, he wakes up in hospital,
finding himself an accused mass murderer, with the arm of the undead
Standartenfuhrer Herzog mistakenly grafted in place of the arm he
self-amputated Evil Dead-style. To make matters worse, his new limb seems to
have a homicidal mind of his own, further reinforcing everyone’s erroneous assumptions.
At least it comes in handy during his escape.
Eventually
teaming up with three American zombie hunters and a goth kid working at a
provincial WWII museum, Martin hatches a daring plan to stop the Herzog’s
zombies before they can fulfill their final orders: the mass execution of a
defiant coastal town. Thanks to his zombie augmented arm, Martin can raise his
own loyal zombie minions, so he heads into the mountains in search of the mass
grave entombing Herzog’s Russian nemesis and his Red Army troops. That actually
sounds like a workable plan, right?
With
R vs. D, Wirkola proves there is still
some life left in the Norwegian Nazi zombie genre after all. Frankly, part two far exceeds the
original. While the first film was
content to coast on the novelty of its premise, largely staging a conventional
zombie siege, Wirkola’s follow-up more fully capitalizes on the possibilities
of such a distinctive zombie apocalypse.
Opening the film up to the wider world also raises the stakes and the
body count dramatically.
There
are some big gory laughs in R vs. D
and some clever hat-tips for fans. In fact, some of the bits might even break
new zombie ground. Vegar Hoel is pitch perfect as Martin, the
conscience-stricken zombie hunter.
Jocelyn DeBoer and Ingrid Haas also bring a blast of energy to the
proceedings as Zombie Squad members constantly arguing the age old question: Star Wars vs. Star Trek. They should make geeks very happy indeed.
