Zombie Driller Killer (Dark Souls) - review

2010 (Norway / France)

2012 Lions Gate Home Ent. UK Ltd DVD R(2)

Contains spoilers.

The 2010 Norwegian film Dark Souls, subsequently re-released as Zombie Driller Killer no doubt to take advantage of new tidal wave of zombie affection, is a dark, macabre, brooding tight little budget horror competently made and acted with some delightful little scenes. It's also a rather hard one to review for as much as I respect what director and writers César Ducasse, Mathieu Peteul have put together it really does fail to hold up to any serious scrutiny in any way, with a narrative full of suspect decisions, and an explanation and ending that unravels just when it should be delivering.

I feel some clarity is needed. The driller killers(s - as we later discover) are a group of orange jump-suit Jason wannabes that have set siege to Oslo; jumping unsuspecting passers-by, drilling into their skulls and implanting something that leaves them, albeit after a small period of deadness, vegetative black bile spewing degenerates. These zombies of the piece are for the vast majority exactly this. Sickly with epileptic seizures, neurological disorientation and fast growing cancerous metastasis that's spreading through their central nervous system; the only dangers they present is someone slipping on their spewed bile or tripping over them as they lay lifeless and in the way.

There's none of the usual biting, chasing or gut ripping; the protagonist of the film is the driller killer and he's real, alive and a tangible target for both police and wannabe super sleuth. Johanna Ravn (Johanna Gustavsson) is victim number one and her gruesome (though off camera) end sets the narrative on its way not only for her sub-story focus that sees her slow macabre transformation, but also for her father, Morten Ravn (Morten Rudå), old and portly, single father, music teacher and unlikely hero of the hour. Not only faced with twenty-four hour care of a vegetative daughter who is constantly oozing black bile, he has also decided to take it upon himself to investigate the ever increasing number of attacks and track down the culprit.

There's a patch some one hour in, a five minute interruption where the vegetative rise from their beds and set upon the living, and it's good; I mean really good with tension, horror and an eerie unnatural atmosphere that Fulci would be proud of. Yet that's it. The first hour is the double investigative story, on Johanna and by Morten, and even the final twenty minutes when one thinks, with the zombies out of the closet so to speak, things are likely to get undead and spicy, it again slides back to Morten just running about an industrial factory from semi-zombie henchmen armed all armed with varyingly sized drills; obviously compensating for something. All this build up isn't bad per se; it's a tad meandering but fairly interesting in an x-files investigative drama kind of way. The problem is one of believability and I just never truly bought into the podgy cello teacher as entrepreneurial investigator, never mind swashbuckling hero. And it's not the only inconsistency I found in the story; from a random homeless man happening to know the origin story for the whole oil-based zombie death cult, Morten happening across the driller killers' lair, or the fact that despite the whole city being on lock-down because orange jump suit mask wearing maniacs were drilling all indiscriminately, they were able and quite happy to drive around in broad daylight without garnering any attention. Oh, and we're also supposed to buy into a totally incompetent police force… okay, this one's not so hard.

The driller killers are kind of zombies too though they're more chosen tier one zombies, and not the fetid oil oozing mindless tier two drones that make up their victims. All identically donned, they might be unselective in who they attack, but they're very focused on how. Under orders, control or necessity they jump a victim, drill into the cranium, suck something out then push something in, all for the 'old man' (Gustav-Adolf Hegh) who lives atop the factory rewarding them for their work with a sip of the old black stuff. The origin story, which we learn, conveniently from a chance encounter, is one of a deep oil well and drill (spot the clever parallel) and a mysterious evil let into the world, but beyond this I'll be fucked if I know what's going on. What they're extracting from people, what are they putting back in, why they're doing it, who the 'old man' really is and what his motives are? It's some ancient evil, something to do with hydrocarbons, life and oil and I think the total subjugation of mankind.

An interesting hour and a half, and whilst not convinced at all by zombie driller killer I've certainly had less celluloid fun. The investigative pacing was intriguing and Johanna's degenerative journey enthralling. Some choice decisions aside, introducing the zombies earlier, then seeing through their promise and I think Ducasse and Peteul could have produced that most rare of undead beasts, a budget zombie film that's interesting, original and intelligent. As it is though, zombie driller killer just makes too many wrong turns to off-set all it does get right - 5/10.

Steven@WTD.

Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead - review

2014 (Norway)

2015 Entertainment One Blu-ray R(B/2)

Contains spoilers.

Dead Snow was a brilliant film, but it was also a bit of a confusing one. Not confusing in terms of plot and story; the way it told the derivative cabin in the woods cum Friday 13th albeit with Nazi zombies not Jason pick em off slasher was entirely gettable. But confusing in terms of identity, starting all dark with jumpy horror and switching half way through to full on Bruce Campbell at his audacious zany best. I reviewed it very early for the blog and this was enough to see it relatively down marked. It's the one review that has always sat heavy on me though. While confident to go against the crowd I couldn't help but notice it's appearance on many greatest zombie film lists, so with more (hopefully) insight with the genre I decided to use this look at Dead Snow 2 as an excuse to watch it again.

I ended up re-rating the film coming to the opinion that while there was still a spot of stylistic schizophrenia, if one was pull the whimsy and humour from the second half into the first rather than what I did last time being disappointed that the tension and fear was so eagerly brushed aside then the film held up far better. Go read my review but it's safe to say I'm now rather fond of the film. Anyway...

What of Dead Snow 2? Well, first off it doesn't make these mistakes. In fact Dead Snow 2 doesn't really make any mistakes at all. Cementing itself purely as a black comedy it continues the manic adventures that concluded Dead Snow, dials it up to max and is quite frankly nigh on perfect, and easily one of the best zombie films ever made. In fact, and I may get some criticism for this, in my opinion it perhaps more perfectly than most also captures the look and feel of Evil Dead since Campbell fought the Army of Darkness than any other film since.

Ørjan Gamst is back as Nazi commander Standartenführer (Oberst) Herzog, a Draugr (aptrganga or aptrgangr transl. again-walker) aka Revenant; an undead creature from Norse mythology up and about to protect his ill-gotten treasure. Except with the Nazi gold reclaimed (Dead Snow), and for a narrative excuse for him to expand his remit from just the barren tundra near Øksfjord, Norway into the town itself, he recalls Hitler's last order to raze the place and its population to the ground in a petty act of revenge for their acts of sabotage some, now seventy years ago.

Cue, death, destruction, blood, intestines, tanks blowing up babies and a general lack of any taste and decency and one of the best laughs I've had in years. Now cut from the shackles of the early part of the first film to at least attempt to stay sensible and rational, Director (and also one of the writers) Tommy WirkolaIt is free to indulge any and all ideas, however absurd or non-canon, and not break the film's overall coherence. Herzog is now the slightly more cognizant, talkative and able commander, the brainless zombie horde under his control has been expanded to include exaggerated comic roles such as a medic, tank driver and navigator, and his opposition have been heavily upgraded from traditional cabin-in-the-woods / Friday 13th sent to die trope.

Vegar Hoel is Martin, sole survivor from the first. Beaten, bloody, and now armed with not just his new found extreme zombie survival skills, but Herzog's arm, is the new Bruce Campbell. Armed with all the same quirks and qualities, though maybe not quite the charm, he's manic, desperate, slightly insane from all he's experienced, and most importantly, he's up for the fight. Switch chainsaw for magic arm, with the ability to raise the dead, he now also has the same iconic tools and mentality to challenge a foe which on first appearance was unchallengeable. Demonstrating real flare, vision and imagination WirkolaIt Martin isn't left alone for the task, soon picking up an assortment of companions, from the Zombie Squad™, three young US geeks with a love of all things Z, an out of his depth, introverted WW2 museum curator and the new Bub, who's bound to be a cult favourite: Sidekick Zombie (Kristoffer Joner). Their interaction is witty, natural, and despite being caricatures, their addition is a welcome addition opening up avenues to daft scenes and jokes that are masterfully taken, while never exploited.

Dead Snow 2 isn't a film, it's more an experience. A riotous explosion of guts, blood and fun; it's perfectly paced, perfectly formed and oozes style and imagination from a director and team that clearly understand how to approach the absurdness and inherent contradiction that lies at the heart of zombie cinema. With never a dull moment, never a distraction WirkolaIt, like Raimi, has managed that illusionist trick of presenting a world and story that is both laughable and preposterous in a way that is both coherent and tangible. Easily one of the top zombie films ever made we also finally have a worthy successor to Campbell, who now surely has entwined himself in such a way as a third without him would feel bereft. Dead Snow 2 is everything you'd want from an absurd splatter horror comedy. It's the best Evil Dead / Dead Alive (Brain Dead) film we've had in quite some time, and it's 10/10.

Steven@WTD.

Dead Snow - review

2009 (Norway)

2009 E1 Entertainment Blu-ray R(B/2)

Contains spoilers.

Sometimes you can be wrong. Dead Snow was a film I always felt hit me on the wrong day, or maybe too soon. I kept looking back at my initial 6/10 then seeing it on various best zombie film websites and thinking, maybe, just maybe I'd got it wrong. With its sequel in hand I decided to finally take a second look. This time armed with three years and 160 odd reviews I wondered how it would fare and boy do I have to hold my hands up. Dead Snow is a fantastic Evil Dead parody that not only captures the spirit of Raimi and Bruce (almost) in Martin, but does so with such extreme wit, confidence and style that it deserves to be talked about more positively than I did... anyway, here's the original review with a slightly altered ending...

A Norwegian zombie horror/comedy directed by Tommy Wirkola, Dead Snow for one half follows the clichéd horror staple of a group of teenagers alone in an isolated cabin getting picked off one by one by an initially unknown predator. The second half sees the film turn into a kind of goofy Bruce Campbell-esque bad-taste splatter parody / Shaun of the Dead zomcom mash-up. As a film it has a lot of charm but in trying to be all things to all men it's in danger of losing it's identity; anyway, I get ahead of myself.

Dead Snow opens with a young woman getting chased across the icy tundra near Øksfjord, Norway, by a couple of snarling menacing nazi zombies, establishing early on as if we weren't aware from the cover what we'd be in for. The film then cuts to our seven plucky students off to an isolated frozen cabin retreat for Easter vacation lead by Vegard (Lasse Valdal) the boyfriend of who we now know to be the late Sara (Ane Dahl Torp). Arriving on foot the film makes great efforts to reiterate to us that they really are miles away from civilisation, that there really is no phone reception and that they really are isolated, which I think I got. The film does have the confidence to self reference this horror cliché, but a cliché it still is.

First night in, cue a wise old hiker dropping by to tell them the uncomfortable and unsettling story of the region. How during World War II, a force of Einsatzgruppe, led by Standartenführer Herzog (Ørjan Gamst), occupied the area, abusing and torturing the citizens, and generally getting up to no good. At the end of the war attempting to abscond with the all the town's gold and valuables the townsfolk fought back en-masse killing many and driving the remaining soldiers with Herzog out into the tundra where the cabin now sits, to their icy death.

So to the first half of the film. Our seven intrepid heroes in true horror fashion are slowly stalked with the outside toilet a prominent location throughout. It's also during these early scenes that the group discovers a box of the lost Nazi gold and jewellery and the focus for all their troubles. Firmly entrenched in Scandanavian mythology, the undead Nazis in Dead Snow are draugr rising from the dead to protect their treasures and if only the students had worked this out sooner they could have avoided all the hell that was about to break loose. So with 45 minutes on the clock and the group in full realisation mode that something really is very wrong, Wirkola starts to change the film's direction from a slow, jumpy tense horror thriller to an action centred zombie slaughter-fest starting with a full on siege of the cabin.

So onto the second half of the film. With the siege over, our remaining shocked and scared survivors do what all good horror victims do and split up. Two head out for the car with two remaining behind to wait for Vegard who had left the group on his snowmobile before the trouble started to search for the missing Sara. Obviously with fresh snowfall obscuring the tracks back to the car the two girls heading for rescue get lost and consequently are chased all over the wasteland by the surprisingly fast and quite nimble zombies. The film is still quite tense and serious to this point but a scene where Hanna (Charlotte Frogner) wrestles a Raven to death giving her away her position up a tree signals the change of pace the film was about to make.

After accidently setting fire to the besieged cabin with a Molotov cocktail, the two men, Martin (Vegar Hoel) and Roy (Stig Frode Henriksen) who stayed behind flee and find themselves in the heavily equipped tool shed that happened to be next door. Arming themselves up to the hilt with scythes, hammers and a chainsaw and with new found confidence they turn their attention to the incoming zombie waves. Here the film changes to the Bruce Campbell-esque comedy zombie splatterfest I mentioned in the first paragraph. The now seemingly less invincible zombie horde are cut down with swagger, precision and a lot of blood and it's during this full-on undead pagga that Martin gets bit and confident in his medical-student education answers the eternal question of how one would cut one's own arm off by severing it one-handed with the chainsaw and cauterising it in a freshly constructed small fire. Soon joined by the returning Vegard who has had quite the adventure of his own the group cuts, hits and shoots down the remaining undead under the direction of Herzog and then turn their attention to the leader himself.

Distancing itself from the Romero zombie, the undead in Dead Snow are seemingly being guided and controlled by their old leader, the also undead draugr Herzog, who is him (it)self is driven by the re-acquisition of the stolen gold found and tampered with by the group. They mindless horde are able to use weapons, binoculars, and to a certain degree demonstrate cunning and guile. Whilst they also seem to able to work together in teams to attain their goals they're still also very much guided by zombie canon in that they are also driven by a desire for living human flesh and the only way to halt their progress is to destroy the brain.

...And what a lot of brains get destroyed. Despite obvious budgetary restrictions the zombie-gore comes thick and fast and Wirkola and his team have produced a polished production that never feels like a b-movie. It especially looks crisp and clean on Blu-ray and they've done a remarkable job putting to shame many big budget releases. With the screen constantly filled with hacks, slashes, disembowelments, gouging and brains, I'm not sure I've seen a film with so much red in quite some time and it's not a surprise to read that supposedly 450 litres of fake blood were consumed during filming. Those that like a good bit of over the top cringe-worthy gore won't be disappointed.

As I said from the off, Dead Snow is fun and enjoyable but struggles to establish a firm identity. It describes itself as a horror comedy and I'd argue for the first 45 minutes or so the laughter is thin on the ground with the focus on forging a tense traditional jumpy horror narrative. With a slow build-up the first true scares only come after many nerve-wrangling teases, and the comedy and genre parody only appears once the film is very much in its stride, very much like its Evil Dead inspiration., The acting, whilst not being particular memorable is strong throughout. As said, this is a revised review, of sorts, where I'm happy to hold my hands up. Wirkola has fashioned an incredibly well shot, intelligent play on the genre that still holds its own. With constant contemporary reference, yet memorable and original scenes it deserves praise of its own. Set against a beautiful crisp backdrop, it's absurd, scary, gory, and now 8/10.

Steven@WTD.