Category Archives: Norwegian Horror Films
DEAD SNOW (DØD SNØ)
DEAD SNOW (DØD SNØ)-Norway-2009
Vegar Hoel as Martin
Stig Frode Henriksen as Roy
Charlotte Frogner as Hanna
Lasse Valdal as Vegard
Evy Kasseth Røsten as Liv
Jeppe Beck Laursen as Erlend
Jenny Skavlan as Chris
Ane Dahl Torp as Sara
Bjørn Sundquist as Turgåer
Ørjan Gamst as Oberst Herzog
Directed by Tommy Wirkola
Written by Tommy Wirkola and Stig Frode Henriksen
My wife has suggested to me for years that we should take some time off and go camping. Although it sounds like fun I still find myself coming up with all sorts of reasons not to go. So far I’ve come up with Bigfoot, the Wendigo, werewolves, vampires and the Blair Witch just to name a few. Needless to say, she’s not buying my bullshit. But now I can add a reason to the list that I know she can’t say no to: Nazi Zombies. All I have to do is show her “Dead Snow” and let her see what happens to a group of medical students who take a holiday in a remote cabin and are beset upon by a blitzkrieg of the undead. “Dead Snow” gives a pretty half-ass reason for the existence of this walking dead gestapo, but to be honest that doesn’t really matter. “Dead Snow” has helped me to realize that it doesn’t matter how the zombies were created. What does matter is how much blood, guts and gore can be spilled and how inventive it can be done. Axes, chainsaws, scythes, hammers, shotguns and machine guns all play a major role in this movie; not to mention a snowmobile that doubles as a zombie Cuisinart. “Dead Snow” is bloody fun from beginning to end. Just remember one thing: it’s all fun and games until the Nazi Zombies show up.
TRIVIA
Originally it was going to be called “Rød Snø” (or Red Snow in English), as an homage to the Swedish/Norwegian mini-series with the same name.
This film’s main trailer shows black-and-white World War II archive footage including battleships, parachuting and a command room featuring Adolf Hitler but this material is not seen in the actual movie.
The Nazi zombies in this film are a combination of typical zombies in popular culture and ancient Norse mythical beings known as draug. A draug is a undead being who would (like a vampire) inhabit graves. They would often out of jealously live in the graves of important men as they often had treasures in them and protect these treasures as if they were their own.
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TROLLHUNTER
TROLLHUNTER-Norway-2010
Otto Jespersen as Hans,trolljegeren
Glenn Erland Tosterud as Thomas
Johanna Mørck as Johanna
Tomas Alf Larsen as Kalle
Directed by André Øvredal
Written by André Øvredal and Håvard S. Johansen
Leave it to the Norwegians to make a mockumentary about a trio of college students who follow a guy around while he hunts and kills trolls. Here in America we get Bigfoot and the Blair Witch. Well, I guess Norway had to compete with us somehow or another. I’m not being racist or xenophobic here; I’m just saying that nobody does troll hunting like some big bearded Norwegian named Hans. I’m serious as a heart attack here. Just follow the guy around and you will learn all kinds of troll information. For instance, did you know that trolls eat Christians? There is a scene in this very movie where Hans plays ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus‘ on the loudspeaker and this big freaking troll gets all sex nuts and retard strong and starts chasing him. Another poor Christian fella gets eaten alive! I am not kidding and I am not making fun of Christians; I’m just stating the stone cold Gospel according to trolls.
Do you know why they put up those big metal towers with the super-duper high voltage power lines? It sure as hell isn’t to keep your curling iron running. It’s to keep trolls out of populated areas. Also did you know that are two classes of Trolls? There are Mountain trolls and there are woodland trolls. But after that there are several sub-classes within the two classes. Did you know that when you kill a troll it either turns to stone or explodes, depending on its age? You didn’t know that? What in the hell would you people do without me? Oh wait, don’t answer that. You’d just watch Trollhunter and find out all this info.
Anyway, I’m having fun with this review because I get the odd feeling that the filmmakers had a lot of fun making Trollhunter. The film plants its tongue so deeply into its cheek that it grows roots. There’s even a ‘we found this footage, but we didn’t find the people who shot it’ type of disclaimer at the beginning and the end of the film. Plus, if you’re up on your entire childhood fairy tales there’s a fantastic homage to one involving three billy goats.
I don’t have a lot to gripe about with Trollhunter. My only problem with the film is that it’s too long and tends to drag a little at the end. Other than that, it’s a pretty damn good little movie. Now if you will excuse me I need to do some troll research on Wikipedia.
TRIVIA
Summit Entertainment bought the rights to produce an American remake before this film’s initial release.
The HDDs used by the students are LaCie Rugged portable drives.
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HIDDEN
Kristoffer Joner as Kai Koss
Cecilie Mosli as Sara
Written and Directed by Pal Oie
At the beginning of Hidden, a hand emerges from the ground of a forest floor. It is a young boy and he is running away from something or someone. But his running causes a tragic accident that affects the life of another young boy. Years later, the boy from the ground returns home to say his goodbyes to his dead mother and the house she kept him a prisoner in for many years of his young life. But he discovers that sometimes it’s better to leave well enough alone.
Hidden is the type of ghost story that is loaded with the scares that you know are going to happen, but you still find yourself jumping in spite of yourself. It even pays tribute, or maybe it just rips off, the George C. Scott ghost story The Changeling. In any event, Hidden is a very well told thriller despite it’s been there, done that feel. Another fault of the film is that it asks way too many questions yet provides far too little answers. I don’t know if the Norwegians are as sequel hungry as we Americans are, but it sure feels that that is what they are doing.
Kristoffer Joner is decent as Kai Koss, the boy who emerges from the forest floor and is now a grown man nineteen years later. The big problem with his performance is that he relies on facial expressions a bit too much. You can only carry a film so long with a dumb look on your face. Cecilie Mosli is better as Sara, the cop who is all too familiar with Kai’s past.
Hidden is one of those films that you watch as a substitute when you can’t watch what you really want to. It’s okay, though. It’s not a bad film, it just looks like one.
Trivia
Sorry, no trivia for this film.
