Reactions On 'Dead Snow: Red Vs. Dead'

This hit the Internet the other day and I'm a little behind weighing in because I was busy celebrating New Years. What's the lesson to be learned here? The zombie apocalypse -- or at least teasers for sequels to the zombie apocalypse -- happens when you're not paying attention and are busy guzzling prosecco. Lesson learned.

We did talk about it here on PPC, but what do I think based on this small bite? It is a fun teaser to "Dead Snow: Red Vs. Dead," Tommy Wirkola's follow-up to the 2009 Norwegian flick about med students battling undead nazis on their Easter break. Although I am opposed to Wirkola using the word "dead" twice in his title, I'll forgive him since the teaser looks like a gory, fun sequel ride.

This time, it looks like survivor Martin (Vegar Hoel), who looked pretty screwed at the end of the first film, survived an attack by Standartenführer Herzog (Ørjan Gamst), only to have Herzog's severed arm attached to him -- giving him some sort of super zombie strength. With his new ability, Martin appears to go on a zombie headsmashing tour.

Check out the teaser "Dead Snow: Red Vs. Dead," which is opening at Sundance this month. Also, give the movie extra love because our friend Derek Mears is in it, and he's pretty awesome.

-Aaron Sagers

Teaser Trailer Released for 'Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead'

Tommy Wirkola's "Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead" is set to debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January and a teaser trailer has just been released. The sequel, helmed again by Wirkola, takes place where the original film left off; with a bloody face-off between a medical student and zombie Nazis in the Norwegian fjords.

This installment promises more gore, more comedy and the return of the most brutal zombie villain in recent history, Colonel Herzog. Check out the teaser, courtesy the Daily Dead, and let us know what you think!


       


-Nowal Massari

'Dead Snow' gets thawed out for sequel

For most people, director Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is his most well-known work. It’s certainly his first foray into American cinema, which grossed over $50 million dollars. There are, however, those of us who knew of Wirkola’s work well before his 2013 American debut. In 2009, Wirkola released Dead Snow, a film about a group of kids taking on Nazi zombies in the snowy mountains of Norway.

While it did receive a stateside release in the summer of 2009, it grossed less than $50 thousand dollars. but eventually gained a cult following on Netflix.

Now Wirkola announced that he would be working on a sequel entitled Dead Snow 2: War of the Dead and it sounds awesome. According to Wirkola, the film will be shot in both English and Norwegian.

"In the sequel the story follows the sole survivor of a Nazi zombie attack who battles an even larger army of zombies with the help of a professional gang of American zombie killers who call themselves the Zombie Squad ... I am delighted to step back into the world of Nazi zombies yet again with Dead Snow: War Of The Dead, a world that is very close to my heart [...]We have a script that I am super excited about, which is bigger, scarier, funnier, more action-filled and gorier than the previous one, and I can't wait to unleash another horde of undead Nazi zombies onto the world again."

For those who were lucky enough to attend the Cannes film festival this year, a 5-minute sneak peek was shown and it has received two very enthusiastic thumbs up. The teaser was shot in April, and filming/production on what sounds like a great sequel will pick up again in August and September.

So far there is no release date.

-Nowal Massari

Zombies vs. Vampires: Celebrity Undead Death Match

Within pop-culture, there are a lot of monsters, ghouls and maniacs out there that want to terrify us. Especially around Halloween, werewolves, demons, ghosts, mummies, maenads, fairies and half-dead men with hockey masks or razor claws make their presence known. But let’s face it, these beasts that go bump in the night lack a certain bite.

For the true masters of horror pop, one need look no further than the two reigning champs of chomps, vampires and zombies. More than any other, these creatures capture the imagination and inspire ferocious loyalty. Zombie lovers corpse-up, congregate in flash mobs and hijack constructions signs to read “Caution: Zombies Ahead.” Vamp fans wear molded ceramic fangs, make pilgrimages to New Orleans and Transylvania, and drink Tru Blood.

But really, which beast is best? The walking dead or undead? The brain eater or blood sucker? In order to settle the Zombie vs. Vampire debate, we’ve collected notable films of both genres from the last 25 years, and arranged them in different categories (emphasis on gore) to determine who each might triumph.

Although judgments on winners are completely subjective, I tried to channel George A. Romero and Bela Lugosi for guidance since they were incredibly influential in both genres. Lugosi starred as the count in the first official version of Dracula in 1931; he also gave the world the grandfather of the zombie movies, White Zombie, in 1932. Meanwhile, Romero remains the reigning genius of the zombie genre after directing 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. Romero also contributed heavily to vampires on screen with the underrated deconstruction Martin (1978).