I'm a big fan of the first movie and have watched it several times now. I felt that it was better than most zombie films that have come out in recent years. While the nazi zombie sub-genre was by no means trailblazing, it's also not something that's been trampled to death before and the zombies were much better looking than some "classics" of the genre like SHOCK WAVES. The fact that Wirkola was directing to return, also, signified to me that this should be just as good as the original.
Wirkola goes straight for the tried-and-true horror sequel template of giving us the same recipe that we liked the first time, but giving us more of everything with it. More zombies, more effects, more humor, more action. I found that it didn't work as well, for me. The first movie followed a very typical format of the kids in a cabin in the woods and allowed for the terror to slowly increase. The movie eventually developed into a smogasbord of gore, but that action felt balanced out by the creation of fear developed at the beginning. Here, the movie erupts right away in mayhem. I get that it's a direct sequel and we don't need the backstory again, but it creates a much different feeling movie and I prefer the slow tension of the first.
In the family tree of zombie films, DEAD SNOW definitely descended from Raimi and EVIL DEAD, with the splat-stick violence and corny humor, but the sequel goes even further into that territory. There are zombie comedies I love, but the sense of humor here is more akin to DEAD ALIVE and sometimes felt like Monty Python and the Zany Zombies. Humor is very subjective and this just isn't my cup of tea. That extended to the trio of zombie hunting geeks who felt crammed in to help secure an American audience.
While I have watched the first film numerous times, I actually lost interest in this altogether about half way through and shut it off, forcing myself to finish it the next day.
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