Skip to main content

Dead Snow (2009)

What’s better than a zombie movie? A zombie movie with Nazis! Nazi zombies, that is. Picture it: Seven Norwegian medical students retreat to the mountains in the dead of winter (When is it not winter in Norway, anyway?), set against a Scandinavian pop and punk soundtrack. All except one, who went ahead of the rest but is mysteriously missing. An old timer advises them to “tread gently” because of the “evil presence” left by the occupying Nazis during World War II. Apparently these particular Nazis were more evil than their ordinary counterparts; they cruelly mistreated the Norwegian villagers and then stole all of their valuables. At some point the townspeople had had enough, rising up to kill as many of their tormentors as they could. The Nazi commander Colonel Herzog plus several of his men fled for the hills with gold and silver in tow. Instead of succumbing to the cold, they became zombies.
The gang finds a wooden box filled with gold coins from the 1940s and precious jewelry hidden under the floorboards where they were storing their beer. In this case the young people are not being punished for their sexual desires but for the bravery of their forefathers. The Nazis want the gold, for sure, but being zombies they are out for a bit of live disembowelment, too. This horror-comedy features very focused, fleet-of-foot zombies; no lurching about like The Walking Dead. The students fight back heroically as they arm themselves appropriately with scythes, chainsaws, and sabers. This film is not for the faint hearted; gird yourself for plenty of blood and guts! With subtitles.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Emotionally Fraught World of the Turkish Language

My Turkish mother did not speak her native language with my sister and I during our childhood lest it prevented us from attaining fluency in our native tongue. Linguistic research has proved my mother wrong. She did, however, often take us to visit our grandparents and other relatives in Ankara,Izmir, and Istanbul almost annually. Before and during our trips, I took self-administered language courses whose curriculums consisted of poorly written instructional books. If only I had had an app like Duolingo back in the 80s, I’d be fluent by now. My studying didn’t go very far. My younger sister Katie and I would commiserate with one another (in English) on the conversational sidelines as my mom engaged in animated dialogue with her many relatives. “They might as well be  barking ,” I complained.  The barrier was felt to be THAT great. “The goat is in the box” became a treasured phrase, but not one likely to prove useful. (Humorous aside: my closest encounter with farm animal...

SouthGate Turns Traditional Korean Food on Its Head (in a Good Way)

SouthGate www.southgatephilly.com 1801 Lombard Street 215-560-8443 My earliest memory of eating in a Korean barbeque restaurant hails all the way back to 1992, in Pentagon City, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. Each table had a built-in grill on which patrons cooked marinated, thinly sliced, tender beef. Numerous tasty vegetable sides calmed the palate. The food was so delicious that one hardly even noticed the bland, conservative décor. You had to wonder, however: am I eating in the lobby of an office tower, or a restaurant? Happily, the Korean cuisine-inspired gastropub SouthGate (1801 Lombard Street) boasts both a modern, hip atmosphere and an inventive menu. The long and narrow space that once housed Tangier bar and restaurant has been transformed: white and gray tiles cover the walls facing the bar, and muted, soft lighting lends a warm glow. The energy is upbeat and young without feeling pretentiously exclusive or manic.  Although many fried foo...

The Extra Man (2010)

Paul Dano redeems himself after his monochromatic performance in  Little Miss Sunshine  (2006) in this comedic gem based on author-raconteur Jonathan Ames’ novel of the same name. Ames continues to indulge his penchant for perversion as he recounts the lives of men who cannot control their sexual impulses. In all of his personal and fictional works, highly depraved individuals are surprisingly the most capable of expressing humanity and tenderness towards the most vulnerable members of society. Considering that most of his stories are set in New York City, a locale that tends to attract the self-obsessed, this is no mean feat. After a “crippling brassiere incident,” Louis Ives (Dano) is fired from his job teaching English at a fancy Princeton prep school. He decides it’s the perfect time to move to Manhattan, where he can pursue his dream of becoming a writer. He rents a small room from one Henry H. Harrison (Kevin Kline), a flamboyant man who wages a daily war against mode...