Dead Snow

Tommy Wirkola's Nazi zombie flick Dead Snow turned up on a lot of "Best Horror of '09" lists (mine included), but unless you managed to catch it earlier this year when it was available through IFC On Demand, you probably haven't seen it. The good news is that you'll be able to remedy that situation on February 23rd, when the flick makes its DVD and Blu-ray debut.

Dread Central has the lowdown on the extras which should make the fans happy. They include:

Gotta love those dark Germanic fairy tales. They are ripe with strange folklore, the supernatural, and some of the most grotesque creatures ever imagined. These stories are intrinsically woven into the fabric of horror culture. You would think there would be more amazing fairy tale film adaptations, but only a few immediately come to mind: The Company of Wolves, Little Otik, Snow White and the Seven Dwarf and Labyrinth. Perhaps they hold more magic on paper, but it's inevitable that filmmakers will continue to turn to these tales for inspiration.

Earlier this year it was reported that Tommy Wirkola, the Norwegian director behind the Nazi-zombie flick Dead Snow will make his first U.S. feature with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. The film is being produced by Gary Sanchez Productions--the Paramount company run by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Kevin Messick.

The story picks up with the siblings 15 years after the whole witch-gingerbread house incident. They've become witch bounty hunters, out for the kill. McKay told the Hollywood Reporter back in April that the film will have a "Shaun of the Dead/Evil Dead 2 comedy action vibe to the proceedings. Modern technology but in an old style." Could it be Steampunk? The Hollywood Reporter recently confirmed that writer Dante Harper has been hired to pen the script for Sanchez. Harper has been working on the upcoming adaptation of Charles Burns' graphic novel, Black Hole, which David Fincher has been working on for Paramount.

My bets are on some of you seriously cringing at the mention of Will Ferrell and Hansel and Gretel in the same paragraph. Yeah, I kind of did too. There are a few things here that could push the film in either direction but Wirkola and Harper show some promise. Let's hope it can move beyond interesting concept and avoid get lost in the woods.

After a long flight on my part and a far longer drive for both of us, Scott Weinberg and I have finally arrived in Montréal for the FanTasia International Film Festival (their thirteenth, our first). The genre-heavy festival lasts for nearly three weeks; alas, we've but one to spare, so without much further ado, here's a look at what I've seen already and what I hope to see before Scott tips his own hand with a title or two to recommend.

Of the features playing, I can highly recommend Michael Paul Stephenson's Troll 2 doc, Best Worst Movie; the Aussie revenge thriller, The Horseman (not to be confused with the barely-seen Dennis Quaid vehicle,Horsemen); and Paul Solet's beautifully bloody baby horror, Grace. Those looking for something a bit stranger might end up being a bit more fond of Black and The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle than I was, though I also seemed more easily pleased by the Nazi zombies of Dead Snow than most, so I guess it all balances out. My enthusiasm for the ultra-kitschy likes of Alien Trespass and Lesbian Vampire Killers, not to mention the admittedly boundary-pushing Deadgirl, is all a bit less than what's already been mentioned, so let's just leave those at that.

By Eric Snider -- 1/26/09 -- Cinematical

The main thing Dead Snow wants you to know is that it's a splatter film about Nazi zombies. You like zombies, and Nazis add kitsch value, so you're sold. But once you get past the relative novelty of it (they're ZOMBIES, but they're also NAZIS!!), Dead Snow is only so-so. The only thing that separates it from the zombie movies you've already seen is that it's in Norwegian.

It's from director Tommy Wirkola, who, with co-writer Stig Frode Henriksen, had a huge hit in Norway with the 2007 Tarantino parody Kill Buljo. Dead Snow offers more proof of Wirkola's fondness for Tarantino, and you get the feeling he's seen plenty of Sam Raimi and George Romero, too. Those are all good ingredients, but without some kind of new spice all you're doing is serving leftovers.

Hungry now? Good. Let's talk about flesh-eating zombies. These ones are Nazi officers and soldiers whose frozen bodies, long hidden beneath the snow of Norway's hinterlands, have now been reanimated for reasons that Wirkola barely bothers to explain. Their victims are a group of college students who have trekked to a remote cabin for a weekend of wintertime merriment.

More here!

If you're anything like me, then you like fiddling around with the buttons on your cable remote. It used to be that you KNEW of all the options your remote could provide, but nowadays I have cable channels and VOD options I never knew existed. So a little while ago I clicked on a button that said IFC Festival Direct, which delivered unto me a pair of options: IFC Showcase and IFC Midnight. Yeah, try and guess where I started.

I saw a few familiar titles: Left Bank and Sauna, both of which I saw (and liked) at Fantastic Fest '08, as well as well-reviewed genre fare like The Chaser, Zift, and a Brit import called Hush that I may watch this very afternoon. Also on the docket for IFC Midnight: the indie thriller Dark Mirror, a gory South Korean offering called Cadaver, and a Dutch psycho story called Fear Me Not. Oh, and two I can definitely vouch for: the strange Canadian horror known as Pontypool and a Norwegian nazi-zombie fest called Dead Snow.

If you're looking for recent festival fare that's not horrific in nature, then you can sift through Joe Swanberg's Alexander the Last, the steamy erotica of L A'ventura, Sam Neill in Angel, or worthwhile options like Paper Covers Rock, Rain, or Three Blind Mice. Apparently this "VOD" thing is the wave of the future, and I find it very satisfying to know that the flick YOU just saw at the Florida Film Festival is also available from my own cable box for about six bucks. For a whole lot more on IFC's home-demand offerings, I suggest you click right here and flick around a bit. (They also offer some rather fine programming that's free with the IFC service, don't forget.)