HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: DEAD SNOW: RED VS DEAD (2014) **

This sequel to Dead Snow picks up immediately where the first one left off with our hero Martin (Vegar Hoel) fleeing the horde of Nazi Zombies from his winter cabin.  He gets picked up by the police, who think he’s the one responsible for massacring his friends, as they don’t cotton to his story that Nazi Zombies were the ones responsible.  Meanwhile, the Nazi Zombies begin gathering their forces and set out to finish the war they started decades ago.

Like its predecessor, Dead Snow:  Red vs Dead is all over the place.  Much of the intentional humor falls flat or is just plain unfunny.  However, when the film concentrates on zombie carnage, it’s pretty entertaining as there’s plenty of crushed heads, strewn guts, and mashed brains to go around.

Some of the additions to the zombie lore are equally hit and miss.  The idea that zombies can recruit new cadavers to their cause by simply touching their forehead is kind of odd.  Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned bite on the neck?  I did like the subplot where our hero receives an arm transplant from a zombie donor, which grants him zombified powers.  Imagine Evil Dead 2 if Ash and his possessed hand had a détente and that should give you an idea of what to expect. 

There’s some fun to be had here.  The best bits come mostly in the form of little throwaway moments (like the zombie doctor performing emergency surgery on soldiers during the final battle).  For the most part though, Dead Snow:  Red vs Dead is a bit overstuffed and overcrowded.  Take for instance the addition of Martin Starr as the leader of a trio of American zombie hunters.  He’s not bad or anything, it’s just that he and his Star Wars-obsessed cohorts feel like they came out of an entirely different movie.  Either that, or they were just shipped over to cater to the American market.  If writer/director Tommy Wirkola had whittled this thing down a bit (it clocks in at a whopping 100 minutes), it might’ve worked.  As it is, the unwieldy running time and abundance of unfunny gags prevent Red vs Dead from coming to life.