Forgiving two overly black-and-blue scenes in the opening third, the Norwegian mountains are taken full advantage of and provide an appealing and unique atmosphere for a zombie throw-down. The blood - even the computer-drawn kind, surprising enough - looks great against peaks and valleys of glistening, white snow.
So is Død Snø the perfect culmination of its aforementioned predecessors' achievements? Nah. Far from it, actually. For every tablespoon of dynamic, exaggerated awesome is a teaspoon of lazy short-cuts and unfortunate cliches. At times I'll pull less for the characters' safety from their pursuers and more for the filmmakers to get a commanding grip on their vision. This isn't to mention the exposition-heavy front end that misses cues from more successful and concise establishing scenes in Jason Voorhees' and Ashley Williams' respective films. Largely, however, Død Snø does manage to rise above these shortcomings with bloody ardor and deliver big on its promise of undead Nazis ascending from their frozen chambers to march on youthful vacationers.
