Dead Snow – An Interview With Tommy Wirkola
For fans of high octane, brain free entertainment there are few treats so appealing as a gore-splattered zombie epic. In recent years the genre, like its heroes, has bounced back from the grave with hits like 28 Days Later and Day of the Dead. The odd innovation has emerged (zombies that can run) but originality is rarely the point. Now rookie Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola has come up with a sexy twist for his Sundance hit Dead Snow. You’ve guessed it; Nazi zombies. We spoke to him in advance of the UK premiere at Frightfest.
Hi Tommy. You clearly have great affection for the genre, have you always wanted to make a film like this?
Yes in a way. There were several reasons; one is I feel that these movies are rarely made in Scandinavia. I wanted to go back to the old feel of horror movies, gory and scary. This is very un-Norwegian, nothing has been made like this there, we wanted to show our people what these films are like. We aimed to be three-quarters serious, with the rest goofy and fun.
Were you worried about using Nazis in such a light hearted context?
We were worried initially, there are a lot of veterans still alive, particularly in the north of Norway. But we had no complaints or protests, so they must have taken it for what it was.
My friend tells me the best way to survive a zombie apocalypse would be just to go out to sea on a boat. Problem solved. What would you do?
That is a good way, but you would need an awful lot of supplies. In 28 weeks later they have a boat in a river, but then the zombies start swimming after them. I’m not sure how good I’d be in that situation, probably I would just hole up in some deserted area with a huge collection of guns.
Now that we’ve had running zombies, Nazi zombies, what could be the next phase of their development?
We have actually discussed a sequel where the zombies will not go back into mountains, but come down to invade Norway. They will be much more organised, with Herzog (main bad guy) as their leader. The hero will stop them by waking up Russian POW soldiers to fight them.
Were you surprised at how well the film was received at Sundance?
Very surprised, we were screened at midnight and didn’t expect anyone to bother turning up but it was completely packed. By the end everyone was off their feet applauding and people were screaming all the way through, particularly for the chainsaw sequences.
Interview by Keiron Monks, Stills taken from ‘Dead Snow’