Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. For this one we will be talking about Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead and the promo comic that came with the DVD release. For those who don’t know what Dead Snow 2 is all about, it’s a indie dark comedy zombie horror film that features group of humans trying to stop a group of Nazi zombies who are trying to complete their orders from decades back. This film is in cult status and is a well loved modern zombie film and now it’s going to get the Rotten Ink treatment, so grab your winter gear and let’s head out into the bitter cold snow as from what I hear there are zombies out there!

So before we get to deep into this update, let’s take a few moments to chat about Standartenfuhrer Herzog and his Nazi zombie army. Herzog and his Undead Army have many ways to deal death and first their rotting appearance can strike fear into the hearts of their victims and cause them to die of fright as well as become hysterical and make mistakes on trying to survive. They can also use their bare hands to rip and tear flesh and are shockingly skilled in hand to hand combat. Plus they will bite and use their teeth in order to cause damage, death as well as infect you with their undead disease and cause you to become one of them. The can also use weapons of war to deal death that includes guns, knives and tanks to slaughter their targets and they are very skilled with these weapons and that makes them even more dangerous than your standard zombies. They are also horde killers but are also very dangerous on their own. Herzog himself is very strong and can use his brute strength to take a humans life; he also has the ability to resurrect the newly killed to become new soldiers in his army that all do what they are told to do making him the most dangerous as he has a massive army willing to act on his commands. They also have no fear nor conscience and do not hesitate to kill humans making them killing machines as they also do not tire and can take some damage from those who attempt to fight back. But while Herzog and his Nazi Zombie Army are very deadly that can be dealt with as they can be hacked up, blown up, shot up, burnt up and smashed up and by destroying their heads is the full way to stop them. So while they can be stopped, they still are very dangerous and Herzog can always just bring back or create new members for his growing army.

So as you can see Herzog and his Nazi Zombie Army are very dangerous and are different than most other zombies we have covered here as again I have to stress they can use weapons of war. But now that we have talked about these zombies, we should take a look at the film it’s based on Dead Snow 2 and like always I will be taking the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts. So if you are ready, let’s chat about this indie fright flick.

Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014)

“If the worst day of your life consisted of accidentally killing your girlfriend with an axe, chain-sawing your own arm off, and watching in horror as your closest friends were devoured by a zombified Nazi battalion, you’d have to assume that things couldn’t get much worse. In Martin’s case, that was only the beginning.”

Dead Snow was a 2008 film that was a big indie horror hit in both America and its origin nation Norway and with this success the writer and director Tommy Wirkola decided to do a sequel! The sequel would bring back actor Vegar Hoel as Martin Hykkerud and would bring in other actors like Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer and Ingrid Hass and Orjan Gamst would return as Standartenfuhrer Herzog the lead Nazi Zombie. Filming would take place in Iceland and would be filmed in English as well as Norwegian and would be filmed in very snowy weather with most of the zombie cast being made up of MMA fighters as well as stuntmen. The film would be scored by Christian Wide and would get a limited theatrical release in America in late 2014 and would only bring in around $37,473.00 for Well Go USA Entertainment, and by 2015 it would get a DVD release. The film did better at the international box office bringing in over $1 million dollars. The film that year would be released alongside such other horror films as The Babadook, It Follows, Tusk, Dracula Untold, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and What We Do In The Shadows to name a few. The film would go on to become a cult classic and was meet with pretty good reviews from fans and critics. As of this update, no new film is planned for the series.

As you longtime readers know, I have been a horror film fan since I was a very young kid and grew up watching them, so it is even shocking to me that it took me until 2022 for me to watch both Dead Snow and Dead Snow 2! Both films have always been on my radar but for some reason I just never got around to watching them, but when I finally got the DVD’s of the film from Game Swap Kettering and found that the second film came with a promo comic I knew I needed to watch them and make a From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update about them. And before I watched them, my brother told me that he enjoyed the second film over the first, and after watching them both I tend to agree as while I think some of the gore in the first film is good some of the humor fell flat with me while I liked the story and characters better from the second film. The one odd thing in the second film for me is all the Star Wars quotes from one of the Zombie Hunter characters, as it was used as humor and at times felt out of place. The film’s Nazi and Russian Zombies look very cool and at the end of the film both zombie sides clash and it’s lots of fun to watch as they hack and smash each other back to death. The series main villain is Standartenfuhrer Herzog who is very violent and pretty scary as he deals death and destruction all because he is following long over orders. One other very cool element in this film is that main character Martin Hykkerud loses part of his arm as does Standartenfuhrer Herzog and by mistake both have the others arm attached to them and because of this Martin can touch a dead body and bring them back to life as a follower of his cause. This is a very fun and bloody good zombie dark comedy that you should check out if you have waited way to long to watch like myself. Before we end this, I think they should make a part 3 and make it even more bloody and over the top than the first two in the series, but at this point in time it looks like a third film will not be made.

So now that we have talked about Standartenfuhrer Herzog and his Nazi Zombie army as well as the film they are from Dead Snow 2, it’s time for us to take a look at the promo comic that came free inside the DVD release. I would like to first thank Game Swap Kettering for having this promo comic and DVD in stock and making this update possible. And I would like to also remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head out into the snow and try our best to avoid the zombie that are on a mission for gold and small down invasion.

Dead Snow # 1  ***
Released in 2015    Cover Price FREE     Well Go USA     # 1 of 1

The year is 1943 and a small cabin in the mountains is under attack by the Nazis and as one man is begging them not to take his families rations as winter is here and they are already starving, Standartenfuhrer Herzog listens to the man’s pleas and then murders him with a fish hook in front of his family. The Nazis move onto the next village and have to dodge deer that are all over the roads, and once at the village the Nazis steal all of the peoples gold and jewelry as well as use a tank to blow up a herd of deer, plus the kill one of the townspeople in front of the others and as the box of riches makes it into the hands of Herzog one of the townspeople rushes over and slits his own wrist and bleeds all over the gold as well as Herzog’s hand and places a curse on him that will forever link him to this treasure and will cause him and his men to become zombies who over time will beg for death! The town people then armed with basic weapons try and attack the Nazis but are all mowed down by machine gun fire. In the end Herzog notices that one of the blown up deer is now a zombie and he also sees that mountain area that will become their base as this origin tale ends.

This is a pretty cool little promo comic as its story follows Herzog and his men as they torment, rob and kill villagers all for the quest of gold and power, and they make the mistake of messing with the wrong villager who before he dies is able to place a curse on them all that will forever make them zombies and linked to the gold they have stolen from his people. Herzog is very evil and uncaring as he seems to be uncaring by killing both animals and humans, and even takes pleasure in killing a man in front of his family as he robs them of all their food leaving them to starve to death in the harsh winter months. And even when the cursed is placed on him and his men and he sees that the deer he killed are coming back to life he is unbothered…this dude is a coldblooded killer! His men are also very cold as they steal and take human life on orders and are un-phased by anything they are asked to do. The poor villagers are bullied, scared and most of all pissed off about their treatment but sadly everyone of them who try to fight back end up dead with several of them in this issue being shot and one his hooked, but you have to give them all credit for trying to stand up for themselves and each other. The comic is pretty bloody as we get a close up of a gunshot wound to the head as well as a hook to the jaw making it very gory. The promo comic also does a great job of capturing the horror mood of the film as well as the sinister attitude of Herzog making for a good movie tie in comic. The cover is pretty cool and showcases the head wound panel and could be very eye catching for horror comic readers. The interior art is done by Kurt Van Der Basch and is great stuff and has a very cool indie horror comic look to it. This is a very cool promo comic that does a good job of extended the film universe and adds some detail to some of the film characters past. If you like Dead Snow 2 or even just Dead Snow, make sure to track down this comic and give it a read. Also make sure to checkout the artwork below to see the style of Kurt Van Der Basch.

Dead Snow 2 is a good film and also a good comic and this is a prime example of what I have been talking about for as long as this blog has been active and even before that as comic books make great promo items for your horror films as almost every Fright Flick has an interesting world that fit for comics and with the right creative minds behind it the comics can expand that world and also get readers turned into viewers. I am also glad I finally got around to watching the Dead Snow films as while they are not amazing films, they are highly entertaining ones that deliver a great watch for fans who like a little laughs with their terror. We will be leaving the world of Dead Snow behind as for our next update we will be heading to the world of cartoons as we will look at Roman Holidays! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local Horror Host! Make sure next update, you keep your eyes in the sky for not only Santa and his reindeers but also so silly family and their pet lion.