A group of medical students go on Easter break to a remote cabin in the snow-covered mountains of Norway. Their idyllic holiday, however, is broken when a local man tells them the story of the Nazi regiment that tortured and killed all around the area during the war until a mob chased them out of the town and into the wilds where they died of the cold. Except that they sort of didn't and now they're rising from their snowy graves to take a bloody revenge.

A bunch of youngsters in a remote cabin where there aren't any phones and no mobile coverage? A mysterious stranger with a story to tell? Ill gotten treasure with a curse on it? DEAD SNOW doesn't so much wear its influences on its sleeve as literally give you a couple of minutes resume right at the start, the characters listed the films that have inspired the story the audience is about to see. This could be seen as blatant arrogance were it not for the fact that DEAD SNOW is just so full of confidence, brio and downright fun, all leavened with a wicked sense of humour.

Oh, and there are zombie nazis.

Yes, it's in Norwegian so there are subtitles to deal with, but that's no hardship considering that the script is predictable enough to guess what people are saying without having to look at the words most of the time and, like the story, doesn't exactly make any attempt to break the originality barrier. Being new isn't what DEAD SNOW is about. Embracing the conventions and then smearing entrails all over them is what it's about.

If you like your horror unsubtle and bloody then this is just the thing. The students are jumpy and there's some half-hearted suspense and jump moments early on, but this is about zombies ripping out stomachs, pulling people apart and generally running amok. The students, though, aren't about to be outdone and when they tool themselves up with machine guns, machetes, sledgehammers and chainsaws the zombie mutilation reaches gargantuan proportions. It's not to be taken seriously and when it means to be funny it really is. It also has some surprises along the way. The cast are unknown over here, so there is no telling who will survive and who will not.

For a rip-roaring, disembowelling good time you could do a lot worse than checking out DEAD SNOW. Subtle it's not, but if blood, entrails and laughs then this delivers.