Editorials
[Butcher Block] ‘Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead’ and Its Love Affair with Intestines
Butcher Block is a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films and the minds behind them. Dedicated to graphic gore and splatter, each week will explore the dark, the disturbed, and the depraved in horror, and the blood and guts involved. For the films that use special effects of gore as an art form, and the fans that revel in the carnage, this series is for you.
One of the best things about horror sequels, typically, is the expanded budget that’s usually granted. While that means a bigger scaled story, it also means more money available for special effects. When it comes to splatter films, that’s especially good news. Such is the case with Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead, the over the top follow-up to 2009’s Norwegian horror-comedy Dead Snow. More gore, a much higher body count, and way more whimsical usage of intestines.
Picking up immediately after the events of the first film, Martin (Vegar Hoel) is trying to ward off Nazi zombie commander Herzog (Ørjan Gamst) from the windshield of his car while fleeing. An oncoming truck causes Herzog to lose a limb, and Martin crashes shortly after. When he wakes in the hospital, he’s horrified to discover that the surgeon mistook Herzog’s arm for his missing limb and attached it. Meanwhile, Herzog is raising a massive undead army. It’s up to Martin, his new zombie arm, and a trio of American zombie experts to stop them.
Director/Co-Writer Tommy Wirkola stomps his foot down on the accelerator from the opening moments and never lets up for a second in this sequel. It might still be a conventional siege movie at its core, but the splatstick attempts Peter Jackson-levels of reckless abandon. In other words, it’s pretty entertaining.
Dead Snow proved itself to be a huge fan of gore gags that involved intestines, and Red vs. Dead makes sure to continue that motif. There’s an insanely goofy moment where the Nazi zombies are stealing a tank from a World War II museum. One that’s been out of commission for decades, obviously. So, what’s a nasty zombie to do but siphon gas through intestinal tracts stretched out as far as cartoonishly possible?
It’s gratuitous and well done. Not just the gore, but the zombie makeup as well. All thanks to the special makeup effects team that included prosthetic makeup designer Mike Elizalde (Stranger Things, Pacific Rim, Attack the Block), makeup supervisor Steinar Kaarstein (Dead Snow, Trollhunter), and a slew of fantastic artists from Elizalde’s special effects company Spectral Motion.
Red vs. Dead closes out with another major Jackson-style moment, which I won’t disclose for those who haven’t watch yet, but it’s clear that Wirkola just wanted to create an irreverent ode to his splatstick forefathers. With much of the action taking place so close to civilization in this outing, the body count is higher. The number of zombies far greater, too, most of them played by professional mixed martial arts fighters. Above all, the bigger budget meant bigger, better gore.
Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead and its predecessor are two halves of one preposterous premise. The type that doesn’t sound like it should work, and yet it does. It’s a modern splatstick bonanza that adheres to the workings of gore masters like Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson. Sometimes you’re just in the mood for zombies siphoning gas by way of some screaming victim’s intestines – look no further than Red vs. Dead, a sequel that more than delivers.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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