If you like zombie movies, read only the bolded parts of this review.

Dead Snow is a smart, funny, and overall impressive addition to the campy Zomedy subgenre. It doesn’t deviate from the formula, and throws hundreds and hundreds of zombies at our heroes, who range from valiant to imbecilic. All the classic zombie tropes can be found here, from grunting growling zombie communication, the continued movement of dismembered undead limbs, and gruesome disemboweling/dismemberments.

Four medical students travel to the mountains to vacation. While out there, they run into an old man who tells them the tale of Nazis, and their cruel actions against the local people. The local people rebelled, driving the Nazi zombies along with their stash of Nazi gold into the cold Swiss Alps. Of course, the campers laugh the old m,an off and proceed to get wasted and have outhouse sex. Pretty much immediately they are besieged by the nazi zombies. Hilarity and gore ensue.

Obviously, the filmmakers behind Dead Snow wanted to make the most gruesome, campiest and fun zombie movie they could. The film straight up steals scenes from other horror neo-classics such as Shawn of the Dead and The Descent. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as movie geeks will undoubtedly get a kick out of recognizing tribute after tribute. It all adds to the fun of watching the film.

Dead Snow’s comedic timing is on point as well. The main characters are constantly bounding between surprisingly cunning and hilariously incompetent. Their profiles may be unfortunately shallow, but honestly, what were you expecting from such a gore-happy slashfest? It’s best that you don’t get too attached to these characters anyways, since Nazi Zombies are about to get very intimate with the contents of their abdomens.

As far as zombie movies go, Dead Snow isn’t a revolutionary film, but rather, a tribute to how far the genre has come in the last few years. It’s a modern, slick, funny, and memorable affair, and a must-see for zombie fans young and old. It is a movie made for midnight showings and large audiences, and should remain a cult hit for years to come.

In Your Absence, or En Tu Ausencia, is a surprising first-time effort by director Iván Noel that emanates beauty in more ways than one. Set in a pristine stretch of Spanish countryside, In Your Absence is filmed amidst a breath-taking setting full of enveloping blue skies, abundant sunflowers, flowering fields, and rolling hills. The film’s backdrop defines “summer” in its absolute perfection, and the pairing of fine-tuned imagery and diverse, mood-setting music makes the film both an aural and visual delight.

Young actor Gonzalo Sánchez Salas fills a heavy role with ease. He plays an emotionally-enclosed 13-year-old named Pablo whose father has recently passed away. Naive and vulnerable, Pablo has become a bit of an outsider in his own town since the tragedy, and he has only his mother and one friend. So, when a foreigner’s car unexpectedly breaks down, Pablo befriends him, despite the numerous warnings from the villagers telling him to do otherwise.

In Your Absence is a film that is powered by unpredictable human interactions. Noel manages to keep viewers captivated by dropping hints about, rather than flatly stating, definitive characteristics of the film’s three main characters, and this slow reveal keeps a rather slow-paced film brimming with tension. One constantly wonders what each character will do next, and often wonders wrong. A million possibilities are hinted at for every subtle action, making In Your Absence suspenseful in an unpredictable way.

With so many possibilities looming on the horizon, the most crucial point of In Your Absence lies in its conclusion, and it doesn’t disappoint. Everything makes perfect sense at the end — a comfortable resting place for a film with a plethora of acceptable endings.