On the poster for Dead Snow on the Netflix website, you’ll find an endorsement that reads ‘One of the best 25 zombie movies of all time.’ I don’t have to tell you that such a claim is hollow praise for even the biggest zombie movie fans. Honestly, I struggle to think of 25 zombie movies that I would even consider enjoyable. Still, as lame an endorsement as that poster has, it is far from incorrect.

Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola took the overdone premise of people on a vacation to a remote locale being set upon by the undead and gave it new life through his appreciation of the classics. If the horror movie references in the dialogue don’t indicate that the writers (of whom Wirkola is one) then the masterful juxtaposition of gratuitous gore and earned hysteria undeniably illustrates Wirkola’s homage to filmmaker Sam Raimi (Evil Dead series).

As a non-fan of The Evil Dead and its sequels, it was pleasantly surprising to see how some of the same devices were used to the benefit of Dead Snow. There were no demonic elements in Dead Snow, but Wirkola did an impressive job negotiating the danger for the protagonists, their evolved proficiency to handle it and the sense of humor that leaks in throughout. After all, discovering that an undead Nazi regime has been living in the mountains of Norway is already an absurd concept; why not have fun with it, right?

So there it is: I hereby endorse Dead Snow for anyone who enjoys zombie movies. And I defy you to keep it out of your Top 25 Zombie Movies list. Hell, I defy you to have one that doesn’t round out with movies you don’t even like.