Opening this week in U.S. theaters, Over Your Dead Body, directed by Jorma Taccona (MacGruber), is an English-language remake of Tommy Wirkola's The Trip, revolving around a couple who head out into the woods, each planning to murder the other.
As it happens, Tommy Wirkola's latest genre thriller also debuted recently. Rapidly setting forth its outlandish premise in its opening minutes, Thrash nonetheless lives up to the director's past work, mixing risibly ridiculous situations with extreme bloodletting on an epic scale, yet with empathetic characters at its darkly comic core.
Thanks to our founder Todd Brown, Screen Anarchy has been happily following the director's career with great interest. Type his name into our search bar and a plethora of articles will pop up. We cover all his films individually below, along with links to our reviews, where available.
Born in Alta, Norway, in December 1979, perhaps explaining his longterm fascination with subverting snowy scenarios, his first credit came as a multi-hyphenate.
Remake (2006)
The film is now available to watch on Vimeo.
A couple must spend the night in a ultra low-budget motel. They check out a couple of movies to watch -- The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars -- only to discover that the films are actually no-budget remakes, featuring motel clerks Kit McDee and Tommy Wirkola, who co-directed the short film.
The remakes are incredibly funny, though not if you were expecting to watch two blockbusters. Dissastified, the couple returns the movies, whereupon the clerks offer up yet another movie: Scream.
Kill Buljo: The Movie (2007)
The film is not available for streaming in the U.S., though it's apparently available in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on Apple TV Store, per JustWatch.
A comic parody of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Tommy Wirkola co-wrote, co-stars, and also edited. The film gained distribution in a number of territories, including the U.S. via the Weinstein Company.
Dead Snow (2009)
The film is now streaming on AMC+ and Sundance Now.
Our review by Todd Brown: "The question people should be asking is whether Wirkola's film works on its own terms, whether or not it's a good zombie film. And the answer to that is a resounding yes. Dead Snow is easily the best and most entertaining zombie picture since Spanish offering [REC] and just misses making the top five of the past decade. ...
"Yes, there is comedy throughout and the film aims far more for entertainment value than does the oppressively creepy [REC], but the humor is generally very sly."
Kurt Josef Wagle and the Legend of the Fjord Witch (2010)
The film is not available for streaming in the U.S..
Our founder Todd Brown wrote about the trailer: "Late in 2009, in a bit of a lull, he packed up some friends and a camera and headed off into the woods to shoot something quick and cheap.
"The result is Kurt Josef Wagle And The Legend of the Fjord Witch, a low brow parody of the current first-person horror craze a la Paranormal Activity and [REC]."
Hellfjord (2012)
The 7-episode series is not available for streaming in the U.S..
Our review by James Marsh: "Delightfully weird and wonderful television series, following a disgraced city police officer as he sees out his final days in uniform in the remote and incredibly strange fishing town of Hellfjord.
"In many ways, the tone of Hellfjord falls somewhere between Twin Peaks and The League of Gentlemen, as it delights in creating weird and often repellent backwoods characters, only to nurture a deep-seated affection for them that grows as the series progresses."
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
The film is not currently streaming, though it is available to buy or rent from a variety of Video On Demand platforms; it's also available to purchase on physical media.
Our review by James Marsh: "A goofy, yet thoroughly entertaining romp that blends the Brothers Grimm with bloody violence to darkly comic effect.
"Wirkola's first English language feature picks up the famous fairytale "many years" after the pivotal event in the Gingerbread House scarred impressionable young siblings, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton). They have now become professional witch hunters, roaming the countryside in search of evil crones, and dispensing with them - for a price - using an arsenal of shotguns, crossbows, grenades and garrottes."
Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (2014)
The film is now streaming on a variety of services.
Our review by Dave Canfield: "I'm hesitant to describe too much of the story as I think this is definitely a case of the less you know the more you will enjoy. But that said it should be noted that Wirkola has done so much more than just cap off the original film with a solid coda. This is batshit crazy in spots and far bigger in scale. The fact that he manages to keep the film on the rails at all is a bit of a miracle."
What Happened to Monday (2017)
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Official synopsis: "In a future with a strict one-child policy, six septuplets must avoid government detection while searching for their missing sister."
Noomi Rapace, Willem Dafoe, Glenn Close star. I'm not sure how we missed reviewing the film, but I remember watching and enjoyed it, which features Tommy Wirkola's keen sense of action exploding periodically throughout the science-fiction scenario. Without any humor to leaven the heaviness of the narrative, it's the moody action that carries the day.
The Trip (2021)
The film is now streaming.
Our review by yours truly: "What follows is frequently funny, often hilarious, always clever and smart, and dependent entirely on the superb performances by [Noomi] Rapace and [Aksel] Hennie, who make sure that their characters ring true in their actions and in their delivery of the stinging dialogue.
"Over it all, of course, is Tommy Wirkola, who conducts with his usual sure hand and an absurd sense of humor, with no hesitation about stepping over the line into what most people might term 'bad taste' or 'politically incorrect' or 'you really shouldn't do or show that.' He is quite a fearless director, and I wouldn't want to meet him alone in the woods.
Violent Night (2022)
The film is now streaming on Peacock TV.
Our review by Mel Valentin: "Others in the audience, of course, won't care, taking delight in a rage-filled psychopath in a Santa Claus who is finding a refreshed purpose in life by letting his inner Berserker come out and play, crush some skulls, and call it a Christmas Eve."
Spermageddon (2024)
The film is not currently available on streaming services in the U.S., though it is available in 14 other counties..
Our review by Martin Kudlac: "Norwegian genre-meister Tommy Wirkola teams up with his compatriot, seasoned animator and director Rasmus A. Sivertsen, known for family-friendly movies, to create the hilarious and unexpectedly heartwarming 3D animation, Spermageddon.
"This unlikely partnership combines Wirkola's flair for the outrageous with Sivertsen's touch of innocence, resulting in a film that defies easy categorization. The central story is about a rat race to fertilize an egg, captured from the perspective of spermatozoa, and a pair of teenagers trying to prevent that."
The clip below is from the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and has English subtitles, though it's only available to watch on YouTube itself.
Over Your Dead Body (2026)
The film opens Friday, April 24, only in movie theaters, via Independent Film Company. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.
Our review by J Hurtado: "Wirkola's The Trip was one of my favorite films of 2021, a blisteringly violent comedy with a real mean streak that presented surprises at every turn. So, when Over Your Dead Body was announced for an American remake, my hackles were immediately up. Part of the joy in The Trip was the no-fucks-given attitude that I couldn't imagine would survive the translation. Thankfully, Taccone and his team of co-conspirators do not skimp on the surprises or the gore as this version of the film might be even more violent and surprising than the original.
"Uproariously funny, absolutely brutal in its disregard for the structural integrity of the human body, and lightning paced with jokes and stunts coming fast and furious, Over Your Dead Body is a definite winner for fans of bloodthirsty black comedy."
Thrash (2026)
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Tommy Wirkola wrote the script with an eye toward establishing its premise with great dispatch, revolving around characters who are stuck in a small coastal town that is threatened by a Category 5 storm: A pregnant woman, an agoraphobic woman, and three siblings whose foster parents refuse to evacuate. That might be enough trauma for other filmmakers, but not Tommy Wirkola, who adds sharks to the disaster scenario.
And it's not just any sharks, but bull sharks, which the National Wildlife Federation notes: "They prefer shallow coastal water, which means they can often come into contact with humans. Bull sharks are often considered to be the most dangerous sharks to humans because of their aggressive tendencies and ability to migrate up rivers." It's a movie, so Wirkola ignores the following sentence: "However, shark attacks are extremely rare. In a typical year, fewer than 20 people die by shark attack."
Rest assured, many people are subject to attack by bull sharks in Thrash, and Wirkola happily ups the body count beyond reason, throwing logic and restraint out the window. This is one of the reasons we love Tommy Wirkola: he never lets logic or restraint keep him from making darkly funny movies that keep us entertained.
P.S. Next up for the filmmkaer: All Day & All Night, starring Josh Hartnett, Kumail Nanjiani, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Dan Fogler, and John Leguiz. Per Deadline, the film follows a reformed bank robber who returns to a life of crime to pay for his daughter's college tuition. Of course, everything goes wrong; the robber and his crew "stumble onto the set of a failing reality TV show."
Of course they do! It's Tommy Wirkola!
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