Squishing, skewering and blowing Nazis to smithereens, Sisu is the flamboyantly blood-drenched brainchild of Finnish director Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale). Rocking a moody western flavour while taking inspiration from films such as Mad Max: Fury Road and First Blood, as well as the exploits of real-life military sniper Simo Häyhä, this WWII revenge fantasy strips its story to the bone in order to deliver an avalanche of inventive executions.

We land in occupied 1944 Finland, shortly after the signing of the Moscow Armistice. It’s there we meet Aatami Korpi (Helander’s brother-in-law, Jorma Tommila, making an indelible impression), a grizzled prospector digging for gold in deepest Lapland as fighter planes fly overhead and bombs detonate in the distance. As suggested by his numerous battle scars, there is far more to this man than meets the eye, something that a passing Nazi platoon, led by Aksel Hennie’s SS officer, are about to find out. Taking them on singlehandedly in spectacular style, Korpi eventually finds some allies in the female prisoners that the troops have been transporting.

Helander mines ample tension from the scenario whilst delivering audience satisfaction in spades as shit-eating grins are wiped off detestable faces, while the film’s use of English dialogue gives it international breakout potential. If Sisu shares superficial similarities with Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, it’s nowhere near as talky (not least as Korpi himself stays pretty much silent). Instead, things are action-focused, with humour coming from outlandish kills rather than carefully crafted quips. Fans of ultra-violence will be in their element, but Helander’s flair for bad tasting fun should win a few converts to his carnage-heavy cause.

Sisu is in cinemas from Friday 26 May.