Deathwatch

Rating:
Summary: Wasted Potential
Review: 1917. The Western Front, World War I. 9 British soldiers are fighting their way through a complicated network of German trenches. They find one that's abandoned and decide to secure it until reinforcements arrive to help them get past enemy lines. The soldiers will soon discover that they are not alone in the trench like they originally thought they were, and it's not German soldiers stalking them but something else. Something not quite human...

I've always been fascinated by films that fuse the war and horror elements and this one could have been seriously scary. I can't think of too many more unpleasant things than spending the night in a muddy, feces-filled bunker surrounded by dead German bodies, squeaking rats and pouring rain. So the concept and general idea was good but where this film suffered was in its execution and content. True, it's a low budget film but still could have been great, look at the film "Dog Soldiers" for a prime example. One thing that bothered me was the insistence on filming battle scenes in a close-up style, it just gave the film a cheapo look as though everything was not filmed in a field but inside of a studio.

The cast (including LOTR's Andy Serkis) look deeply involved, maybe a little too much so. The actors are talented for the most part but they overact in so many scenes that it gets ridiculous. I was taken aback by the constant shouting, yelling, screaming. I know they're faced with dire situations but aren't these grown men after all? Trained to be soldiers no less? Hearing them screech and wimper like a bunch of 10-year olds really got on my nerves after a while. As for the ghostly apparitions, they took way too long to appear and by the time they did I felt that the movie had already run its course on me.

"Deathwatch" is not necessarily a bad film, just a mediocre one, an honest attempt at serious horror that could have greatly benefited from more creative writing. For a better similar experience may I recommend "Below". It's basically the same premise (except in a submarine during WWII) but its execution puts this film to shame.


Rating:
Summary: A very atmospheric suspense thriller w/ an antiwar twist
Review: A very good horror-suspense film from Great Britain starring Jamie Bell (from Billy Elliott) and Andy Serkis. Set during the height of the trench warfare in the Western Front during the First World War, the surviving remnants of a British Infantry company stumble upon a nearly deserted set of German trenches. Except for a couple of terrified German soldiers, the trench system is deserted with only dead German soldiers. As they spend their first night, it is more than German soldiers they have to worry about, somewhere within the trenches is something that is hunting them down one by one.

It sounds like your typical monster-horror film, but Deathwatch has more supernatural than slasher as its theme than anything else. The one film I can compare this to is Carpenter's The Thing. As more and more of the company dies, paranoia and suspicion grows amongst the rest as to who or what may be hunting them. A very good film that delivers on the suspense and horror. The twist in the end even has an anti-war message that ties in directly with the danger the company has to deal with.

Rating:
Summary: A film that kind of sticks with you.
Review: After viewing this movie I thought and thought about what it all meant. Durring the beginning there is a scene of a very horrifying battle that leaves much of both sides dead. The next scene is a group of lost Allied soldiers, which I thought died, taking over a haunted german trench. The rest of the film is a psychological horror film where each cast member is killed by another cast member. The scenes in the film are all shot with a very dark, rainy claustophobic look. There is something in the trenches that plays on each soldiers worst fears and ends up making them go mad and kill each other. I believe the Allied soldiers died in the beginning and the rest of the movie is them all living a nightmare in hell. The movie has some pretty good supplemental stuff in the extras section. There is not much gore. There are plenty of frights thrown at you. A very violent death scene with barbwire thrown in for utter chills. I am an avid reader of WW1 and WW2 history and the film truly captures the trench warefare that made WW1 so terribley violent and horrible. I would recommend a rent this instead of dishing out the $20 bucks for a copy. Watch in a dark room with your mate and see and hear all the spooky stuff going on in the film.

Rating:
Summary: More horror of war than horror film
Review: Although much-hyped as a horror film during production, 'Deathwatch' obviously shifted tone substantially in post-production towards a depiction of the everyday horrors of the Great War and seems all the better for it. Although there are vague similarities to Michael Mann's disappointing 'The Keep' and its truly dreadful British rip-off 'The Bunker,' this is both more ambitious and successful than either. A more accurate comparison would be to John Ford's rarely revived 'The Lost Patrol,' where a group of soldiers lost in the desert turn on each other as their situation worsens.

The production design is for the most part impeccable: unlike the studio-bound and cliche-ridden 'The Trench,' this offers one of the most realistic screen recreations of trench life at its worst, rats and all. Where the opening battle sequence never quite seems intense enough, the mundane realities of surviving daily life in what is little more than an open grave leave a lasting impression.

There are problems: some of the attitudes are wrong for the period, as are occasional lines of dialogue (such as references to then-nonexistent holiday camps or contemporary slang such as 'plank'). It's not even remotely frightening, and only begins to chill with its oddly touching ending (which bears more than a little similarity to a famed Bruce Joel Rubin script, the title of which would ruin the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it). But, unlike most British efforts of recent years, it is a real film with ambition and a sense of scale that deserved better at the box-office and is well worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwatch
Review: Another in the recent wave of War-Horror movies like Dog Soldiers and The Bunker, this one actually has a couple of stand out moments. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but there are some interesting moments with barbed wire.

The acting was good overall, with most of the actors showing some nice restraint. Typically, you give an actor a period military uniform, a gun, and some exclamation points in the dialogue and you have a recipe for disaster. Points go to the director for keeping a lid on the overly dramatic yelling and screaming.

Still, the pacing can be a little tedious at times, and tends to get a little repetitious. Succeeds where The Bunker fell down in that it actually delivers some chills and delivers an ending that isn't too reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. 3 out of 5.

Rating:
Summary: FAKE POSITIVE REVIEWS!
Review: Check it out, out of all of the positive reviewers, this is their first and only review! I turned the movie off about 15 minutes into it..

Rating:
Summary: Not your typical horror treatment at all...
Review: Deathwatch is far superior in mood and atmosphere than most low-budget horror -- but it works even better as one of the best depictions of WWI trench warfare I've ever seen on film. Yes, people, it really WAS this bad, on both sides.

Personally, I prefer my horror with less gore and more psychological punch (along the lines of ALIEN and PSYCHO), and if you share the same opinion, then you'll be glued to your seat with this one. HIGHLY recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome film
Review: Deathwatch was a brilliant film, with a message that really made you ponder....
I really enjoyed watching it, and will hopefully get the DVD, so that I will have access to the bonus features.
Great job Mr. Bassett!!! :-D

Rating:
Summary: Whoa, sleeper flick that's better than you'd expect...
Review: Given that this is a virtually unknown film, I believe it was released in 2002, this is a good watch. Excellent sets and backdrops filmed on location in Prague really portrayed the misery of trench warfare during WWI. Add a creepy twist and the product is this very decent psychological thriller that delivers a wholloping, yet subtle at the same time, visual trip and ending. If you're looking for an easy to understand plot or lots of mindless action, look elsewhere. If you're in the mood for something that makes you think, just a little, and don't mind being spooked a bit, "Deathwatch" is for you. Hats off to the team that put this original ride together, well done and recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't really like it much
Review: I didn't like this movie too much. First of all, I'm not really into horror movies, I guess the only reason it interested me is because it reminded me of the computer game "Call of Duty" that I played not too long ago. I found the movie kind of boring, and just didn't entertain me too much. I don't think my opinion means too much on this movie, because like I said, I don't like horror movies much.