Deathwatch

Rating:
Summary: Understated little British horror flick
Review: I liked this film. It was quirky, had a sting in the tale and had a cast of excellent characters, from a young and innocent Private who tries to understand the horrors of war, a man about to loose his faith in God, a solider who wants to survive the war with the minimum of guilt, a dying teenager who has been shot in the spine and unaware of the horrors to come and to a psychotic solider who will kill anyone, friend or foe.

Add to this a German soldier, played with sinister and frightening conviction by unknown actor, Roman Horak and you have a seat of your pants film that you shouldn't watch on your own!

However like many low budget movies, especially those that come of the UK criticism and panning is the name of the game.

Now this REALLY gets up my nose! Come on guys, this isn't America you know, we don't have the sort of greenbacks to pay for state of the art special effects in any movie that is British funded. We have to rely on spit, prayers, private investors and God's good will.

Deathwatch is damn good movie, scary, spooky, well acted and a cracking good horror film.

If you want something more in the line of special effects galore combined with `pants' acting then go out and buy or rent the mind numbingly stupid, `Freddy and Jason' but don't knock a movie because it doesn't have the budget to give it that glossy overstated Hollywood feel.

This is an intelligent film for intelligent people, if you don't fit into that category, watch something else instead.

Rating:
Summary: Very Atmospheric
Review: OK, This isn't a classic, it certainly has some flaws and yet it still works very well. The movie plunges you into the atmosphere of WW1 trench warfare in a way that immediately has your nerves on a raw edge. If there is a more horrific place to be than in the trenches during WW1, I haven't heard of it. The fear is creeping and constant and that's just the danger presented by German soldiers, shell barrages or insidious gas. The movie starts off with enough of a taste of this to get you in the mood. Following this, a small band of British survivors from the opening battle end up lost in fog and stumble upon a mysterious German trench system nearly all but abandoned, and full of decomposing bodies. From here on in you have a building tension not unlike that found in `Alien' or `the Thing', where group members start dying one by one. The supernatural force behind all this manifests itself in a somewhat inconsistent way, and yet the tension and creepiness just keep on keeping on. The script writers have tried just about every trick in the book to add tension and by and large it works. A key to this for me was that I found it easy to sympathise with the survivors. The largely unfamiliar actors and strong atmospherics give this movie a weird feeling that actually works in its favour. In summary, this is quite a gripping 90 minutes.

Rating:
Summary: Long watch.
Review: The stars I've given this moody English film are mostly for atmosphere. This story about a company of British footsoldiers in WW1 who stumble upon a haunted German trench could've been a lot better given the great production design and eerie setting. What is lacking here is a script with some meat on it's bones. A lot of time is killed watching the soldiers walk slowly around the trench calling each others names. It just dosen't MOVE. The acting is good from a young cast that includes ANDY SERKIS from LORD OF THE RINGS fame as the standout character, a psycho named QUINN who scalps Germans for kicks. The trenches used are superbly spooky, and with a constant rainy grey look the film definitely sets the mood. Alas, once mood is set nothing is done with it. The pace is sluggish and the story never explaines any of the goings-on. This flick takes you to a place you should be frightened of but never shows you (or tells you) what of or why you should be frightened. The end result is something that drags to the climax which turns out to be anti-climactic to say the least. A somewhat enjoyable effort that could've benefitted form snappier direction and a solid story.