Cubussoli
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
PlatinumRead
Just so...so bad
ChicDragon
It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
SanEat
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
ikeybabe
This was good, really good. The cast was excellent and the story bold, spooky and kept you wondering what the hell was going on. In fact, by the end *SPOILER ALERT* you figure out these dudes are in a kind of hell, commonly known as purgatory. I love purgatory stories. The movie was nicely paced with enough twists to keep you on the edge of your seat and the setting with the fog and mud and the guy peering through the caked-on mud was dramatic. I really liked the way it ended too - because you know the scary is not over yet. A nice little find on Netflix. Also, Jamie Bell is an excellent actor - even back then because he was seriously young. Overall, a very enjoyable film.
Matt Kracht
The plot: During World War I, a group of English soldiers capture a German trench and begin to suspect that something evil is hiding among them.Michael J. Bassett's debut is a promising but murky film full of atmosphere and tension. Unfortunately, it lacks any clear plot, and what does make sense slowly begins to raise more questions in your mind the more you think about it. On my first viewing, I was really impressed with Bassett's ability to craft a mysterious and atmospheric haunted house film inside World War I trench warfare. On my second viewing, the pacing seemed a bit slow, and I was struck by a few plot holes. I think that people who enjoy moody, ambiguous supernatural mysteries will enjoy this greatly, but those who prefer a more straightforward tale that resolves all its questions will probably be unsatisfied. I took a point away from my score, which was originally an 8/10, as the second viewing convinced me that some of the deep and mysterious themes were actually the writer/director making it up as he went along. Nonetheless, I enjoy this film quite a bit, and I think it's a good example of a low budget independent film that makes the best of its budget.Bassett is a better director than he is writer, and I think the ending in particular was a bit unsatisfying. Although the twist is a bit obvious, it raises enough unanswered questions that you might spend more time debating its meaning than you actually spent watching the film. The morality is also a bit arbitrary, where seemingly innocent characters are punished for things beyond their control. If these sorts of things don't bother you, I encourage you to give this film a chance. It's a bit gory for a haunted house film, but it's better than many of the big budget horror sequels and remakes out there. Ironically, the writer/director would later make his own horror sequel (Silent Hill: Revelation 3D) that was rather lackluster and by-the-numbers.
celr
This film is very well done from the point of view of setting the scene. This squad of English soldiers are engaged in the awful trench warfare of WW1. They go over the top and are apparently mowed down by machine gun fire and exploding shells. Next we see them trudging over No Man's Land in the fog. At this point it's pretty certain that they're dead and in some kind of hell, or purgatory. Though masterful in setting the scene, the mythic underpinnings of the story are confused or non-existent. They come to a German trench which is full of corpses and a few live Germans. They kill the survivors except one, whom they imprison in an ammunition locker. But the trench itself seems to be attacking them. One by one they are being killed in horrible ways. Some by their buddies and some strangled by barbed wire that emerges from the mud. War is hell, but this is hell upon hell. The horror is unrelenting.Now war in the trenches is about as horrible as it gets. You really don't need supernatural effects to make it more horrible. Here the movie falls apart. It raises questions it can't answer. Why are these deceased soldiers being put through this additional hell after the hell of trench warfare? They behave as you might suppose any normal young men might under the circumstances, which is to become beasts. They're paranoid, they make bad decisions and they fight with each other. But what do you expect? In the end there is one English 'survivor' of the horror in the German trench. He's the only one who helped the surviving German and protested the madness of his fellows. In the end he's allowed to 'go free' for his humanity. Whatever that means. I suppose that means he can now go to Heaven while the others are condemned to repeat the hellish experience in the German trench for all Eternity. But since these young men have become beasts only because they've been subjected to the extreme dehumanizing experience of war, we can't feel they are really bad guys, they don't deserve this gruesome punishment. Well, maybe one of the guys is a real psychopath, but the others are victims of the horror of war.Ultimately this movie is a depressing downer. There is no payoff. Neither is it an anti-war movie because none of the issues surrounding WWI are brought up. If the movie makers just wanted to make us feel horrified and disgusted they could just have just shown war as it really is, there was no need for the supernatural bit. Horror movies should have some element of fun, or at least a sense of justice. Here there is neither fun nor justice. There is enough horror in the real world, a horror movie should have a point and this has none.
majormadmax
Horror movie? Not really, more of a "suspense drama" with a little horror thrown in for good measure. Deathwatch is worth watching (if you can pardon the pun), I grabbed it based on the cover and at such a low price it was easily disposable if it turned out to be rotten. But quite the contrary, what we have is an excellently filmed suspenseful drama that captures the horror of the First World War.Having trekked numerous WWI battlefields in Belgium and northern France, it captures what I could only imagine were the horrors (yes, I will overuse that word in this review) of that conflict. "Eerie" is an excellent description, not so much scary but definitely suspenseful. A superbly done film and one that is worth chasing down a copy. I am glad I grabbed it, as this is a movie worth owning (an accolade that isn't apply too often these days!)