The Lost Platoon

1990 "They have been soldiers for centuries. They never lose... and they never die."
4.1| 1h26m| en
Details

An American reporter covering a civil war in Nicaragua discovers that four soldiers that he used to know during World War II are there and they are actual vampires fighting their own personal war against an evil Nicaraguan general and his own personal army of vampires terrorizing the country.

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Action International Pictures

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Also starring Sean Heyman

Reviews

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
lost-in-limbo This very cheap, no frills action-horror hybrid is something in the vein of "Platoon (1986)" crossed "The Lost Boys (1987)". Also a touch of "Near Dark (1987)". Now that's got to be something… hey? Ah, no. It's inferior film-making, but despite its shortcomings (being plenty) on the technical side. The unusual concept (of vampiric soldiers moving from war to war) might be slight, but it's rather inventive, sincere and downright ambitious. I was only thinking about this film a couple weeks ago, and was hoping to come by it again. I've got fond memories of watching it when I was young. Lucky enough I found a shop selling their ex-rentals with it being one. Watching it again, it wasn't as fun (why did I have to spoil my memories), however it stays interesting and of course is unintentionally humorous. Not to say it doesn't chip in with its own sense of laconic humour.War correspondent David Hollander heads to Nicaragua to cover the Civil war, and while there encounters four soldiers who he has in photographs going back through the last century of warfare. The thing is they haven't aged, and he believes these immortals to be vampires.Sounds good, but it's limitations do hold it back. It opens up with kinetic camera-work straight out of "The Evil Dead (1981)", and sets the mood early on with a vivid music score and WW2 flashback sequence. Now here comes the good stuff. Director David Prior has his heart in it, despite the static and sloppy feel of his clammy direction. Action set- pieces are ridiculously goofy, as it's got that sense of; "You stand there, while you go over there. Now stop posing with the guns… shoot… and hide behind whatever is in front of you! When you are shot go out in a blaze of glory ". Well, it goes something like that, as he tries to do too much with very little. At least they're lively, and fruitful. Nearly everything takes place in a humid looking woodland backdrop, but towards the end the climax is wrapped around a Gothic castle. On a whole it gives the atmosphere a raw, gritty and claustrophobic strangle hold. The performances range from outrageously hammy to plain stiff. David Parry's enigmatic performance is perfectly understated as the vampire leader Jonathan Hancock, donning a civil war coat, hat and sword. A bland William Knight is lousy as David Hollander, and truly living his part with aplomb is Stephen Quadros' as a wild-solider boy Walker lifted off Bill Paxton's turn in "Near Dark (1987)". Roger Bayless' cheesy bad guy impression reeks of lethal politeness, and screwed-up facials. At his right hand is the seductive, but deadly Tara played with utter coldness by Michiko. The screenplay does have some glaring holes of bafflement and an obvious ideology undercurrent to the text, and the script is generically macho with many bad lines. The vampire folklore, has one exception that they aren't effected by the sunlight, but a wooden stake does go a long way here.In the end it's the unique idea of this supernatural hybrid that holds the shoddy production together.
alansmithee04 One day, a guy went to see his brother and said: "Hey'um bro! I just went and seen a motion picture film show called Near Dark." And his brother said: "Well, I jest saw me a movie called Platoon." Then the two brothers began describing their individual flimic experiences at the same time, talking over each other louder and louder until it seemed they were talking about the same film.Then they wrote it all down on the back of a Piggy Wiggly bag and called it "The Lost Platoon." The Lost Platoon is proof positive that no matter where you go, everyplace looks pretty much the same as everyplace else. In this case, France and Nicaragua both look pretty much like Turkeycrap Alabama.With great steaming hunks of inane right-wing dialog ripped bleeding from the pages of Soldier of Fortune magazine and salted with ill-remembered scenes ripped off from the poorer Schwartzenegger films, The Lost Platoon inches it's way through 86 minutes of alternating hilarious and tedious footage.By all indications, the bring-your-own-fatigues invitational shoot was a huge success, judging from the number of obese loser militia types that showed up to be filmed firing off their M-16s with near orgasmic glee. Adding to the film's woody setting is the acting, which at least is semi-obscured by the amateur-nite direction.But even more offensive to even the most brain-dead movie goer is the film's near incoherent grasp of history. Dates are bobbled. Uniforms glaringly inaccurate. At one point a picture supposedly taken during WW II clearly shows a WW I vintage tank.Die-hard fans of both vampire flicks and '80 style action should avoid this film with extreme prejudice.
starkats I had watched this movie years ago and for some reason I taped it. I watched it again recently and wondered why I taped it. I do love vampires but there are guidelines for vampires such as not walking around in daylight. These guys (and girl) do that.The main good vampire is Jonathan Hancock (I'm thinking Harker) and the villain vampire is Vladimir (I'm thinking Dracula) and they look and talk totally different. Vladimir has his Dracula accent (sort of). Anyway near the end of the movie you find out they are brothers. Brothers!! I didn't know Dracula had a brother!! Wow!! You find that out before Jonathan kills Vladimir. I do like it when Jonathan cries after having to kill his brother. That was touching.My favorite line in the whole movie is "You don't want to live forever, do you?"
Claudio Carvalho In 1991 in Nicaragua, an American reporter recognizes four soldiers he met in the World War II who have not aged. He realizes that the group is a vampire platoon. The premise of "The Lost Platoon" is very interesting, and there is a good camera work that recalls "Evil Dead". However, the screenplay is silly and direction and the performance of the cast is very weak. The ideology hidden in the plot, defending the intervention of the American government in the Civil War of Nicaragua is also a crap. The cover of the DVD is very attractive and probably is the best of this forgettable flick. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Pelotão Vampiro" ("Vampire Platoon")