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Watched this one last night...
The basic premise is this; a bunch of seemingly stereotypical soldiers (the kid, the old man, the ineffectual officer, the psycho hardman, the sensitive one, the one who is OBVIOUSLY going to die first, the hardened sergeant, the decent one, and the non psycho hardman) stumble into a Bunker in WWII. In the bunkers tunnels there is an Ancient Evil (TM) that promises to claim the lives of the soldiers one by one and....well, I hardly need go on too much more about the plot structure; this is formulaic psychological horror.
So what sets this apart from any other horror movie? Surprisingly, a number of things. We have obvious quirks (the soldiers are Waffen SS, all played by Brit actors, and all of whom have guilty consciences about what they've done during the war) and less obvious ones (we are unsure, until almost the final scene, as to whether there really is anything supernatural about the Bunker, or whether the mayhem of the film is simply a result of guilt, misunderstanding, and stress-induced madness) which raise the film above the norm.
We also have some superb acting (occasionally hammy, but I suspect that's cos the cast were enjoying themselves so much), astonishingly good characterisation (none of the stereotypes behave how one would expect; witness the psycho's compassion for his dying lieutenant, or said lieutenant's obvious care for his men), and an atmosphere of tension that is caused as much by the everyday horror of war as by any occult nasties.
All in all, it's an eminently watchable film. One cares about the characters (or if not them, their fate), and find oneself wanting to know more about them, their shared backgrounds and past. We also very quickly cease to care that these are WWII German soldiers; it's a mark of how good the acting and the story is that you find yourself worrying for the welfare of a group of nazi's. And most importantly for a war/horror film, it doesn't have Billy Elliot in it. Surely that's recommendation enough.
The basic premise is this; a bunch of seemingly stereotypical soldiers (the kid, the old man, the ineffectual officer, the psycho hardman, the sensitive one, the one who is OBVIOUSLY going to die first, the hardened sergeant, the decent one, and the non psycho hardman) stumble into a Bunker in WWII. In the bunkers tunnels there is an Ancient Evil (TM) that promises to claim the lives of the soldiers one by one and....well, I hardly need go on too much more about the plot structure; this is formulaic psychological horror.
So what sets this apart from any other horror movie? Surprisingly, a number of things. We have obvious quirks (the soldiers are Waffen SS, all played by Brit actors, and all of whom have guilty consciences about what they've done during the war) and less obvious ones (we are unsure, until almost the final scene, as to whether there really is anything supernatural about the Bunker, or whether the mayhem of the film is simply a result of guilt, misunderstanding, and stress-induced madness) which raise the film above the norm.
We also have some superb acting (occasionally hammy, but I suspect that's cos the cast were enjoying themselves so much), astonishingly good characterisation (none of the stereotypes behave how one would expect; witness the psycho's compassion for his dying lieutenant, or said lieutenant's obvious care for his men), and an atmosphere of tension that is caused as much by the everyday horror of war as by any occult nasties.
All in all, it's an eminently watchable film. One cares about the characters (or if not them, their fate), and find oneself wanting to know more about them, their shared backgrounds and past. We also very quickly cease to care that these are WWII German soldiers; it's a mark of how good the acting and the story is that you find yourself worrying for the welfare of a group of nazi's. And most importantly for a war/horror film, it doesn't have Billy Elliot in it. Surely that's recommendation enough.
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Watched this one last night...
The basic premise is this; a bunch of seemingly stereotypical soldiers (the kid, the old man, the ineffectual officer, the psycho hardman, the sensitive one, the one who is OBVIOUSLY going to die first, the hardened sergeant, the decent one, and the non psycho hardman) stumble into a Bunker in WWII. In the bunkers tunnels there is an Ancient Evil (TM) that promises to claim the lives of the soldiers one by one and....well, I hardly need go on too much more about the plot structure; this is formulaic psychological horror.
So what sets this apart from any other horror movie? Surprisingly, a number of things. We have obvious quirks (the soldiers are Waffen SS, all played by Brit actors, and all of whom have guilty consciences about what they've done during the war) and less obvious ones (we are unsure, until almost the final scene, as to whether there really is anything supernatural about the Bunker, or whether the mayhem of the film is simply a result of guilt, misunderstanding, and stress-induced madness) which raise the film above the norm.
We also have some superb acting (occasionally hammy, but I suspect that's cos the cast were enjoying themselves so much), astonishingly good characterisation (none of the stereotypes behave how one would expect; witness the psycho's compassion for his dying lieutenant, or said lieutenant's obvious care for his men), and an atmosphere of tension that is caused as much by the everyday horror of war as by any occult nasties.
All in all, it's an eminently watchable film. One cares about the characters (or if not them, their fate), and find oneself wanting to know more about them, their shared backgrounds and past. We also very quickly cease to care that these are WWII German soldiers; it's a mark of how good the acting and the story is that you find yourself worrying for the welfare of a group of nazi's. And most importantly for a war/horror film, it doesn't have Billy Elliot in it. Surely that's recommendation enough.
The basic premise is this; a bunch of seemingly stereotypical soldiers (the kid, the old man, the ineffectual officer, the psycho hardman, the sensitive one, the one who is OBVIOUSLY going to die first, the hardened sergeant, the decent one, and the non psycho hardman) stumble into a Bunker in WWII. In the bunkers tunnels there is an Ancient Evil (TM) that promises to claim the lives of the soldiers one by one and....well, I hardly need go on too much more about the plot structure; this is formulaic psychological horror.
So what sets this apart from any other horror movie? Surprisingly, a number of things. We have obvious quirks (the soldiers are Waffen SS, all played by Brit actors, and all of whom have guilty consciences about what they've done during the war) and less obvious ones (we are unsure, until almost the final scene, as to whether there really is anything supernatural about the Bunker, or whether the mayhem of the film is simply a result of guilt, misunderstanding, and stress-induced madness) which raise the film above the norm.
We also have some superb acting (occasionally hammy, but I suspect that's cos the cast were enjoying themselves so much), astonishingly good characterisation (none of the stereotypes behave how one would expect; witness the psycho's compassion for his dying lieutenant, or said lieutenant's obvious care for his men), and an atmosphere of tension that is caused as much by the everyday horror of war as by any occult nasties.
All in all, it's an eminently watchable film. One cares about the characters (or if not them, their fate), and find oneself wanting to know more about them, their shared backgrounds and past. We also very quickly cease to care that these are WWII German soldiers; it's a mark of how good the acting and the story is that you find yourself worrying for the welfare of a group of nazi's. And most importantly for a war/horror film, it doesn't have Billy Elliot in it. Surely that's recommendation enough.