VERY FINE NAZI ZOMBIES ON BOTH SIDES
Movie Review – Overlord
Review by Ray Schillaci
The latest from J.J. Abrams, producer of Cloverfield and the TV show Lost, is being advertised more like a horror film with Nazis which is always a cool concept, but in actuality it is a WW2 thriller with elements of horror. The emphasis is on the mission just before D-Day, take out a German radio tower in an old church. Ah, but what is eventually discovered, secret Nazi experiments in the church, becomes even more deadlier than the original mission. What director Julius Avery and his writers Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith have concocted is part real cool video game and a nod to James Cameron’s Aliens. It’s “B” movie fun with a few scares thrown in and a bit of a splatterfest for gorehounds.
An American paratrooper squad is sent out to France just before D-Day. (Semi-Spoiler Alert) Their mission becomes an immediate disaster when they are shot down and left with only five survivors. The squad is lucky enough to have left the one man with leadership capabilities, Wyatt Russell as Ford, the munitions expert.
Russell, known more for his comedy outings in Everybody Wants Some!! and 22 Jump Street, plays it cool and deadly as the no-nonsense veteran who appears to have seen his share of brutality. Counter balancing this is Jovan Adepo as Boyce, a private who’s seen little and has been known to not even kill a mouse. Boyce will eventually be our Ripley (from the original Alien franchise), and Adepo handles the transition quite well.
Along the way through their treacherous journey, the squad runs into a French woman, Chloe, played with desperation and strength by Mathilde Ollivier. She takes them to her village where their mission is. But, it’s complicated with arbitrary break-ins and visits by the Nazis. Ford sends out two of his men to check out the rendezvous site while he and Boyce hold down the fort at Chloe’s place with her 8 year-old brother and aunt, who has been disfigured with the Nazi experiments.
Due to an incident, Boyce is eventually placed in harm’s way as he tries to reach the rendezvous point. He stumbles upon the horrors of the Nazi experiments, and that’s when all hell breaks loose. From there it’s a near thrill-a-minute ride as the squad races against time, and the Nazi experiments gone wrong.
What director Avery and his writing team have brought to the screen is the vision so many horror/fantasy fans were looking forward to with Michael Mann’s disappointing version of Paul Wilson’s The Keep. That was involving Nazis having invaded a village and coming upon a castle that appeared to keep something in rather than out. That something was an ancient vampire. The horror novel was an incredibly intense read, but sadly, Mann’s vision was way off base, more involved in a specific look rather than scaring us. I could not help but wonder if Avery and his team were familiar with the story and rather than reboot it, deliver their own thriller with the spirit of Wilson’s book.
Now, some may label Overlord as a Nazi horror film, and it may not be far from it. But, it does not compare with the 2009 gonzo horror/splatterfest Dead Snow or its even superior sequel Dead Snow: Red vs Dead. And, this new film does not have the creepiness of the 2008 low budget Outpost or the 1977 cult classic Shock Waves. I would probably recommend those films over this new WW2 horror/thriller. But, that’s not to say that Overlord is not worth the price of admission. In fact, J.J. Abrams and his team whip us into a near fan frenzy with the splatter and makeup effects while the acting keeps the film grounded in a surreal reality. Overlord is like going to Magic Mountain and getting on the latest rollercoaster, just not the greatest.
Directed by: Julius Avery
Release Date: November 9, 2018
Run Time: 110 Minutes
Rated: R
Country: USA
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
