Deathwatch Reviews

Evil presence in WW1 trench

Soldiers in the Great War get lost in mustard gas and find themselves in a German trench. They display aggressive behaviour and it's not clear whether it's the effect of the war or something in the trench.

Jamie Bell's character speaks out and although at first he appears to be the weakest character has the strength to fight the aggressors.

With all the horror films there have been, this one still has the power to surprise and shock. I was glued to the screen from the titles to the special features which shows the making of the film and interviews with cast and crew.

All in all a great experience. Watch and enjoy.

An empty box

You've probably seen the tags, "best British horror film" etc etc, and after the rave reviews and previous brit horror Dog Soldiers I had some hopes, but rarely have I been so completely and utterly disappointed, there were no scenes in it that merit any mention or memory.

Could have been better

Set in WW1, a group of Brit soldiers go over the top (no pun intended..), somehow survive, end up lost and discover a trench system apparently held by Germans. Seems though that the trench is inhabited by some strange thing (monster, evil, thingy??) which one by one ensures that our pals end up killing each other. Film attemtps to shock in the mode of 'Hellraiser' but never really builds to any suspense. Some of the acting is passable. The story is weak and although it attempts to work at two levels - i.e. straightforward monster hunt vs. the evil of war manifesting itself in a haunted trench - it never really draws you in. Nice try but no cigar.......

Must see

Absolutely fantastic. I’ve never had this kind of feeling before. Anyone who likes horror / thriller must see it. Suspense from beginning to the end

Nasty stuff, but fright free

Pretty grim and unnerving war horror flick, unfortunately though, its also shock free. Much better than the very dull Bunker though.

nice nurvey, brit horror.

WW1 lost platoon discovers german trench and a horror worse than the war.

Not a bad Brit flick opening sequence shows the horror of WW1 and the plight of boy soldiers(Jamie Bell).It then uses 'what war makes a man' story to show the diffrent ways conflict and death effect and structure individuals.

All in all good try.

An interesting premise, a horror based in the mud-ridden trenches of World War One. The film revolves around a group of British soldiers who come across and capture a forward German trench. With their communication link severed they decided to hold down the trench themselves till backup arrives. However, they are picked off one by one by an evil force that shares their trench....

The film itself is both well produced and finely acted. Unfortuntely, the plot is fairly predictable and in some sense repetitive as you realise from the offset that most of the soldiers will meet a grisly end. Kept my interest, but only just.

Great

Scary movie. Very real. One to watch, say no more, nudge, nudge wink wink...

This film suffers from one major flaw and that is that the genuine horror of being at war and living in a trench is far more frightening than any ghosts or monsters. This would have been a better film if it had lost the supernatural element and had the characters going mad because of the fear of dying and the living conditions they had to cope with. But don't get me wrong, it's not a bad film at all, far from it, I just feel there is an even better one out there just waiting to be made. Also I hadn't realised it had rained so much in WW1!

Passable but Not Star Making....

Jamie Bell leads an ensemble cast in a reasonable British Horror/Thriller that never quite escapes its simple settings.

The cast all throw themselves into the roles (though you may spend too long wondering where you have seen them all from before, or distracted by seeing Gollum in the flesh) but the subject matter never really rises above the mundane.

Some interesting ideas about the de-humanising effect of war and a confined location, that never quite seems confined enough to cause the paranoia required, undermine a reasonably scripted, acted and directed film that will pass the time without really offending anyone bar a few mildly grizzly deaths.