Set in the trenches of the First Globe Fight this is the first movie I've seen set during that time that got the sense of zone right. Its the got the entombed bodies in the ground, in the walls, and everywhere you look right. It is a bleak existence that the troops take almost matter of factly.The plot has a group of British troops getting lost during an attack and finding a German trench. The Germans are more concerned with something in the trench to pay the Brits any mind and test to send them away. All but one of the Germans are shot, but because of a language trouble he can't say them whats is lurking close by.Beautifully shot, excellently acted this is a very nice tiny horror film. No, its not the be all and end all of horror movies but its a damn nice tiny thriller that rises about the typical thanks to its setting and the cast.This is a movie worth putting a bit of effort into finding. I doubt that you'll hate it if you search it, at the very least you'll come away liking it.8 out of 10.
I loved this movie, so I'm a tiny mad about everyone trashing it without understanding it. For anyone who has just watched it and is wondering, what the f*** I invite you to look at the tagline. "Deliver them from evil." What does that recommend to you? Should it have religious significance? What do the cast tell of what is stalking them? "Its Death!" Yes. The movie is in fact a bloody nice horror movie set in WWI but it is also a religious tale in as much as the trench is Purgatory and each boy jack of that team is already dead. I complete watching this film and thought to myself "Damn that's clever!" I mean, not to spoil the movie for anyone, but it ends with all but one of the group sat around a fire in the deepest darkest depths while the star runs away from them and climbs up into the light and the mist. If there this were to be a clearer heaven and hell metaphor they'd have to hammer it into your head with a shovel. As to the dark eyed German soldier calmly waiting for the next group of unfortunates to judge... give him a cowl and a sycthe somebody? Play this for the brilliant gore-fest ghost storyline it is with swarms of rats, living barb wire, and sheer human brutality. But look also to the storyline beneath the story. The evil they are to be delivered from is inside of them.
"Welcome to hell," are the eerily prophetic words, finished with shells, atmospheric all-is-not-right melody and the groans of dying men, a tip of what's to come. After the battle, out of the fog and into a German trench, the boys of Y-company explore that's exactly where they've landed. First of all, the zone is deserted. And strewn with (mutilated) corpses of German soldiers. All dead. Except one (Torben Liebrecht), who warns them desperately that there is "quelque chose de mal" in that place, and to receive out as later as they can. Naturally, they all ignore him, except for Shakespeare (Jamie Bell). Soon, it proves real when the boys begin turning vs every other, or getting sucked into the world with barbed wire, or tying every another up à-la-crucifixion.Well. After two years of watching this in the making, it hasn't disappointed (thank you, Mr, Bassett). Nice set-up, with the rain, the rats, trenches and mud to create Spielberg weep with envy. While the script should test some work ("what's the matter with this place? What's happening?" asks one -rhetorically?), the acting keeps the characters from becoming walking clichés, especially Jamie Bell as the unwelcome greenhorn, or Hugo Speer as the duty-bound Sgt. Tate, to name a few. The suspense was average and wasn't so scary that there'd be lost sleep over it, nor was it anything over-original. But it's a nice piece of ensemble casting (i'd pay the admission again to see Hugh O'Conor tell the f-word), cool FX and steady directing create it a nice viewing.
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