Brooklyn 45

It's a B-Movie, but to be honest for a Shudder Original B-Movie it's actually pretty good. It gets off to a slow start, but when things warm up. They get pretty heated, and a lot of secrets come out. I had fun watching it.

The acting is good, the special effects are decent. Although for the most part it takes place in one room, and it is very character driven. Them finding out things they didn't know about each other is what pushes the plot forward. It's a little different to what you'd normally expect from a film that uses a Oujda board as a plot device.

Although some of the secrets come from their dead friends. So I'd say it both drama and horror.

One room play created for film, and an ode to WWI through supernatural ethics. A group of people who were friends in WWII gather to support one whose wife has died. But these friends were on the higher echelon in the war, and they often took extreme measures in sake of the war regardless of the costs.

As any good play does, characters have secrets, whether of action or character, that are uncovered and discovered through the fright and terror imposed by the supernatural element. A morality play so to speak and questioning the ethics of war and personal action.

Acting is of good quality, and the plotting is simple as expected of this type of drama. The supernatural element adds to the tension and breaks some of the characters. Slightly trite and a bit characteristic, overall this was a worthy film to watch, just small in actual scope.

This movie has a lot of positive points; great acting, lush cinematography, a great vintage feel, and a very original premise.

But the story was a little murky and leaves too many unanswered questions.

Without giving too much away... At the end of the movie, one can't help but say, "So what?"

There isnt any explanation of the events and no one takes responsibility for their actions. The movie just ends with the characters going "oh well, stuff happened. The end."

It was unsatisfying.

If someone asked me the premise of the movie I'd only be able to say, "Some WWII vets have a seance and weirdness ensures."

No questions were answered. The movie ended with a thud. Too bad. It had real potential.

Brooklyn 45 (2023) is a recent addition to Shudder that I watched yesterday. The storyline follows a group of friends who were in the military and partook in various sins during their time in the World War. Now that they are together and initiate a seance, the sins from their past will be brought to the light for either judgement or their demise. Will any of the friends survive?

This movie is written and directed by Ted Geoghegan (We are Still Here) and stars Anne Ramsay (A League of their Own), Ron E. Rains (Teachers), Jeremy Holm (The Ranger), Larry Fessenden (The House of the Devil) and Kristina Klebe (Halloween).

This had a unique storyline and premise and somehow felt like the movie "Clue" in some ways to me. The characters were interesting as was the depiction of the era. The horror elements were hit or miss and relied more on CGI than I would have liked. The seance scene was just okay but the dead guy on the floor was fantastic. The last 13-15 minutes were great due to that character alone. Some of the monologue and conversations dragged and were boring. This film needed more scenes like the last 15 minutes and less back and forth/finger pointing between friends.

Overall, this had some unique concepts and worthwhile elements, but falls short of what it could have been. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Its not going to be everyones cup of tea. Its going to annoy a lot of people. Some things might not make sense. But I was gripped.

Veterans of WW2 and best buddies get together for some drinks and reminiscing. Sadly they all have there ghosts which all come out over the course of film.

I think it could be summed up with in War there ar eno heroes, just survivors. I just checked thats a line from a movie I havent seen called 'March or Die'.

Anyways. Spooky stuff going on for the friends, and then the arrival of a special someone makes tensions rise, added onto the fact they might be trapped. Either in the room or somewhere else entirely. I dont want to give you too many spoilers.

You might avoid this from the other bad reviews, but I liked the imagination, plot threads, characters, mystery, spooky goings on and gore. I was captivated as what was going on and what was going to happen.

The ending might leave you annoyed, but like war, its always horrible when its over and peopel are faced with there own actions.