Overlord

It's D-day. A squad of paratroopers are tasked with destroying a radio tower on top of a church. Their plane is shot down. After their leader gets shot by the Nazis and one steps on a landmine, four survivors remain. They find refuge with a scavenger named Chloe. The Nazis are experimenting on the locals at the church.

It's a horror story within a historical event. It has a good amount of action and thrills. The characters are compelling. It's always nice to have Nazi villains. It may not be completely new. It is not trying to be break new ground. It's a well-made B-movie and that's commendable.

If you want to go in to watching this film without seeing the trailer, then don't read any reviews - including this one. There are no spoilers beyond what the trailer shows.

I make that opening claim because if you hadn't seen the trailer, you wouldn't know of the dual-genre nature of Overlord. The genre shift to full-blown 'zombies-but-not-quite' action comes after 75 minutes of truly brilliant wartime drama with some moderate scares. The opening scenes of the paratroopers entrance to the war-torn French countryside is a particular highlight for its chaotic, intense and disorientating depiction of what it must've been like for those who did the deed for real in WW2.

The horror element begins to build early on but is never an indication of the upcoming genre shift (if you've not seen the trailer, at least) until the point (From Dusk to Dawn style) where it's made clear that we're not in Kansas anymore. The only bummer I can think of is the film falls into the trap of a predictable final 30 minutes. With all the enjoyment had before then, it's so disappointing to feel let down at the last hurdle.

The soundtrack is immense, the cinematography is brooding without being dark (a style which works for both of the film's genres), and the CGI special effects are affectingly convincing. Don't expect great things from the script (which includes several awful one-liner comebacks), but I think this film will go down as one of the great zombie films of recent years, and may even be noted for its even better turn as a war film.

Best quote: "What is this?!" - "Our greatest achievement. With it, we create super-Nazis; a thousand year army and it's thousand year soldiers."

I really felt conned by the halfway point of this, from then on i kept thinking that i'd rather have waited for it to come to TV instead of wasting time and money on it.

From what i just watched, its not the "fun, original, scary, gory, inventive thrill-ride, maximum shock value, insane" film its been reviewed to be. Definitely NOT scary or gore filled, and with the $38 million budget you'd have expected A LOT more!

The opening 5-10 minutes the reviews have been raving about was ok, its not an opening that would warrant a cinema visit, it ain't no Saving Private Ryan, Edge Of Tomorrow, etc battle scene, as it's over in a flash, roughly 1 or 2 minutes of action, pretty much whats in the trailer and the rest is characters chatting! Then it quickly slows to its meandering pace, with been-there-done-that scenes with added cheese and cliche characters, which start to wear your hopes for a fun big budget B-movie way he f down. I just became bored and just hoped for an outstanding action filled and creative finale to win me over. But NO, the ending is just standard gun play, explosions and one fight that's over way too soon and that's your lot! I would have been satisfied if it had maybe matched an exciting Expendable's type finaly as it was a similar premise.

It's a film that never takes its idea's far enough, never too crazy or too gory but just a very controlled and safe 18 certificate B-movie. And it's a movie that mostly relies on the stupidity/naivety of its lead character to make the plot move forward. If you're after a subtle b-movie then this may be for you

I was really looking forward to this because i'd read really good things, and i missed Slaughterhouse Rulez cus of this.

An episode of the Walking Dead is more exciting, gripping, tense and fun.

Check it out and make up your own mind up but i've given you a heads up. I didn't expect the grindhouse style of Planet Terror with Overlord but Planet Terror was a great fun big budget B-movie!!

I initially thought of that other movie (Frankenstein's Army) when I heard the story of this one.

It was quite enjoyable at times, but it still got stuck in the B segment.

This one looks a lot more serious and the film immediately starts off strong with the landing scene, which is very well executed and even after that the film doesn't really let up for a moment.

The tension is built up well, the camera work is very good and the gore is plentiful with good acting from almost everyone.

This is the second mix of army and horror and both were pretty good so bring on some more

100% better than expected and a successful mix between war and horror.

Perfect blend of WW2 action, zombies and gore. Don't go into this expecting Oscar nominations, and you'll enjoy the ride. It was exactly what I expected- I was entertained for close to 2 hrs. Got my money's worth.