O Soldado Fantasma

The concept for 'Aux' was a sort of interesting one, if in the danger of being silly. The cover and advertising was quite advertising. And although John Rhys Davies has been in his fair share of bad projects, he also has been in his fair share of good stuff too and he is a reliable actor and my main reason for seeing it.

'Aux' for me was not a bad film, much better than has been said already (and certainly don't have bias against low-budget British films, there are bad ones definitely but not all) and does have its pros. It is far from great and has a lot of big problems that outweigh the pros, but there are far worse films out there that are much more cheaply made, worse acted, less atmosphere, more intelligence insulting and made with much less effort.

Best thing about 'Aux' is Davies, cast against type and giving a haunted performance that is different from the usual authority figure or characters with a blustery nature. Actually generally found the adult cast better than average.

Production values could have been worse, it at least looks coherent and there is slickness and atmosphere. Parts do compel and unsettle, though they don't come consistently, the car crash and bunker scene particularly as well as the gruesomeness of the killings.

However, 'Aux' does get off to a weak start. It is rather dull, inexperience does show in the acting and the dialogue is particularly off in a script that feels awkward and underwritten. While the production values as said above could have been worse, it can feel on the confined and too compact side even if the bleak look does fit the concept. Effects are somewhat ropy.

Story does pick up a little after the shaky start, but does lack generally creepiness, tension and suspense, let down by a pace that needed a tighten and too much talk. A few parts, like the out of place picnic scene, come over as unintentionally funny and while 'Aux' does try to provide a reason for the killings it was for me not an original or compelling one, and some of it veers towards being too silly. The direction is uneven and other than Davies' character the characters are flimsily developed.

Overall, not particularly good but could have been much worse. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Suspense, thrills, excitement, not in this film. I am sorry to say this is one of the worst films I've ever seen. The script was unbelievable, in the sense it was not remotely plausible and just shockingly bad. Despite having some good actors involved it appears they couldn't manage to breathe any life into this dreary film. The failure to develop any characters to any meaningful level meant there was no attachment to any of them. This lead to a lack of any feeing of suspense or any interest at all in their fate. It was a struggle to watch this film. I wasn't squirming with fear of a supernatural psychopath but of a fear it would never end. A good premise but very poorly executed.

"Soldier Of War" is a great microbudget fright flick that embraces all the familiar tropes and thrills British horror has always provided. The story is too original, but it is creative, and intriguing. Instead of the unknown furry beast in the woods, the film brings in an undead killer still locked into the war that created him. It is both zombie and slasher.

The cast offer above par, sometimes compelling performances. Some scenes trip up a bit and the dialog gets clunky, but most of the time the delivery and chemistry is spot on. The story becomes exciting due to the presence of some talented actors and one lethal killing machine. Even with the overall product seeming formulaic and familiar, Adams offers a great semi-indie fright flick.

Overall I recommend "Soldier Of War". It isn't your typical zombie movie. It rests comfortably between classic and contemporary horror. The special effects, for the most part, is practical bloody awesomeness. Now there are elements that are recognizable in other films, but none of that encombers this flick, which starts of with bloodletting and maintains that level of carnage till the bloody end.

When I sat down to watch "Aux" (aka "Soldier of War"), I had expected more of a zombiesque movie. However, that was not the case, and I was in for a less than mediocre foray into the horror genre.

The storyline in "Aux" was just so stupid that it was hard to buy into it, especially since 70 years of decomposition would have left the British undead soldier in a far, far worse state than he was. And it was just a ludicrous plot actually.

Not even John Rhys-Davies could manage to lift this movie up from the mediocre gutter. And he wasn't really all that big a part of the movie actually, which was a shame, because he could have brought so much more enjoyment to the movie.

This entire movie just felt like an ambitious low budget project. I am sure that the heart and spirit was in the right place of writers John Adams and Peter Adams, but translated to the screen, the storyline and plot just didn't really take off.

I managed to sit through this entire movie, hoping that it would pick up and become more interesting. It just never happened. So with it watched, I am sure that it will be obliterated from memory within a short time, because it left absolutely no memorable impression.

This is not the type of movie that you'' watch more than once, provided that you even watch it the first time.

Aux otherwise known as Soldier of War is an independent British horror movie, but one which badly suffers from mediocrity and incompetence.

You see Aux is really poorly made, awfully structured, dreadful sfx, naff creature effects and a mediocre cast. They swung above their weight on the budget they had, a point I'm often making that badly needs to stop.

To make up for the lack of budget they use a time tested method, namely not showing us what we want to see and hiding the antagonist away with selective camera angles. This makes the whole thing look cheap and nasty, because it simply is.

John Rhys-Davies looks out of place here, he's simply too good for this movie. He does however have a long history of acting in such roles which raises questions, is he "Paying back to the industry that made him"? alike people like Robert Englund? I mean this is the man who got fired from Sliders (1995) for criticizing the scripts, I highly doubt he's impressed with the writing in all these dreadful b-movies he pops up in.

What saves it to a degree is the concept. It tells the story of an undead soldier who has risen believing that the country is under attack by the Germans, thus a bloodbath ensues. Truth be told I liked this and the more that comes out about the soldier and the entire situation it gets better.

Great ideas, poor execution.

The Good:

John Rhys-Davies

Neat concept

The Bad:

Stock scream

Poor cgi

Some ropey acting