GHOSTS OF WAR (2020)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Eric Bress
Cast: Brenton Thwaites, Theo Rossi, Skylar Astin, Kyle Gallner, Alan Ritchson, Billy Zane, Shaun Toub
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence & Gore)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 29 October 2020

Synopsis: During the bleakest days of WW2, five battled-hardened soldiers are given a cake assignment; to hold down a Chateau in the French countryside formerly used by the Nazi high command. What begins as an unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter an enemy far more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield. Cut off from contact with the outside world, Lieutenant Goodson and his men begin experiencing inexplicable events and are taunted by malevolent unseen forces. Something is occupying the house; an evil that will not let them leave alive. The soldiers eventually uncover that they are being hunted by the Helwig family, the original residents who were brutally slaughtered by the Nazis and are now seeking vengeance for their family’s gruesome slaughter. When the die-hard soldiers’ skillsets are rendered useless in the face of this supernatural enemy, their last-ditch attempts to escape lead to the discovery that they are trapped in a twisted nightmare where the sins of their own crimes returning upon them may be more unbearable than the evil lurking within. 

Movie Review:

Let this be fair warning for those eager to step into the ‘Ghosts of War’ – this sophomore feature from writer/ director Eric Bress of ‘The Butterfly Effect’ boasts a third act revelation that you’ll either love or hate, only because it is the sort of narrative leap which makes or breaks a film. Yet those willing to suspend their disbelief will find that there is something enjoyably bonkers about this intriguing but implausible genre mashup that few other directors would probably have even thought of.

On the surface, this is about five American soldiers who have been assigned to guard a lavish chateau in the French countryside which had recently been used by German high-command. After what had clearly been a traumatic tour-of-duty, resulting in not just symptoms of PTSD among the quintet but also borderline psychotic by one of them, this latest mission must seem like a vacation to the group of men led by Lt. Goodson (Brenton Thwaites).

The first sign that things may not be as straightforward as they seem is when the company they are replacing seem to be in an awful hurry to get out of there. It isn’t long before they realise that the house is haunted, ostensibly by the French family who once lived there before being murdered by the Nazis for harbouring Jews. Among the notable encounters include mysterious clanging sounds which turn out to be messages/ warnings in Morse Code, an elaborate pentagram symbol drawn on the wooden floorboards and hidden underneath a rug, and random visions of the French household in the form of nightmares.

Thanks to production designer Antonello Rubino and cinematographer Lorenzo Senator, there is good atmosphere in the scenes set within the chateau, which leverage the ornate interiors to generate plenty of dread. Bress resorts a little too often to jump scares, but the plotting has enough mystery to keep you hooked – what exactly do these spirits want; why do they seem to be plaguing yet protecting these five men; and what about the deliberately incongruous bits, such as a Muslim curse or the box of Puerto Rican cigars?

The last is intended as lead-up to the twist which we described at the start, the sort of surprise that you’d either embrace or reject outright. Admittedly, Bress doesn’t do himself any favours by glossing over the logical gaps in his storytelling, lapses that even the explanatory reveal doesn’t quite account for. Yet those who are willing to forgive the patchy narrative of such a B-genre offering will nonetheless be swept away by the sheer will of Bress’ imagination; and it helps too that he has a game young cast – besides Thwaites, there is Skylar Austin as the bookish Eugene, Alan Ritchson as the brawny Butchie, Theo Rossi as the straight-arrow Kirk, and Kyle Gallner as the borderline-crazy Tappert.

It has taken more than a decade for Bress to make his sophomore film, but those who remember ‘The Butterfly Effect’ will recognise the similarities in plotting, especially the ‘gotcha’ ending. There is an emphatic statement to be found here about the horrors and traumas of war, and for his conviction, though it does require a reasonable suspension of disbelief, we were willing to give Bress the generosity to buy into his conceit.

Movie Rating:

(Strong atmosphere and a committed young cast carry this intriguing but uneven horror mystery which bears a love-it-or-hate-it third act twist)

Review by Gabriel Chong