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1917
on the Western Front. Soldiers are sent over the top, among
them Private Shakespeare, a frightened young man who has lied
about his age to sign up. Many men are cut down by enemy fire,
but a handful of survivors take a major German trench with
very little opposition. They are mystified by the weight of
dead bodies, many of which appear to have been killed by each
other. Very soon Shakespeare comes to realise there is something
intrinsically evil in the trench which revels in bloodshed
and setting man against man...
It's a surprising and refreshing concept to set a horror film
in the First World War; however, this example more closely
explores the fears and emotions of the soldiers, than it does
any supernatural perpetrator, and that's as it should be.
In fact, there are few special effects, and when the barbed
wire does take on a mind of its own, the CGI looks somewhat
'cartoony'.
This
attempt to emulate Dog Soldiers ultimately both succeeds
and fails on different levels. A depressing setting with interlinked
trenches never entirely mapped-out in the viewer's mind, suitably
creates the required claustrophobia. The early parts of the
movie work well, with the enemy changing in stages from Germans,
through loneliness and paranoia, to each other, manipulated
by the permeating evil. The shortfalls in the plot and obvious
budgetary restrictions means that the middle section consists
of head-turning at sudden sounds, shooting off rounds into
the darkness, and lots of running up and down the muddy trenches.
Any
new British release gives increased hope for our reflowering
film industry. Some of my favourite movies were low budget,
but low budgets have to be compensated for with strong scripts
and powerful acting. Deathwatch, although by no means
bad fair, lacks those special moments or twists which get
small films noticed.
Ty
Power
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