Overlord

The ultimate guilty pleasure and the best war horror movie ever. Hereditary is the most essential horror film of the year, Ghostland the most intense, A Quiet Place the most original and Overlord is the most emotional and brutal. Overlord serves up a whirlwind of eye-candy attractions from the 5th minute that don’t let up and leave you gasping for breath until the closing credits. A technically perfect polished action spree with breathtaking cinematography, an atmosphere driven by a nostalgic “Wolfenstein”, a likeable bunch of soldiers whose fate you care about and spectacular action backed by juicy gore. The make-up artists are incredibly skilled and serve up some very nice shots. The film manages to build solid tension on several occasions, there is no shortage of shocking jump scares and killing Nazis has never been more effective and entertaining in a film than here. There are fewer zombies, but they are all the more unstoppable bastards. Story-wise, the film doesn't wow, but anyone expecting Oscar nominations from a WWII horror film is out of their mind. Here clearly form wins over content, which not everyone will buy, but those who agree to the rules of the film will literally gush with excitement and thrill. It's a pity that Overlord probably won't make it to local cinemas, it will lose its charm at home on TV. The last time I left the cinema this excited was Deadpool 2 this year. (2018-11-12)

A bit of a cheat on the viewer from my point of view, because instead of jacked-up zombie action (as the posters enticed), it's basically an unremarkable war movie with a stylish look and an altogether appealing cast. The whole storyline with the helper on the French side wasn't entirely bad, but I honestly expected a more significant revenge payoff (given the nastiness the French girl was subjected to). As a one-off, though, it wasn't bad. (2020-06-28)

I thought the film would use the cast of unfamiliar acting faces to surprise you with who would be the hero, who would die, and who would survive (if anyone), but alasthe roles were clear after only a few minutes. What followed was nearly three-quarters of an hour of more or less boring or rather ordinary waiting to find out why I was actually watching Overlord in the first place, and then, yes, a fairly entertaining parade of practical gore effects, but one that was more intimate than I would have liked. Never mind that I didn't see Overlord in the cinema, the TV screen is just right. (2019-06-22)

It sounded more promising on paper. Overlord is a well made action horror film with undead, Nazis and undead Nazis. It's just that they didn't have a lot of money to spend on it, so it takes a long time to get going, and in the end Julius Avery and J.J. Abrams don't show enough to make it a real hit. But thanks to the good cast, the proper cinematic violence, and solid pacing towards the end, it's ultimately pretty good, though I guess more was expected. (2019-06-18)

If Overlord was a typical war film, I would have probably given it a boo rating, but it was a standard slasher film for people who can appreciate Wolfenstein or Resident Evil, so I enjoyed the mayhem and suppressed my criticism of the historical inaccuracies. It would have been pointless in this case anyway. If you don't mind a few hectoliters of spilled blood, the occasional deeper insight into the human anatomy, and a little French baseball fan, just relax, switch off your brain (except for the basic functions, that is) and there's a pretty good chance you'll be entertained. (2019-03-08)