Deathwatch (2002)

I love this movie so much

Instant Favorite.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A troop of British soldiers lost in battle seize an enemy trench, but their survival is threatened by its ghastly mysteries ...Good concept - basically the writer/director has converted the legend of The Marie Celeste to the killing fields of WWI, and let loose the psychology that we've built up around that conflict. Or you could think in terms of Dead Calm, maybe even Aliens or 2001. Gasp! From the opening battle sequence it's clear there was money behind this production, but it didn't carry the impact of the over-the-top finale to Blackadder, so I could have done without all the Boom-Boom-Boom in favour of just slipping into the claustrophobic trek through the mist.The star of the film is the trench - I got the sense of it as a deadly command centre turning its hostile attention inward. But the mythos of the story is confused, juggling the paranormal and the psychological, with a twist that is telegraphed early on and a conclusion that has it both ways.The performances are OK, but the actors have to struggle with cut 'n paste dialogue and characterisation, although the hero does come through well in the climax. I loved the rotting corpse gore. Music was ham-fisted, trying to distract from a lack of heart in the story.Overall: Great setting, but tangles itself in barbed wire.

The trapped-soldiers-menaced-by-supernatural-evil sub genre briefly flourished around the turn of the millennium. Low budget ghost story productions like THE BUNKER and THE TRENCH proved their worth, so it was inevitable that a bigger-budget film would emerge, although DEATHWATCH is still low budget by many people's standards, with some dodgy CGI work here and there and early battle scenes which aren't too convincing. Having watched it, DEATHWATCH is my current favourite in this genre, and it's clear that the spooky Asian effort R-POINT owes more than a few nods to it. Unusually, the film wins out purely because of the excellent set design. The claustrophobic, muddy, water-logged trenches have never looked so realistic as they have here, and a liberal sprinkling of grime, barbed wire, bodies and rats only adds to the effect. Visually, DEATHWATCH is a treat and a horror film hard to beat for atmosphere.In regards to the characters, it's a familiar story: first they're isolated, then they start arguing and gradually they end up killing each other. The expletive-laden script is hardly anything new, instead harking back to '80s slasher lines like ("What the hell is going on here?"). But the film assembles a great cast of young British male actors who, incredibly, manage to carry it off. Jamie Bell is probably the most realistic of the soldiers, a 16-year-old conscript consumed by fear for much of the production, but because he's subdued throughout it's left to the older actors like Andy Serkis (a club-swinging Neanderthal) and Hugo Speer (the good-natured sergeant) to give truly solid performances.Director Michael J. Bassett returned to the isolated horror genre with WILDERNESS, an equally good movie. From what I've seen, he knows how to do his job and deliver what the audience wants. This wouldn't be a modern horror film without grue, and of course it's all here, but what really works are the inventive bits, like the sentient barbed wire scenes which are fantastic. There's also an obvious but memorable twist involving rats and a wounded man. The ending reaches metaphysical levels and was a little obvious for me, but it ties things up nicely. DEATHWATCH is a decent little British effort with plenty of chills and spills along the way, and I'd watch it for the excellent set design alone.

Not scary some moments of suspense but not a strong horror and certainly does not 'blow the horror genre to bits' but this movie has a strong storyline there are a lot of haters but if you follow the story line and stick to it you'll understand the true meaning it's a gory movie with some quality acting and I would recommend it if you can understand the storyline properly it's not your average horror movie in the trenches and the ending surprised me and was interesting. Many of the actors are not well known but act very well with some great acting from Jamie bell and Andy Serkis (the two most well know actors in the film) . I really enjoyed this movie there will always be different opinions on all movies but it's really not as bad as people have made it out to be.

During the I World War a group of English soldiers capture an enemy German dugout, while taking one of the opposing forces hostage. Surprisingly however the German wasn't even protecting the trench from outside forces with his focus set on something much closer. The soldiers (comprising amongst other of Jamie "Billy Elliott" Bell and Andy "Gollum" Serkis) quickly come to realise that evil has permeated the trench with barb-wired death around every corner. Madness and suspicion is released amongst the unit leaving in doubt anyone's survival...Masterfully acted from start to finish with some tremendous rain-drenched photography "Deathwatch" is a very promising experience showing the potential of the debutee director Michael J. Bassett. With a shoestring budget he manages to invoke realistic trenches and positionary warfare with the unseen enemy hiding amongst the mud, water and fog. Additionally we are serviced some quite brutal heart-stopping gore, which makes you double-check areas of your body to make sure you remain intact.Despite consistently conveying the dreary atmosphere the script however is unable to fulfil expectations, even though the open-ended unresolved-on-a-plate ending is a small triumph for the director. Nonetheless the whole movie is predictable and does not offer any freshness. Additionally the plot is severely underdeveloped and some key scenes seem missing or are just tremendously underplayed. Some of the direction tends to be a bit confusing - before the bodycount cuts down the number of soldiers it is hard to actually follow who is doing what or who is who for that matter. In the end it feels more like a well-done test-run created to prove a simple point: I know how to make movies. Essentially perfectly ordinary, but nonetheless sure to creep you out and hauntingly involve during the viewing pleasure.