Ghosts of War (2020)
Written By: JASR
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Eric Bress
Producers: D. Todd Shepherd, Shelley Madison, Joe Simpson
Writer: Eric Bress
Date Released: July 17, 2020
Cast:
Brenton Thwaites as Chris
Theo Rossi as Kirk
Skylar Astin as Eugene
Kyle Gallner as Tappert
Alan Ritchson as Butchie
Billy Zane as Dr. Engel
Shaun Toub as Mr. Helwig
Alexander Behrang Keshtkar as Leader
Kaloyan Hristov as Helwig Boy
Yanitsa Mihailova as Christina Helwig
Rating = 2/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Five American soldiers during World War II are ordered to hold a French Chateau that used to be occupied by the Nazi high command. They begin to experience strange and spooky occurrences such as eerie morse code messages and ghostly images. Somewhere along the way, the movie implies that the entities haunting them are the ghosts of a family murdered by Nazis, but the soldiers discover something more disturbing.
Gore Factor
If you’re going to watch a war-themed movie, you’d be crazy if you don’t expect blood and gore. Ghosts of War (2020) lives up to its gore factor expectations with disgusting wounds, gun scenes, and blood splashes. This movie could satisfy one’s craving for action and bloody scenes, and could even make sensitive viewers cringe.
The Grave Review
Ghosts of War (2020) may not be the cup of tea for horror movie lovers who prefer the usual stories like a family moving into a new home or a demon possessing a child. This movie shows the journey of five soldiers, which is not something you always see in horror movies.
One good thing about this movie is how it lets the audience feel the same frustration the soldiers are feeling whenever they find themselves going in circles when trying to escape. Since this is a war movie – with events that many viewers have not experienced firsthand – we tend to come up with various predictions on why or how such events are happening to the characters. I especially love how none of my predictions were right – allowing the movie to be more interesting.
A movie’s ending can usually make or break a viewer’s opinion. For Ghosts of War, I must say that the ending is a pleasant surprise. It ends up explaining many of the questionable scenes and initially senseless dialogues. That being said, viewers have to be patient with the bizarre scenes in the middle of the movie as it will only make sense in the end. More than this, the movie has a pretty slow pace, so it does require a lot of patience.
Ghosts of War is not scary per se. The magic of horror movies is how they make audiences think that the same spooky events will happen to them, but since this film is not too relatable, I wouldn’t say that it’s actually scary. I personally think of that as a downside because I am always after the thrill and fear when watching horror movies. More than this, I would say that the CGI is quite laughable.
If you’re looking for a new flavor in horror movies, you could give this movie a shot – but if you’re more fond of the typical ones, I’d suggest you go for the next movie, or at least be prepared with lots of patience before watching this one.
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