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116 reviews in total

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42 out of 56 people found the following review useful:
Very Good Horror Story, 1 November 2004

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

Set in the trenches of the First World War this is the first film I've seen set during that time that got the sense of place right. Its the got the entombed bodies in the ground, in the walls, and everywhere you look right. It is a bleak existence that the soldiers take almost matter of factly.

The plot has a group of British soldiers getting lost during an attack and finding a German trench. The Germans are more concerned with something in the trench to pay the Brits any mind and try to send them away. All but one of the Germans are shot, but because of a language problem he can't tell them whats is lurking close by.

Beautifully shot, excellently acted this is a very good little horror film. No, its not the be all and end all of horror films but its a damn good little thriller that rises about the typical thanks to its setting and the cast.

This is a film worth putting a bit of effort into finding. I doubt that you'll hate it if you find it, at the very least you'll come away liking it.

8 out of 10.

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33 out of 44 people found the following review useful:
Okay, I appear to be the only one to have understood this movie..., 20 January 2004
Author: dreamdayz from Manchester, UK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I loved this movie, so I'm a little angry about everyone trashing it without understanding it. For anyone who has just watched it and is wondering, what the f*** I invite you to look at the tagline. "Deliver them from evil." What does that suggest to you? Could it have religious significance? What do the cast say of what is stalking them? "Its Death!" Yes. The film is in fact a bloody good horror film set in WWI but it is also a religious tale in as much as the trench is Purgatory and every man jack of that squad is already dead. I finished watching this movie and thought to myself "Damn that's clever!" I mean, not to spoil the film for anyone, but it ends with all but one of the group sat around a fire in the deepest darkest depths while the star runs away from them and climbs up into the light and the mist. If there this were to be a clearer heaven and hell metaphor they'd have to hammer it into your head with a shovel. As to the dark eyed German soldier calmly waiting for the next group of unfortunates to judge... give him a cowl and a sycthe somebody? Enjoy this for the brilliant gore-fest ghost story it is with swarms of rats, living barb wire, and sheer human brutality. But look also to the story beneath the story. The evil they are to be delivered from is inside of them.

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29 out of 38 people found the following review useful:
Worthwatch, 8 November 2004

Author: ghoulieguru from The Movie Crypt

Another in the recent wave of War-Horror movies like Dog Soldiers and The Bunker, this one actually has a couple of stand out moments. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but there are some interesting moments with barbed wire. The acting was good overall, with most of the actors showing some nice restraint. Typically, you give an actor a period military uniform, a gun, and some exclamation points in the dialogue and you have a recipe for disaster. Points go to the director for keeping a lid on the overly dramatic yelling and screaming. Still, the pacing can be a little tedious at times, and tends to get a little repetitious. Succeeds where The Bunker fell down in that it actually delivers some chills and delivers an ending that isn't too reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. 6 out of 10.

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28 out of 37 people found the following review useful:
popcornpopcornpopcorn, 1 December 2002
Author: (Slice of LIfe) from hong kong

"Welcome to hell," are the eerily prophetic words, complete with shells, atmospheric all-is-not-right music and the groans of dying men, a hint of what's to come. After the battle, out of the fog and into a German trench, the men of Y-company discover that's exactly where they've landed. First of all, the place is deserted. And strewn with (mutilated) corpses of German soldiers. All dead. Except one (Torben Liebrecht), who warns them desperately that there is "quelque chose de mal" in that place, and to get out as soon as they can. Naturally, they all ignore him, except for Shakespeare (Jamie Bell). Soon, it proves true when the men start turning against each other, or getting sucked into the earth with barbed wire, or tying each other up à-la-crucifixion.

Well. After two years of watching this in the making, it hasn't disappointed (thank you, Mr, Bassett). Great set-up, with the rain, the rats, trenches and mud to make Spielberg weep with envy. While the script could use some work ("what's the matter with this place? What's happening?" asks one -rhetorically?), the acting keeps the characters from becoming walking clichés, especially Jamie Bell as the unwelcome greenhorn, or Hugo Speer as the duty-bound Sgt. Tate, to name a few. The suspense was average and wasn't so scary that there'd be lost sleep over it, nor was it anything over-original. But it's a great piece of ensemble casting (i'd pay the admission again to see Hugh O'Conor say the f-word), cool FX and steady directing make it a good viewing.

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18 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
More horror of war than horror film, 1 November 2003

Author: TrevorAclea from London, England

Although much-hyped as a horror film during production, 'Deathwatch' obviously shifted tone substantially in post-production towards a depiction of the everyday horrors of the Great War and seems all the better for it. Although there are vague similarities to Michael Mann's disappointing 'The Keep' and its truly dreadful British rip-off 'The Bunker,' this is both more ambitious and successful than either. A more accurate comparison would be to John Ford's rarely revived 'The Lost Patrol,' where a group of soldiers lost in the desert turn on each other as their situation worsens.

The production design is for the most part impeccable: unlike the studio-bound and cliche-ridden 'The Trench,' this offers one of the most realistic screen recreations of trench life at its worst, rats and all. Where the opening battle sequence never quite seems intense enough, the mundane realities of surviving daily life in what is little more than an open grave leave a lasting impression.

There are problems: some of the attitudes are wrong for the period, as are occasional lines of dialogue (such as references to then-nonexistent holiday camps or contemporary slang such as 'plank'). It's not even remotely frightening, and only begins to chill with its oddly touching ending (which bears more than a little similarity to a famed Bruce Joel Rubin script, the title of which would ruin the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it). But, unlike most British efforts of recent years, it is a real film with ambition and a sense of scale that deserved better at the box-office and is well worth a look.

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18 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Atmospheric low budget horror., 5 April 2006

Author: stormruston from victoria bc

This was one heck of a good movie, I had read nothing about it and bought it based on the box artwork.

This is a WW1 horror movie that takes place mostly in a set of "German trenches" This movie rarely nailed down the muck and horror of trench warfare in my mind. It is a creepy horrible looking place.

The acting is very good and rarely over the top, and the movie maintains a sense of tension and controlled panic from beginning until the climax, where it goes into full panic and finally horrified understanding.

The special effect are not too bad to pretty darn good,it has moments of gore too.

This is a very worthwhile ghost story that should keep you on the edge of your seat, I recommend it as a top notch B movie.

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20 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
A good low budget horror movie, 31 January 2004

Author: Rosusa (unimatrixzero) from United Kingdom

I liked this film. It was quirky, had a sting in the tale and had a cast of excellent characters, from a young and innocent Private who tries to understand the horrors of war, a man about to loose his faith in God, a solider who wants to survive the war with the minimum of guilt, a dying teenager, shot in the spine and unaware of the horrors to come and to a psychotic solider who will kill anyone, friend or foe. Add to this a German soldier, played with sinister and frightening conviction by unknown actor, Roman Horak and you have a seat of your pants film that you don't want to watch on your own!

However like many low budget movies, especially those that come of the UK criticism and panning is the name of the game. Now this REALLY gets up my nose! Come on guys, this isn't America you know, we don't have the sort of greenbacks to pay for state of the art special effects in any movie that is British funded. We have to reply on spit, prayers and God's good will.

Deathwatch is damn good movie, scary, spooky, well acted and a cracking good horror film.

If you want something more in the line of special effects galore combined with `pants' acting then go out and buy or rent the mind numbingly stupid, `Freddy and Jason' but don't knock a movie because it doesn't have the budget to give it that glossy overstated Hollywood feel.

This is an intelligent film for intelligent people, if you don't fit into that category, watch something else instead.

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16 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
one of the best movies i have seen, 19 September 2004

Author: denver-1

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

without doubt one of the best movies i have ever seen. I've just seen it and i have to say that i was not disappointed. Excellent storyline and the actors were great. Comparing Purgatory to a trench is bloody brilliant!! What greater nightmare then war? or of life in the trenches.And the subtle lines of the characters that suggesting that "the evil" in the trenches is actually death....that they in fact were actually dead, is overwhelming.Everyone seas hell as the thing they are most afraid of, and in these soldiers case what terrified them most was the war.So the trench is Purgatory and they are tested, judged if u will, by the German soldier, if they are worthy to be sent to hell which is symbolized by the dark place they descended into, or set free, allowed into heaven which is symbolized by the ascending run of the main character at the end, when called by his colleagues he runs towards the light and out of the trench.

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14 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Nice terror film upon a creepy confrontation in trenches during WWI, 23 July 2004

Author: ma-cortes

The movie deals with an English soldiers group in First Great War ( 1914 to 1918 ).

Perhaps it happens in Verdun , Tannenberg or Marne battle , the film is set on the trenches from one of them . At the squadron appears an evil which murders one by one the members of the team.

It's an interesting movie , from the beginning until the end the frightening and scary action is unstoppable.

The flick has an eerie atmosphere , it is in gaudy color , enhanced by the mud of trenches and with lights and shades that originates a ghostly setting .

Set design is excellent , the movie is enough atmospheric , the dark sludge , the dirtiness and filthiness with the muddy trenches are very well designed .

Runtime is adjusted , approx. one hundred minutes , but is a little bit boring because of it occurs limited adventures . However it is a lot exciting , amazing and entertaining.

In the film there are suspense , horror, drama , tension , shootouts , frenetic action and a little bit of gore.

Everybody actors are pretty well but specially there stands out Jamie Bell , Andy Serkis ( Gollun in The Lord of the rings ) , Hugo Speer and Mathew Rhys .

The movie will appeal to the suspense , terror buffs and emotion lovers.

Rating 6,5/10 . Good and well worth watching .

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18 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
"Its not bloody Shakesphere", 4 June 2005

Author: (Virgil2127@hotmail.com) from Byron, Illinois

"Death Watch" walks a very fine line while taking itself far too seriously, especially considering the bleak backdrop of WWI under which the movie is set. I watched this film sheerly under the recommendation of its horror-military genre connection to "Dog Soldiers". With that said, if you are looking for something like "Dog Soldiers", please do not watch this movie. They are too very different animals.

Which isn't to say "Death Watch" is bad purely on the grounds that it is not "Dog Soldiers". "Death Watch" is a very taunt and atmospheric movie, and the surreal and gritty layout of the text make us fear attack from any direction.

The film follows a group of British soldiers who capture a German trench and then attempt to hold the trench in the wake of not only an incompetent officer, but also a series of inexplicably strange events that push all involved to the edge of sanity. Soon, a rookie soldier, nick-named Shakespeare, begins to wonder if his squad is being driven insane by isolation and shell-shock, or something far more sinister.

Every man in Y-Company seems to have some sort of defining flaw. Shakespeare's flaw seems to be his cowardice. But instead of endearing this character to our own insecurities, the filmmakers only succeed in push Shakespeare away from us with his perpetual whininess. No one else is given as much due as Shakespeare. Other characters live and die in a heartbeat, without too much grief, but Shakespeare seems to be set up to be the emotional weight of the story, which the script ironically seems downright afraid to achieve.

As mentioned above, the movie walks a very fine line. It takes itself at times far too seriously, with no real breaks in between for relief and only little more for laughter. Soon, the bloody plights of the soldiers are played for cheap thrills, and the end result feels more than a little shoddy for exploiting the horror of World War One for such aims.

The mystery of the trench never lets up, even after the final shot. You leave the movie with an idea of what happened, but like most things in this movie, very little else. This isn't to say the movie isn't worth seeing - its scary and very moody, and a far cry from generic Hollywood horror. But by the same merit, this movie isn't something to go out of your war for. Despite all this movie has to offer, between atmosphere and suspense, there's no real payback in sight, at least on the Western Front.

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