ridiculous rating

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The plot: During World War I, a group of English soldiers capture a German trench and begin to suspect that something evil is hiding among them.Michael J. Bassett's debut is a promising but murky film full of atmosphere and tension. Unfortunately, it lacks any clear plot, and what does make sense slowly begins to raise more questions in your mind the more you think about it. On my first viewing, I was really impressed with Bassett's ability to craft a mysterious and atmospheric haunted house film inside World War I trench warfare. On my second viewing, the pacing seemed a bit slow, and I was struck by a few plot holes. I think that people who enjoy moody, ambiguous supernatural mysteries will enjoy this greatly, but those who prefer a more straightforward tale that resolves all its questions will probably be unsatisfied. I took a point away from my score, which was originally an 8/10, as the second viewing convinced me that some of the deep and mysterious themes were actually the writer/director making it up as he went along. Nonetheless, I enjoy this film quite a bit, and I think it's a good example of a low budget independent film that makes the best of its budget.Bassett is a better director than he is writer, and I think the ending in particular was a bit unsatisfying. Although the twist is a bit obvious, it raises enough unanswered questions that you might spend more time debating its meaning than you actually spent watching the film. The morality is also a bit arbitrary, where seemingly innocent characters are punished for things beyond their control. If these sorts of things don't bother you, I encourage you to give this film a chance. It's a bit gory for a haunted house film, but it's better than many of the big budget horror sequels and remakes out there. Ironically, the writer/director would later make his own horror sequel (Silent Hill: Revelation 3D) that was rather lackluster and by-the-numbers.

"Deathwatch" seems to be a film that has been shunned by many professional critics, as being another low budget, gore-fest horror. However this film is truly under-rated, considering the budget compared to that of many other horror movie's to come out of the likes of Hollywood.The backdrop to the film is the First World War, a period in time that has been all but neglected in film over the past 40 years. Even though the war is not central to the film, it creates an eerie atmosphere of struggle and hardship faced by the British soldiers in the trench.The basic synopsis of the film is that of an evil supernatural phenomenon that soon starts to hunt down the members of a lost British Regiment, camped out in an abandoned German trench. Soon, the comrades start to turn on one another, and a vibe of distrust and suspicion creeps over the men.Unlike many other horror films, the British soldiers are 9 very unique characters. From the timid protagonist Shakespeare, to the battle hardened Scotsman Pvt.McNess, you feel a connection towards the characters. Many horrors are guilty of creating duplicated characters, who you have no real care for, but not this film.For a low budget film, this work of horror will keep you guessing until the very end. Truly a film worth watching.

This film is very well done from the point of view of setting the scene. This squad of English soldiers are engaged in the awful trench warfare of WW1. They go over the top and are apparently mowed down by machine gun fire and exploding shells. Next we see them trudging over No Man's Land in the fog. At this point it's pretty certain that they're dead and in some kind of hell, or purgatory. Though masterful in setting the scene, the mythic underpinnings of the story are confused or non-existent. They come to a German trench which is full of corpses and a few live Germans. They kill the survivors except one, whom they imprison in an ammunition locker. But the trench itself seems to be attacking them. One by one they are being killed in horrible ways. Some by their buddies and some strangled by barbed wire that emerges from the mud. War is hell, but this is hell upon hell. The horror is unrelenting.Now war in the trenches is about as horrible as it gets. You really don't need supernatural effects to make it more horrible. Here the movie falls apart. It raises questions it can't answer. Why are these deceased soldiers being put through this additional hell after the hell of trench warfare? They behave as you might suppose any normal young men might under the circumstances, which is to become beasts. They're paranoid, they make bad decisions and they fight with each other. But what do you expect? In the end there is one English 'survivor' of the horror in the German trench. He's the only one who helped the surviving German and protested the madness of his fellows. In the end he's allowed to 'go free' for his humanity. Whatever that means. I suppose that means he can now go to Heaven while the others are condemned to repeat the hellish experience in the German trench for all Eternity. But since these young men have become beasts only because they've been subjected to the extreme dehumanizing experience of war, we can't feel they are really bad guys, they don't deserve this gruesome punishment. Well, maybe one of the guys is a real psychopath, but the others are victims of the horror of war.Ultimately this movie is a depressing downer. There is no payoff. Neither is it an anti-war movie because none of the issues surrounding WWI are brought up. If the movie makers just wanted to make us feel horrified and disgusted they could just have just shown war as it really is, there was no need for the supernatural bit. Horror movies should have some element of fun, or at least a sense of justice. Here there is neither fun nor justice. There is enough horror in the real world, a horror movie should have a point and this has none.

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.