Customer Reviews

Ghost Brigade [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Take the movie "Gettysburg". Add in a Martin Sheen narration a la "Apocalypse Now". Sprinkle in a few zombies from "Dawn of the Dead" and you get "Ghost Brigade". This movie is so dang cheesy it's great. It's certainly become a cult favorite among Civil War reenactors--right up there with both "Glory" and "Gettysburg". Interestingly, Martin Sheen reprises his "General Lee" accent in a brief cameo as a Union General. It almost makes you wonder if this movie was part of his contract when he did "Gettysburg". If you like the lighter side of the Civil War, this movie is a keeper.

A surreal journey into the heart of darkness of the American Civil war. Blood and vampires haunt the proverbial Kurtz compound at the end of the road in this story directed by the guy who brought us that amazing documentary on the making of "Apocalypse Now." Its influence is definitely there.

The plot and actors were all superb. I have seen it three times now and there's more to catch each time.

With some similarities to S.P. Somtow's brilliant epic novel 'Darker Angels' cross-pollinated with Peckinpah's 'Major Dundee,' this should have been so very much better than it is. Having seen both versions of the film, I'm afraid that much of the blame for the fact that an intriguing script has been turned into such a frustratingly below-average movie can be laid firmly at George Hickenlooper's door. Sadly, his direction is barely a step up from Ed Wood, unable to use his limited budget to his best advantage - in addition to his terror of long shots (most of the film is played in flat two-shots or medium close-up), in the early medic sequence the camera is all too obviously just moving around in a circle to make both set and the handful of extras look more substantial (he fails miserably). Worse, he can't handle action or, to any great effect, actors.

Judging from his audio commentary on his cut on Laser Disc, his awe at Coppola's achievements with 'Apocalypse Now' has led him to slavishly imitate rather than innovate. Every other comment on the disc is about how this shot or that cast member or that piece of make-up was inspired by 'Apocalypse.' The trouble is that where Coppola had tens of millions of dollars, this looks like it's been funded by a whipround in a local bar. Hickenlooper, of course, made the brilliant documentary 'Hearts of Darkness': obviously, he's still travelling down that river long after Coppola packed his bags and went home...

A truly gifted documentary-maker, he just seems clueless about how to compose a dramatic shot or propel action: he seems to be at the mercy of events rather than controlling them. Hopefully someone will be able to salvage the remake rights and do the premise justice, but in the meantime Hickenlooper should return to what he does best - making great documentaries rather than bad fictional features.

I was surprised at how much I liked this movie. A mix of ghostlike zombie vampire (that's the best I can do as far as description) soldiers tossed in with a battle. I liked the cast very much. Martin Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, Adrian Pasdar, Cynda Williams, Billy Bob Thorton, and to my delight Dean Cameron, with a somewhat silent but violent role. The acting is amazing, set, costumes, dialogue, everything was fantastic.The thing I liked most about this film is the attention to detail. Each time you watch it you'll notice something you didn't notice before.

I saw this movie years ago and thought it was interesting. Yes, it suffered from a low budget, but it was still a good idea and quite well executed for what it was. After all, where else are you going to see a Union vs. Confederacy vs. Zombies movie?

This version of the movie is hard to find (and even then only on VHS), but it's been released under two additional names: Ghost Brigade and Grey Knight. The latter of which is a "director's cut" that's 11 minutes longer. Both of those versions are easy to find, and at very reasonable prices.

This VHS will not play on an American player. It is by far the worst purchse I have ever made. Even if I could play it, the sily thing is in Spanish. The sellers have not reimbursed me, though I have sent the item back to them. Aweful aweful.

This is a good civil war horror film soldier's that are taken and then changed to the evil side and then they can't die and later on in the film a confederate vetern helps a union colonel and a union regiment to help stop the evil vampier ghostly soldiers and also Martin Sheen and Billy Bob Thorton are good actors in this movie and good music to.

I bought the movie for the brilliant Matt LeBlanc and I saw the movie 2 times but,where is Matt?Someone can say to me in what part of the movie appears.
Thanks and I am sorry for my bad english