Customer Reviews

Horrors of War

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

 

 

Don't be fooled by the other reviews of this film posted here. This movie is just plain TERRIBLE! Super boring. Stupid script. Lot's of terrible stuff in this one. The very sparcely used CG war effects are decent but you can see better on the History channel for free. The dvd cover art is very misleading as well. This is a VERY small story, not the horror epic the cover art conveys. AVOID!

I rented this and feel like a sucker. I can't imagine someone actually buying this. Avoid the good reviews as they were no doubt created by anyone of the people listed in the "credits" of this movie. One can at least find some unintentional comedy in poor "B" movies, but that's not even there. The story is flat and boring all the way through.

About the only thing they did invest in with this movie was artwork for the DVD cover. Don't be fooled.

Horrors of War (Peter John Ross and John Whitney, 2006)

As strange as it may seen, the Nazi Zombie subgenre of horror movies has been around since World War II. Aside from a brief surge of popularity in the late seventies, there haven't been a great many Nazi zombie flicks, but even so, there are certain conventions that all of them save the very first few have honored. I'm not sure whether Ross and Whitney were aware of these when they made Horrors of War, because none of them are here. That alone makes this worth checking out; where most other Nazi zombie movies are generally predictable (though I rush to add this makes them no less fun to watch, in the main), there's a lot about Horrors of War that doesn't fit the mold, and that's always a good thing. On the other hand, this is very much a microbudget film, and it shows in many respects.

Plot: Towards the end of World War II, when things are starting to look bad for the Axis, the Third Reich stumble upon a new weapon--undead soldiers, impervious to pain, able to shrug off bullets. By coincidence (or perhaps not, only OSS knows for sure), Lt. John Schmidt (Jon Osbeck of the upcoming Eternal) finds himself facing these beasts on mission after mission. Finally, OSS sends him, along with a small, hand-picked team, behind enemy lines to find the source of the beasts and destroy it--for Schmidt has a secret weapon of his own...

I've seen a number of people complain about the pace of the movie, which is glacial for the first half. I have no problem with that sort of thing as long as it involves getting to know the characters, which it does, and actually giving us characters that aren't cardboard cutouts, which it also does. Score two for the good guys. The drawback is the acting, which ranges from competent to awful, sometimes with the same character. The other big problem is something of a spoiler, so I can't get into it here, but I just trashed a very famous novel for exactly the same thing, if you follow my reviews.

If you put aside those two things, though, there's a lot to like here. The storyline gets disjointed at times--one assumes a great deal of this was left on the cutting-room floor--but what there is is intriguing. (That said, a warning: the ending will drive you up the wall. I assume it was done that way with an eye toward a sequel.) And if you separate the characters from the actors playing them, there's enough development in the main characters for us to at least partially empathize with them. Minor characters tend to get less of that, but then this is a war movie, and thus many of the minor characters are walking around with EXPENDABLE tattooed on their foreheads from the first time we see them. I expect this in a war movie, so it didn't bother me. And, of course, there's the fact that this is a Nazi zombie movie that actually goes its own way. Either the writers and directors (yes, there was more than one of each) had never seen Shock Waves, the 1977 film that seemed to define the genre for all the movies that came after it, or did see it and made a conscious decision to do everything they could to make a movie that didn't resemble it in any way, shape, or form. In either case, I consider it a success from that standpoint.

There are a thousand things that could have been done to improve this movie, had it had a bigger budget, and I can infer from reading some of the crew comments at IMDB.com they are fully aware of this, but are unapologetic. You've got to admire the cojones on a crew that dreams big and refuses to let a little thing like lack of money stop them from doing their best to realize those dreams. No, this ain't Saving Private Ryan or (thankfully) Pearl Harbor, and it shouldn't be compared to movies of that ilk. For what it is, it's not a bad little movie at all. ** ½

I was given this by a friend who claimed its hands down the worst zombie movie ever. As a die hard zombie movie zealot I just had to see it for myself. I have to be honest, if you walk into this movie expecting it to be the worst movie you've ever seen its actually not all that bad.

The cover is totally misleading, and what was the point of the werewolf? (trust me this is NOT a spoiler, the werewolf is plays no valuable roll in the story) I'm also really shocked that a brand new copy of the movie shipped in a DVD case from blockbuster (truly indicative of just how low budget this film was).

I'm going to give it two stars, watch the DVD once and re-purpose the disk as bike reflector. This review is somewhat biased because I didn't pay a dime to see this movie, and because obscure zombie movies are right up my alley. If your not a zombie movie fanatic you should probably just pass up this title.

If your really on a quest for the worst zombie movie ever check out "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" Circa 1974 directed by Jorge Grau.

I was attracked to the cover & subject matter of this flic. After I received it I put it on the shelf in plain veiw and stared at it for a few weeks. Then I played it and.... (besides the nice retro credits...very cool) it had a (made in the back yard with moms old video camera look to it) style not all it's own. But I soldiered on figuring it's probably gonna be a piece of work.
Still... puttong all the "B" qualities aside, it was a rather enjoyable "B" flic. They did the best with whatever sourses they had and the plot was far from unenjoyable. I don't give away plots. I believe movie trailers have pros & cons and being tricked many times before by awesome trailers for dud flics, well, if you can keep your emotions out of it you can use trailers to some advantage. (LEGION was my latest trailer blunder-what crap) So with 5 STAR being unbelievably awesome-4 STAR being great 3 STAR is pretty good 4 STAR is just not worth it & 5 is trash.

Like many others on this board I was fooled into renting it by the cover, which almost suggested something epic, as well as the fact that it was an official selection in numerous horror film festivals. The film appears to have been filmed entirely in a 2-acre plot of forest in Ohio with the same field, forest and ruins prevalent throughout the film. Do not watch this film expecting to see scenes shot on location in France and Germany, or even epic battlefront scenes for that matter. Expect lots of running around the same batch of trees for an hour and a half. Secondly, the special effects are by far the worst I have ever seen. The scenes at the beginning with the bombers going down are clearly PS3/XBOX 360 quality CGI. I have seen better CGI in a number of videogames. The costumes are laughable. I swear the mask the "werewolf" was wearing is available at my local party costume store. I wont even get into the absurdly low quality and unintentionally hilarious "zombie" masks. The story itself was derivative and boring, though the premise has possibility that might have made a decent film under a different director and crew. The acting is amongst the worst I've seen in recent years and the characters themselves are unmemorable, cliched cardboard cutouts. The dialogue was similarly idiotic and clearly was written by someone who has chosen the wrong career. Overall a terrible film with a great cover that is sure to fool many more into watching it. Avoid like the plague.

Hitlers monster army. This premise has so very much potential. As my wife, best friend and myself sat down to watch this its value was almost istantaneously in its horrible production values. Bad costumes, atrocious acting and awful camera work this was Mystery Science Theatre 3000 fodder. Which if you hang with a smart alecky crowd is perfect. Some movies are fun to just sit back and make fun of. Some movies are able to derive their value from that virute alone. And this movie was on that track the one liners and couch bound zingers were flying from "I wonder if Call of Duty knows their using their cut scenes." to "Take a drink everytime someone says Underwood.". And then comes the two women in the French cottage. **SPOILERS FOLLOW** Two of the four American GI's rape the women while the two "good" ones are on guard duty. Now you are not subjected to the scene, it happens off camera. And that's good because this film does not have the production values and creative skills to handle such a delecate subject. Needless to say this immediately kills the film from that point out. The filmakers fell right in the deep end and sank well over their head. Too bad too, because it was fun while it lasted but there just isn't anything funny after rape. Suddenly as a viewer you pity the filmakers, you realise that they are taking this seriously and this pathetic film is the best they could muster.

This makes Attack of the Killer Tomatoes look like a high budget masterpiece. I think the only thing that could make this movie worth watching would be knowing the actors directors and anyone else involved in this %$#@# died while making it. I would pay good money to have the memory of this garbage erased from my brain.
Really... a werewolf ? what the.... I can only guess someone wanted to give their girl's little bro some makeup creds in the film or something. That werewolf vs. nazic avenger thing was epic fail. So one of the troop was a werewolf AND got pwned just as easily as the rest of the cubscouts. ZERO point in throwing a werewolf in there. And the deets of the military were so off I don't know where to begin. Well, at least they didn't ruin the movie by getting anything right or interesting. Maybe that is the achievement here.
Move along; nothing to see here. Move along

WHATS BETTER THEN ZOMBIES, HOW ABOUT NAZI ZOMBIES, THAT'S RIGHT I SAID NAZI ZOMBIES. WHATS BETTER THEN NAZI ZOMBIES, NAZI WEREWOLF'S THAT'S RIGHT I SAID NAZI WEREWOLF'S.

THIS FILM IS WILD AND OVER THE TOP. ITS VERY ORIGINAL AND KIND OF LIKE I SMOKE CRACK OUT THERE. THIS LOW BUDGET INDIE HORROR FILM IS VERY WELL PUT TOGETHER. THE SPECIAL EFFECTS WORK AND SEEM VERY REAL AS YOU LOOK UPON THE FLYING WORLD WAR 2 PLANES.

WHAT IS VERY INTERESTING ABOUT THIS FILM IS IT'S A WAR MOVIE YET ALSO A HORROR MOVIE. YOU GET GREAT WAR ACTION WITH AMAZING AUTHENTIC COSTUMES AND TANKS AND JEEPS FROM WORLD WAR 2. IT STARTS OUT WITH A ZOMBIE NAZI AND THEN LEADS INTO ANOTHER NAZI EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG, A WEREWOLF. THE NAZIS ARE TRYING TO MAKE THE PERFECT SOLIDER, THE WARRIOR THAT CAN NOT BE STOPPED. WHAT HAPPENS IS ALL HELL BRAKES LOOSE AND IT CAN NOT BE CONTROLLED.

THE ONE BAD THING ABOUT THE MOVIE IS THE EDITING, IT JUMPS AROUND LEAVING THE VIEWER A LITTLE CONFUSED ON WHERE THE STORY IS AT NOW, FROM ZOMBIE TO WEREWOLF. FINDING OUT THE BACK STORY OF WHY IT JUMPS IS THAT THIS WAS SUPPOSE TO BE FOUR DIFFERENT ANTHOLOGY STORIES BUT WAS TIED ALL TOGETHER IN THE END. FOR A LOW INDIE HORROR THE MAKEUP IS VERY TO THE POINT AND SKILLED AS YOU WATCH THE ZOMBIES OR WAR PLAY UNFOLD.

A FUN PART OF THE MOVIE AN AMERICAN SOLIDER GETS BIT BY THE WEREWOLF AND BECOMES A WEREWOLF, A GOOD WEREWOLF TO HELP FIGHT AGAINST THE SUPER SOLDIERS OF THE NAZI'S, THAT'S RIGHT YOU READ IT RIGHT.

THE BEST PART I HAVE TO SAY IS THE FINAL BATTLE BETWEEN WEREWOLF AND ZOMBIE. AMERICAN SOLDIERS AGAINST THE NAZI WALKING DEAD IS JUST PRICELESS IN MY BOOK. THE ULTIMATE SLUG FEST SHOWDOWN AS THE TRUTH OF THE EXPERIMENT UNFOLDS.

THIS IS A LOW BUDGET FILM AND CAN BE LOOKED AT AS CHEESY BUT I OVER LOOK IT BECAUSE THEY CRAFTED A FILM THAT IS REALLY GREAT AND INTERESTING HOW IT UNFOLDS AND IS TOLD. THE ACTING IS GOOD, THE STORY IS WHAT IT IS AND IS VERY ORIGINAL IS WHY I LIKED IT.

NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO CARE FOR THIS. IF YOU ARE A FAN OF DRIVE IN THEATER MOVIES OR THE LATE NIGHT MIDNIGHT T.V. SHOWS HOSTED BY A FAT GUY DRESSED AS A GHOUL THEN THIS WILL WORK. I HAD FUN WATCHING THIS MOVIE CORNY AND ALL.

Well, I suppose I should think of myself as a poor sap who bought this movie based solely on the cover and all the supposed awards it has won. I don't. I have figured out a way to totally enjoy this film. If you already own it, consider this...lend this sorry excuse for a movie to one of your buddies. Talk it up like it has got to be one of the best movie's you have seen in a long time (show him the awesome cover). Excitedly your buddy will be anticipating an amazing movie watching experience when he puts it on. The next day ask them if they watched it, and enjoy the reaction! lmao! I have done this to five people already! There is no better way to enjoy this movie. Definately worth the 20$ I paid.