●●●●○

This is the rare supernatural thriller that really earns its nonsense. It’s 24 hours before D-Day and an incredibly ethnically diverse crew of American paratroopers are behind enemy lines. Their job? To take out a German radio tower in an occupied French village so as to enable air-support for the planned D-Day landings the next day. Trouble arises when they realise that there’s some very nasty medical experimentation going on, and they’re not only going to have to take down the Nazis, but their zombie super-soldiers, too!

From the opening sequences of our heroes having to parachute out of a crashing plane amidst explosions and dogfighting planes, Overlord grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. The gore levels are a bit more than I’d personally prefer (there’s a moment towards the end that I felt the entire cinema collectively flinch), but in fairness they are genre and rating appropriate, and not gratuitous for the story.

World War II has received some very sentimental cinematic treatments in recent years: the ‘last just war’, fought by a ‘band of brothers’ all committed to freedom, goodness and soaring choral renditions of Vera Lynn. This is not one of those movies. Yes, the lead character, Boyce (Jovan Adepo), an American soldier of Haitian descent, is the moral compass begging the more hardened Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell) not to be as brutal as their enemy during moments of intense violence, but Boyce proves himself quite capable of similar violence when the situation calls for it. And ultimately, the solution to their predicament needs both men working together to achieve it (because of course it does), but still, this is not a rose-tinted film.

Given that it’s historical fact that the Nazis dabbled in the occult and engaged in some truly horrific medical experimentations, it’s surprising that the Nazi zombie movie genre hasn’t reached the mainstream before now. It helps that it can expect its audience to understand the stakes: like a good heist movie, there’s a tight timeline established, and with the historical backdrop, we know that the objective will be achieved. Whether anyone will make it out alive, though, is always in doubt.

This is blood-spattered action and pulse-racing explosions from the beginning to the end, meeting your lowest expectations and then rising above them with some thoughtful details that help the movie linger with you.

 

Overlord is on general release in Ireland right now.