Overlord

A gory, action packed and unashamedly B-movie horror film, Overlord is a lot of fun.  Up-and-coming Australian director Julius Avery has taken the somewhat tired cliché of secret Nazi super-soldier experiments, and made a really enjoyable throwback to the classic sci-fi body-horror films of the 80’s.

Premise:  On the night before D-Day, an American paratrooper unit is sent behind enemy lines in France to destroy a Nazi radio tower, in order to clear the way for the Normandy landings.  But when investigating the old church housing the radio tower, the soldiers find something far more sinister and dangerous…

Review:

Overlord is the latest of the J.J. Abrams produced sci-fi films shot in secrecy, and for a long time it was rumoured to be the fourth film in the Cloverfield series (after Cloverfield in 2008, 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016, and The Cloverfield Paradox earlier this year).  We may never know whether that was the plan at any stage in the pre-production, but after the somewhat disappointing reaction to The Cloverfield Paradox, it was publicly confirmed that Overlord would not be part of the Cloverfield universe.  And I think that was unquestionably the right decision.

The scripts for 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox were both originally standalone stories, but were rewritten during pre-production to tie into the Cloverfield universe.  Nevertheless, their links to each other are tenuous at best, and the Cloverfield films remain an anthology series linked only by loose themes and tones.  Overlord feels like a very different beast from the three Cloverfield films, more in keeping with the tone of classic 80’s sci-fi body-horror films like The Thing or The Fly than the other three Cloverfield films.

“…for the first half of the film, it’s a fairly grounded World War II action film…”

The other film that Overlord reminds me of is Robert Rodriguez’s and Quentin Tarantino’s 1996 masterpiece, From Dusk til Dawn.  I love From Dusk til Dawn, especially the way that it takes that sudden left turn at the halfway point, morphing from a crime thriller into a vampire B-movie.  Overlord has a similar tonal shift at its halfway point, albeit not one quite as abrupt as in From Dusk til Dawn.

For the first half of the film, Overlord is a fairly grounded World War II action film, detailing the paratrooper unit’s mission behind enemy lines.  I say “fairly grounded”, as this is still definitely nearer the Where Eagle Dare, The Dirty Dozen and Inglourious Basterds end of the spectrum of war movies than the Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line and Dunkirk end.  But just like From Dusk til Dawn, the first half of the film is so gripping and effective, that you aren’t just clockwatching waiting for the weirdness to happen.

“…Julius Avery’s camerawork really elevates the material to a whole other level…”

The opening sequence of the film, as the unit attempts to parachute in behind enemy lines, is a fantastically tense and visceral action sequence in its own right.  In fact, there are many moments in the film where Julius Avery’s camerawork really elevates the material to a whole other level – three standout moments in particular are the parachuting opening, a scene of silhouetted bodies hanging from trees lit by the hazy light of war, and a long tracking shot later in the film following a character in real time through all manner of mayhem.

As gripping as the first half of the film is, when the secrets of the Nazi’s experiments in the church are revealed, the film kicks into high gear, switching from the tension of the covert mission to a full blown macabre and gory creature feature.  Throughout the film, Julius Avery plays with all the genre tropes – evil Nazi scientists, underground catacombs, and gruesome operating theatres – but does so with such enthusiasm and verve that it somehow manages to feel fresh.

“…a gleefully over-the-top & joyously B-movie horror flick…”

Julius Avery and J.J. Abrams have also opted to cast a group of lesser known actors for the most part, which increases the sense the anything could happen and no one is necessarily safe.  The biggest names are probably Wyatt Russell and Bokeem Woodbine as the leaders of the paratrooper unit, and Pilou Asbæk as a Nazi officer, but even they are hardly household names.  Rising talent Jovan Adepo is effectively the audience’s surrogate for the movie, a young recruit just out of basic training and unprepared for the realities of war.

Bearing in mind that Overlord is perhaps the perfect example of a niche film, it goes without saying that it won’t be to everyone’s taste.  But I certainly can’t think of another gleefully over-the-top and joyously B-movie horror flick featuring Nazi zombies that’s nearly as enjoyable as Overlord.