ghosts of war movie review

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Ghosts of War review – uneven second world war horror story

A late plot twist enlivens this unexceptional tale of terror set in a creepy French chateau

A gaggle of American soldiers make their way to a fancy French chateau at the end of the second world war. A typical war movie’s motley crew of contrasting masculinities, the fivesome must confront their own mental fragility and flaws when the grand but ramshackle building appears to be haunted – perhaps by a family murdered by Nazi soldiers, or maybe by another more sinister set of entities. Worse still, when they try to get away they find themselves going in circles, trapped by forces they can’t understand. Maybe they’re all suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or maybe the blue-grey ghoulish figures spotted at the edge of frames and glimpsed in mirrors are the unquiet victims of an endless war.

Without deploying egregious spoilers, it’s impossible to explain why this seemingly bog-standard horror movie suddenly gets fractionally more interesting 20 minutes before the end. Does that make the preceding 74 minutes of entirely predictable plot manoeuvres and jump scares more interesting? Not especially, but it does slyly pull the rug out from under nitpicky viewers who think they’ve spotted anachronistic references along the way.

Little flourishes like that are on brand for writer-director Eric Bress, who is perhaps best known for his screenplay contributions to the Final Destination film franchise as well as for writing and directing time-travel/multiverse sci-fi movie The Butterfly Effect . This effort is similarly infuriating and entertaining by turns, and features pretty good performances from a handful of up-and-coming young male actors, including Brenton Thwaites and Kyle Gallner, along with lovable old ham Billy Zane putting in a last-act cameo.

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Ghosts of War

Five American soldiers assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. This unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy more ter... Read all Five American soldiers assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. This unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield. Five American soldiers assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. This unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield.

Brenton Thwaites
Kyle Gallner
Alan Ritchson
354 User reviews
81 Critic reviews
38 Metascore

Mrs. Helwig

Sgt. Elks …

Isis Leader
(as Alexander Keshtkar)
Famished Mother

Camp Victim
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Trivia Though set in France, the film was shot largely on location in Bulgaria.
Goofs At the 34:17 mark, in the previous scene, the troops have little to no wounds on their face. The very next scene ( at 34:17), they all have bloody wounds.

Title Card : This war will not end. With every mile my body and spirit break. Every jolt makes brittle my mind. Each step pulls me further from home until I am the shell of the man that kissed my mother goodbye a forever ago.

Title Card : And I tense endlessly. Not knowing which will arrive first, the bullet that takes my life or my final chance for redemption. -D. Werner, 18 years old, WWII Private 1st Class

Connections Featured in FoundFlix: Ghosts of War (2020) Ending Explained (2020)

User reviews 354

Jul 25, 2020
How long is Ghosts of War? Powered by Alexa
July 17, 2020 (United States)
United Kingdom
Dinh Thự Oan Khuất
Day Tripper Films
Miscellaneous Entertainment
SunJive Studios
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Runtime 1 hour 34 minutes

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Ghosts of War Reviews

Ghosts of War may not be great cinema or even a particularly good horror thriller, but it does offer plenty of entertainment value for the hungry horror fans with its cast and impressive production design.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 10, 2021

When the inevitable twist does come, it's so lame it'll make most viewers roll their eyes for the remaining 20 minutes of the runtime...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 22, 2021

British supernatural horror taking place largely in France towards the end of World War II, alternately tense and quite a rush.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 10, 2021

Its lackluster writing, uninteresting characters, and dull performances add up to a true waste of potential.

Full Review | Original Score: 5.5/10 | Oct 21, 2020

...definitely a film that is tailor-made for watching at home, on a Friday night when your critical faculties have slightly failed you...

Full Review | Aug 18, 2020

Sometimes trying to be twisty and different just doesn't work. This movie is example A of that premise.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Aug 7, 2020

With the benefit of some time having passed...I've come to better appreciate what Bress was trying to achieve and how everything fits together in hindsight. (Full Content Review for Parents - Violence, Profanity, Nudity, etc. - also Available)

Full Review | Aug 7, 2020

A dreary and bewildering WWII ghost story that eventually twists into something stupid, preposterous, and morally suspect.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Jul 30, 2020

The tone is compelling, and the actors add terrific edges to their roles.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 30, 2020

This is the kind of film that manipulates the characters in ways to respond to these supernatural elements in a manner fitting for the scene rather than the movie as a whole.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Jul 25, 2020

Ghosts of War falls short of its inspired premise, but credit to writer/director Eric Brees for offering a uniquely brazen adventure that packs a plethora of gratifying moments.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2020

The smartest thing Eric Bress did in Ghosts of War was to cast Billy Zane, and the dumbest thing he did was keeping Billy Zane off screen for 90% of the movie.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2020

Ghosts Of War wants us to think it's a psychological thriller but, truth be told, there's not a lot of depth here.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 20, 2020

A by the numbers haunted house story with generic scares and standard black-eyed, long mouthed apparitions. Baffling tonal shifts exacerbate these moments of trope horror.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 20, 2020

Overall, it's a good film, but not great. It has a few great scenes peppered throughout and a couple of scares, so it works okay.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 20, 2020

benefits from well-paced thrills and an engaging story, however its final-act revelations do prove to be too clever for its own good.

[Director Eric Bress's] overly ambitious attempt to expand beyond a simple haunting tale implodes Ghosts of War's ending - when it most deserved being kept simple.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 19, 2020

Bress has outdone himself yet again with Ghosts of War, and I'm excited for all of you to see it.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 18, 2020

It thinks it's imparting some profound lesson, but I walked away from it only 50 percent sure of what it was trying to say. The only satisfaction I felt at the end was "Thank God it's over."

Full Review | Jul 18, 2020

It's a horror movie and a war movie, and I really appreciated the war movie.

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‘Ghosts of War’: Film Review

A haunted French chateau is caught between enemy WWII armies in this atmospheric but overloaded horror mystery.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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Sadistic Nazis, PTSD-afflicted Allied soldiers, angry spirits and creepy dolls make for an already-formidable pile of scare factors in “ Ghosts of War ,” which then topples the stack by loading too many additional elements in the final stretch. This second feature from “The Butterfly Effect” co-director Eric Bress likewise has a trickily structured take on reality. But in this case, it’s closer to the realm of “The Cabin in the Woods” in that the initial, fairly straightforward horror tale is eventually reframed as part of something larger.

It’s the kind of narrative leap that can make or break a film. But here it overcomplicates a narrative that should’ve better developed its basic elements, rather than lunging for a big-picture profundity it falls short of. Beautifully atmospheric to a point, handsomely produced, “Ghosts” gradually disappoints because its thematic ambitions add more clutter than depth to a story that’s most effective at its simplest. Vertical Entertainment is releasing to U.S. virtual cinemas, on demand and digital July 17, after being available exclusively via DirectTV for a month.

It’s 1944 in Nazi-occupied France, and a quintet of American soldiers are tasked with holding a private countryside residence recently utilized by German high command. After what Lt. Goodson (Brenton Thwaites) and his unit — bookish Eugene (Skylar Astin), all-brawn Butchie (Alan Ritchson), straight-arrow Kirk (Theo Rossi) and borderline-psychotic Tappert (Kyle Gallner) — have already been through, this assignment is practically a vacation. All they need to do is babysit the sprawling, spectacular chateau until replacements arrive, taking advantage of plush beds and a full larder after long hardships. Their enthusiasm is barely dampened by the inexplicable eagerness of the company they themselves are replacing to get the hell outta there.

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Their first night is a restless one, disturbed by phenomena like phantom footsteps on the floors above and doors that open by themselves, not to mention all those blankly staring dolls. A journal is discovered that reveals the original family residents (who’d hidden refugee Jews here) died horrible deaths at the hands of Nazis. Soon the Yanks concede this house is haunted, and are ready to decamp to the surrounding woods. But a regiment of Nazis turns up, making immediate escape impossible — and then, it seems, the house itself won’t let them go.

Shot in Bulgaria, “Ghosts of War” does a first-rate job establishing an environment of real-world as well as supernatural unease, with a very impressive look dominated by DP Lorenzo Senator’s complexly lit widescreen compositions and Antonello Rubino’s plush-yet-decrepit production design. The house has great personality inside and out, lending plenty of preparatory dread to some well-engineered jump scares.

But all too quickly we’re in the realm of chalk-faced, black-mouthed ghoulies simply lunging at the camera, and a sense of time-locked entrapment whose quest for resolution grows ever more frenetic. While Bress sprinkles a few telling anachronisms throughout, the eventual big reveal still feels like an overreach. Too action-oriented and dependent on genre tropes for the weight of moral and political questioning it takes on, “Ghosts” is never again as compelling as when just soaking in eerie mystery early on. The first half hour is so promising, this is the rare horror exercise you wish were longer, if only to let those rich atmospherics dominate longer before they’re crowded out by an excess of plot mechanics.

Though Thwaites’ nominal lead seems too boyish to command his fellow grunts, the cast is generally strong. Michael Suby’s original orchestral score strikes a note a bit conventional for a war movie that so quickly strays from robust, old-school combat adventure terrain.

Reviewed online, San Francisco, July 13, 2020. MPAA rating: R. Running time: 95 MIN.

Production: (U.K.) A Vertical Entertainment release of a Miscellaneous Entertainment production, in association with Highland Film Group. Producers: D. Todd Shepherd, Shelley Madison, Joe Simpson. Co-producer: J.E. Moore. Executive producers: Adrian Jayasinha, Andrew Mann, Colleen Camp, Billy Zane, Matthew Reese, Delphine Perrier, Arianne Fraser, Simon Williams, Hiroshi Mikitani, Josh James, Mike Clark, Henry Winterstern, Jonathan Bross, Alastair Burlingham, Charlie Dombek.
Crew: Director, writer: Eric Bress. Camera: Lorenzo Senatore. Editor: Peter Amundson. Music: Michael Suby.
With: Brenton Thwaites, Theo Rossi, Skylar Astin, Kyle Gallner, Alan Ritchson, Billy Zane, Shaun Toub, Vivian Gray, Laila Banki. (English, Arabic dialogue)

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Ghosts of War review – very tense wartime horror, despite the clichés

Ghosts of War is an uncommonly atmospheric and clever film. I watched it on the edge of my seat, while mentally just sitting back to take everything in, and then a time came when writer/director Eric Bress grabbed my comfy chair and spun it right round. I had thought I was excusing a few odd, minor flaws because I was so engaged with the story, but it turns out those weren’t flaws after all.

(There were a couple of other flaws, but never mind those for now.)

Five jaded American soldiers receive orders to look after a French chateau before the Nazis could return to try and claim it again. They arrive a day late to relieve another small party, who are simply itching to leave the place. But our team is relieved to put their feet up, at last, look forward to real beds, and enjoy a reasonably stocked kitchen… until they start to hear inexplicable noises and see some very sinister shadows.

Eric Bress wrote two of the Final Destination films, but – despite what my description may suggest – there is nothing hammy about the horror; nor, indeed, anything exaggerated about the gory images. There are ghosts, curses, and spooks aplenty in Ghosts of War , but the majority of said gory images are due to the horrors of war itself, rather than anything supernatural. We get to know the band of soldiers and see just enough of life in their uncomfortable shoes to feel their anxiety with them after the first night in that chateau, and sympathize when none of them quite know how to talk about it the next day.

Bress was also responsible for The Butterfly Effect (the only film he has directed until now), and that may give you a better idea of the style to expect: tense, rather than exciting; and protagonists who refuse to give in to hopelessness. The main protagonists are a believable bunch, who support each other, regardless of how well they get along. They are Chris (Brenton Thwaites, Titans ), Kirk (Theo Rossi, Luke Cage ), Tappert (Kyle Gallner, Veronica Mars ), Eugene (Skylar Astin, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist ) and Butchie (Alan Ritchson, Blue Mountain State ). They have all seen a bit too much war for anyone’s good (most notably Tappert, through whom Galler seems to channel a tightly wound Matthew McConaughey), but none are either slackers or squeaky clean patriots.

So in case it’s not obvious, I admired Ghosts of War a lot; and I’m not even sure why I went for it, as war films as a rule are not for me (perhaps it’s because I got a lot out of Overlord ). The flaws that got to me though were around the explanation of what was going on in the story and the ending in general. I felt that things were explained a little too thoroughly and in a rush (a bit like some have said about Hereditary , though I don’t quite agree there). And yet the ending itself was not as decisive or as clear as it could have been. These issues are kind of fundamental, but they weren’t deal-breakers by any means: the quality of the rest of the film was still with me after the credits had faded away.

The atmosphere was simply that strong. Mike Suby’s music was a major contributor: somewhere between subtle and “classic haunted house”, and never trying too hard to be retro. The use of sound, in general, was very effective: sometimes, if the five soldiers just heard tapping from an upstairs room that was enough to feel their fear. The few genre tropes that were used were mild, and used to good effect, never teasing or gratuitous. Lorenzo Senatore’s cinematography was also spot on. I had expected it to be too gloomy but there was enough daylight to contrast well with the nighttime interior scenes. He also managed to capture the soldiers’ confusion and claustrophobia with the camera.

I should warn you that Ghosts of War is a distinctly grown-up film: I have no argument with its R rating. It’s a psychological horror film set in wartime, so of course, nasty things happen, and some of those nasty things are shown on screen. Towards the end, there was even one image that encapsulated the “real horror” of war, so that everything before it lost meaning for a moment. And interestingly, there was very little judgment in Ghosts of War : the five young Americans had plenty of opportunities to declare hatred against the evils of Nazism, etc, and they did debate (inconclusively) the nature of evil at one point. The enemy was not evil, in this film, but rather war itself and what it can do to people.

That said, Ghosts of War is not heavy going throughout. It also features Billy Zane…

Article by Alix Turner

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Summary Five battle-hardened American soldiers are assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. Formerly occupied by the Nazi high command, this unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy far more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield.

Directed By : Eric Bress

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Brenton Thwaites

Kyle Gallner

Alan Ritchson

Skylar Astin

Vivian Gray

Laila Banki

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Ghosts of war, common sense media reviewers.

WWII haunted house story has violence, gore, and swearing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Some positive examples of teamwork. Sexist and rac

Soldiers work together to help each other, but the

Characters are shot at point-blank range and have

Character looks at topless photos in a pornographi

Language used includes "f--k," "f--king," "s--t,"

Characters drink brandy with a meal. Characters sm

Positive Messages

Some positive examples of teamwork. Sexist and racist behavior is depicted.

Positive Role Models

Soldiers work together to help each other, but their attitudes to foreigners and women are outdated. They occasionally use racist slurs and refer to women as sex objects. They also kill unarmed assailants rather than take them prisoner.

Violence & Scariness

Characters are shot at point-blank range and have their throats slit, causing blood spray and death. Other characters are bludgeoned to death with metal bars, with blood spraying from their wounds. A dead soldier's gold tooth is prised from their mouth with a knife. Wartime weapons such as pistols and rifles shown and used throughout. References to torture include conversations about a character's tongue being cut out and legs being cut off. Broken fingers. Limbs blown off and severe burns caused by explosive blasts. Characters burned alive. Other characters hanged and drowned. Several fight scenes where characters are dragged across floors. Supernatural events and demonic ghouls provide plenty of jump scares. Characters have nightmares that depict their own deaths.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Character looks at topless photos in a pornographic magazine. References to female genitalia and "cat houses" (slang for brothels). Sexually transmitted infections referred to as "the clap."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language used includes "f--k," "f--king," "s--t," "ass," "a--hole," "whore," "s--thead," "motherf--ker," "old hag," and "goddamn." "Jesus" is used as an exclamation. Ethnic slurs frequently used, including "Jerries" for Germans and "Japs" for Japanese. A racist slur about Asian women's genitalia being "sideways."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink brandy with a meal. Characters smoke cigarettes occasionally, and at one point a cigar.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Ghosts of War is a World War Two violent horror about five soldiers protecting a French Chateau previously occupied by Nazi leaders. It quickly becomes clear that the house is haunted, and so they must fight off both opposing Nazi soldiers and the ghosts that inhabit the building. Graphic violence features throughout, as wartime battles and set pieces play out involving guns, knives, and explosives. Several gruesome deaths are shown, inflicted variously by shooting, stabbing, burning, hanging, and drowning. There are also plenty of jump scares and ghoulish demons. These are mostly telegraphed with creepy music and ominous sound effects. Drinking is shown with meals -- but not to excess -- while multiple characters also smoke. Topless women appear in 1940s pornographic magazines, and there is some discussion between the soldiers about their desire for sex with prostitutes. There are a number of ethnic and racial slurs used in the movie. Germans are called "Jerries" and the Japanese "Japs." The soldiers also refer to Asian women's genitalia as being "sideways." There is frequent strong language including "motherf--ker" and "whore." Post-traumatic shock is a prominent theme, with the soldiers often having nightmares that picture their own deaths, before waking up startled and disorientated. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parents say (6)
Kids say (1)

Based on 6 parent reviews

The best war movie ever!

Intense but yet the best, what's the story.

GHOSTS OF WAR follows a squad of U.S. soldiers during World War Two as their mission across Nazi-occupied France leads them to an empty Chateau that must be protected. As they wait for back-up, they must deal with a series of conflicts and unsettling supernatural events.

Is It Any Good?

With its interesting set-up -- a cross between a period war movie and a horror story -- this delivers more bumps in the night that it does genuine scares. This isn't a bad thing in itself, but it is haunted by various weaknesses. For a start, the main characters are a bunch of sub- Inglourious Basterds whose first interaction with their enemy is to fight and kill defenseless Nazi soldiers disarmed by a bomb blast. As a result, they're not a sympathetic bunch and there's little to differentiate them from one another, either.

Once inside the Chateau, its claustrophobic setting and unusual goings on do build suspense and mystery. But we're left to selected readings of various books by Skylar Astin 's character, Eugene, to provide hints at what might be going on. This makes for uneven and awkward dialogue throughout, as bigger and bigger hints are dropped that all is not as it seems. It also results in Ghosts of War 's twist being delivered with all the subtlety of one of its grisly murders. Solid performances and decent special effects make it watchable, but this isn't a haunted house story to write home about.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Ghosts of War 's violence . What's the difference between the violence committed by the soldiers and by the movie's supernatural forces? How did it affect you? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

How scary is the movie? Why? What scared you the most? What's the appeal of scary movies?

Discuss the World War II backdrop? How much do you know about WWII? Why were U.S. soldiers fighting in Nazi-occupied France in 1944?

Talk about the language used in the movie. The soldiers use various racial slurs throughout the movie. Discuss the impact of this type of language. How white parents can use media to raise anti-racist kids.

How does the plot twist change the rest of the movie? Were you expecting it? Would you watch the movie again despite knowing the ending?

Movie Details

In theaters : July 17, 2020
On DVD or streaming : July 17, 2020
Cast : Brenton Thwaites , Theo Rossi , Kyle Gallner
Director : Eric Bress
Studio : Vertical Entertainment
Genre : Horror
Run time : 94 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence, disturbing and grisly images, language and brief nude images
Last updated : December 7, 2022

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Film review: ghosts of war (2020).

Damien Riley 10/04/2020 Film Reviews

Review: This film is on Amazon Prime Video currently, at time of writing this. I’m happy to review this film that really made an attempt at being a blockbuster. Brenton Thwaites (“The Giver,” “Gods of Egypt”) is just the younger fame aboard. We even have Billy Zane in the cast! Who can forget him in Titanic and so many other amazing stories like Daredevil. The guy has gotten around! He still looks like one scary dude too I might add. In this oddly told tale of ghosts in WWII however, he’s sort of the voice of reason that explains all the supernatural phenomena going on. Other stars in the film include: Theo Rossi, Kyle Gallner, Skylar Astin, and Alan Ritchson. I enjoyed this film, especially the odd ending but it’s still a B movie by my estimation. Despite the director’s efforts and the “cast of thousands” it makes only a small splash in a genre that’s seen this before. Let me flesh it out for you.

Our director is Eric Bress, also known as writer/director of “The Butterfly Effect.” That’s another intense film that is in the category of suspense but not horror. Some of the images and highly intense scenes in it are reminiscent of “Ghosts of War” but it’s more of a drama. The writing is excellent. This is his strength. I admire any writer who earns the privilege to direct his own work. Bress is one of those directors. But maybe he should have done some films in between? You know, to keep his chops up? “Ghosts of War” has mostly failed with IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. At the same time it has scored well with RogerEbert.com and random scatterings of reviews on the web. We have war scenes and a war backdrop. After that though, it’s 100% ghost story.

Does it have creepy, scary moments? Not to an extreme degree. Still, much time and expense was put into the soundtrack. The semi-transparent ghosts reminded me of the ones in Guillermo del Toro’s “Devil’s Backbone.” I experienced the “chilling” creepy factor I crave in horror watching the film. A sleepy, foggy atmosphere permeates the film. There is nothing scary here like a jump scare is scary. At the same time, it has that heady feeling that supernatural events are bound to occur, and they do.

Another film that it reminded me of is “Overlord.” That was an amazing film based in WWII. The Nazis has a role similar to those in “Ghosts of War.” It’s a similar walk through that history but there are no frightening scenes that even come close to Overlord in “Ghosts of War.” I think that was intentional. Much has also has been written about the ending. Some are confused by it and some ratchet up the score because they think it’s so good. It is unexpected that’s for sure.

“Overlord” starts with a multi-million dollar effect of being in a WWII bomber parachuting down. I’m afraid of heights so this opening sequence freaks me out every time. To a horror fan, it’s fun to be freaked out. I know you agree right? You won’t see vast scenes like that in “ Ghosts of War .”

Cinematography and music make this film much better than its story. I see this film as driven by ambience. The story weaves and the ending really goes a different way. Still, it’s interesting what the director does, I do recommend it for fans of war films, horror, and the actors. Do people still go to see movies because their favorite actors are in them? I do sometimes.

In conclusion, this is no B movie. It has a cast of many famous actors including Billy Zane. It is set in war but the actors and the ghosts make it a universally pleasing horror. It’s highest feature is the creepy ambience. The story is good and the ending twist is excellent. While not perfect, I think you will enjoy this film. I recommend it as a 7/10.

Tags 2020 Alan Ritchson Billy Zane Brenton Thwaites Eric Bress GHOSTS OF WAR Kyle Gallner Skylar Astin Theo Rossi

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Ghosts of War

Ghosts of War Movie Review

Written by Shane D. Keene

Released by Vertical Entertainment

Written and directed by Eric Bress 2020, 95 minutes, Rated R Released on July 17th, 2020

Starring: Brenton Thwaites as Chris Theo Rossi as Kirk Kyle Gallner as Tappert Skylar Astin as Eugene Alan Ritchson as Butchie

I went into Director Eric Bress’s new film, Ghosts of War , with pretty high expectations. I love a good war/horror movie mashup when it’s done well, which is rare, but there are few gems to be found. Films like Overlord and Dead Snow do a good job of delivering solid, scary entertainment with war as a backdrop; there are a couple of others, but they are few and far between. So, I grabbed this one at the first opportunity and hoped I’d love it. And you know what? I didn’t hate it. It kind of took me a minute to come to that conclusion because of a problem my funny bone couldn’t get around – I’ll explain – but I finally did. So, read on and let me tell you some great things about it and what made me love it upon assessment.

The two things that most often detract from, or outright destroy, these types of films are shoddy storytelling, and/or unforgivably bad acting. Most of the time you get a whole lot of blood and guts and gore, oh my, but they never get around to justifying it with the plot. They rely on action and practical effects to carry the day and it just doesn’t get me there. This one, I’m delighted to tell you, breaks that sorry mold. The story and characterizations give you something to really sink your incisors into. In WWII, five American soldiers, veterans of hardcore brutal warfare, are holding a German outpost toward the tail end of the war, waiting for their backup. While they are waiting, they’re beset by vengeful spirits. Terrifying ones that make the ghosts of The Conjuring seem like pizza delivery drivers by comparison. It is a fast, fun, brutal bloodfest, chock full of gore and comes complete with an insane battle scene between Americans, Nazis, and ghosts.

Then there are the five actors, some, like Theo Rossi (Shades, Luke Cage ), are immediately recognizable, others, not so much, but still bring solid performances. The two most remarkable, though, are Rossi and Kyle Gallner. Rossi for a few reasons, but mostly because he’s really good at convincing you he’s scared shitless. But when the action is waning, he also brings that wiseass air of aloof confidence that he’s known for. As acting jobs go, his and Gallner’s are both B-movie gold, managing to show real emotion and quirky personality traits that make them appealing and memorable. Every one of them play their roles well and deliver solid story-driving performances.

Now, the fun stuff. Remember those old Scooby-Doo cartoons? Well, there are a few scenes in Ghosts of War that would do Scooby and the gang proud. And once I flash-burned that idea into my head, I had difficulty not laughing at a lot of the movie that I probably wouldn’t normally find humorous. But it didn’t make me hate the film, and although unintentional, in a way it just makes it more fun. The film made me laugh, terrified the hell out of me in spots, and is gloriously bloody and packed with wall-to-wall brutality. All the sorts of things that draw me to these movies in the first place.

So, rest assured, the Mystery Machine never makes an appearance, but the camera work, acting, directing, and lighting all stellar. And best of all, it’s a damn good story with an almost not nonsensical plot to it, and it comes bearing all the traits of a good time. Not great, but worth your time.

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Ghosts of War – Movie Review (3/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Jul 13, 2020 | 4 minutes

GHOSTS OF WAR is a new horror-thriller from Eric Bress, who also wrote and directed The Butterfly Effect (2004). His new movie starts out pretty damn perfectly but then it completely collapses on itself. In several ways. Read how in our full Ghosts of War review here!

GHOSTS OF WAR is a new horror-thriller that starts out so well that my expectations for it shot up immediately. Unfortunately, it’s a near-total collapse before it ends. I have rarely been so disappointed with how a movie progresses.

In terms of both style, cast and storyline, Ghosts of War has so much potential. There is nothing to really warn you that this movie is about to just up and implode on itself. Even though there is actually a very strange moment early on that should have been an initial warning.

Continue reading our Ghosts of War review below.

The cast of Ghosts of War

Before I get into what went wrong with Ghosts of War , let me start out by giving credit to the cast. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the cast of Ghosts of War . In fact, the five actors starring in this movie deliver some really solid performances.

The five brothers in arms are portrayed by Brenton Thwaites, Theo Rossi, Kyle Gallner, Skylar Astin, and Alan Ritchson.

Brenton Thwaites is in charge as Chris. You may recognize Thwaites from Mike Flanagan’s Oculus or Gods of Egypt (2016). Theo Rossi (“Juice” on Sons of Anarchy ) plays Kirk, who is a strong and stable soldier.

Kyle Gallner is the soldier that seems to take it way too far one moment but then calmly helps Jewish refugees the next. He basically has a very strong sense of right and wrong. Kyle Gallner is quickly making a career out of portraying characters that a just a bit too far out there – most recently in The Master Cleanse . And he always does an excellent job.

Skylar Astin is Eugene. The classic brainy guy, who wears glasses and always has a book with him. Prior to watching Skylar Astin in this, I knew him primarily from Pitch Perfect so this felt very different.

Finally, Alan Ritchson plays “Butchie” and yes, he is the big butch guy, who always fights for his brothers. You should know Alan Ritchson from Black Mirror ( the “Nosedive” episode ), The Hunger Games, and Titans .

Billy Zane is also in this movie (also as a producer), but honestly, I haven’t expected anything impressive from him for years. No disrespect meant, despite the fact that I know it sounds that way, he simply delivers the same performance every time. It isn’t a character, I see. Instead, I just see Billy Zane in the movie… and having him speak badly German does not help!

Ghosts of War (2020) – Horror Movie Review

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Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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Movie Review: Ghosts of War (2020)

MJT Gregory
Movie Reviews
--> July 16, 2020

The mission brief to Ghosts of War is simple: Five American soldiers must defend a chateau in 1944 Normandy, that, as luck would have it, is apparently haunted. Sadly, however, this trope-laden plot is the only pillar of stability in an incomprehensible mess of a film, which burns like a ragged bullet-wound to the stomach.

Writer/director Eric Bress (director of 2004’s “The Butterfly Effect” and writer of “ The Final Destination ” and “Final Destination 2”) introduces a band of identikit soldiers lifted straight out of “Saving Private Ryan.” They are: A wild-eyed sniper (Kyle Gallner, “ Welcome to Happiness ”), a bookish and bespectacled translator (Skylar Astin, “ 21 and Over ”), a big tough-guy called “Butch” (Alan Ritchson, “ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows ”), a story-telling soldier (Theo Rossi, “ When the Bough Breaks ”), and a clean-cut all-American captain (Brenton Thwaites, “ A Violent Separation ”), tortured by some unknown secret. These stale war-genre characters receive orders to guard a familiar horror-genre setting — the spooky mansion full of doll houses, music boxes, creaking floorboards, and the occasional jump scare.

What begins as a bad movie quickly devolves into a complete editorial shamble. Sequences have clearly been inexplicably cut or reordered — characters appear with unexplained facial scratches, only for the injuries to disappear in the subsequent scene, then reappear in the next.

But beyond just being poorly put together on a technical level, the themes of Ghosts of War also manage to be both boring and offensive. It offers a nasty and simplistic view of WWII history, casually introducing bedraggled holocaust survivors with no clear purpose other than a deliberate attempt to score historical points and earn moral capital. Enemy assailants are portrayed as frothing-mouthed foreigners straight out of “Team America,” except without the irony of satire.

The film is offensive across the spectrum — name your tribe and it will find a feather to ruffle. The result is an unintended desire for the evil phantoms of the chateau to exterminate our repugnant group of stereotypical heroes as quickly as possible. And despite the glorification of combat, there is a total absence of military swagger. This is war-crime porn for the “Call of Duty” generation.

Ultimately, the laborious and coincidence-dependent plot to “hold the fort” at all costs against insurmountable (and unseen) odds felt much like the viewing experience — a gargantuan effort to dig in and grit through. A bizarre twist in the third-act does nothing to reset the wrongs of the previous 80 minutes — of a 94-minute runtime — leaving us feeling cheated, confused, and angry.

A cinematic court-martial should be called. Ghosts of War should be sentenced to death by firing squad, leaving its tormented spirit to drift across the ether of streaming platforms, haunting any viewer unfortunate enough to have watched it.

Tagged: France , ghost , haunted house , Nazi , soldier , WWII

London-dwelling twenty-something | Work in the city, escape on the screen | Tweet me happy @MJTGregory

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[Movie Review] GHOSTS OF WAR

July 14, 2020
Devin March

One thing I really appreciated about GHOSTS OF WAR was the casting. All of our five primary characters hold a wide variety of acting experience from films like Pitch Perfect , to shows like “Letterkenny”. Tappert, played by Kyle Gallner has had roles in several horror films and that experience shines through firmly in this film. I also felt surprised seeing Alan Ritchson (Butchie) in a role as serious as this considering most things I’ve seen him in have been comedies or family films (“Blue Mountain State”, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ). I think that he really brought a strong contribution as a character to the squad of soldiers in this film, even if it was brief. The casting for GHOSTS OF WAR was unique and very suitable. Plus they brought in Billy Zane! Who doesn’t love him!?

With the current state of the world, I will say I had a blast watching soldiers kill some Nazis, even if I thought it might be a bit over the top for most viewers in some scenes. However, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love gore in movies. Although the bloodshed in the film was very present, it did feel appropriate considering the time period the film is set. War is savagery and I’m quite sure what I saw on film was extremely mild compared to reality. The heartbreak and trauma have to be worse than anything we could ever see on screen.

Now let’s get into the “scare” component of the film. There are a lot of stories about Nazis dabbling in the occult and that is one thing this film strongly taps into. For those who have seen Overlord , we caught a taste of the twisted Nazi experimentation during World War II. But I felt that is only an ankle-deep exploration of what these bastards did during the war. GHOSTS OF WAR gives us another look at what these sick and arrogant people did to further their reach of power. The haunting presence of Nazi occultism generated the jump scares throughout the film. Typically, I dislike jump scares because I find them to be a very cheap way to scare audiences. However, GHOSTS OF WAR creates a chilling ambiance that made the scares incredibly effective and actually made me tense up periodically during my viewing. There’s a particular scene involving a bathtub, a drill, and some Nazi soldiers in gas masks that gave me quite a fright. Despite these impactful scenes, there were a few scenes with ghosts that appeared a bit hokey to me but it didn’t make the scares any less effective.

GHOSTS OF WAR did an amazing job of playing on the fear of the supernatural and occultism and nailed the time period aspect of World War II. I had a blast watching and it furthered my love for period piece films. Out of all of the new films I’ve watched during this real-life horror movie we’re all living in, GHOSTS OF WAR has to be my favorite film of 2020! There’s a major twist that I don’t want to spoil but it honestly dropped my jaw.

If you’re a fan of war movies and haunted houses, look no further because GHOSTS OF WAR is the movie for you! I would love to see this in a double feature at the drive-in with Overlord , Dog Soldiers , or even We Are Still Here . Please don’t sleep on GHOSTS OF WAR because it’s one hell of a ride!

GHOSTS OF WAR will be available On-Demand and on Digital on July 17, 2020.

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Ghosts of War Review: A Few Nice Twists Can’t Keep This Afloat

By Grant Hermanns

Brenton Thwaites as Chris

Theo Rossi as Kirk

Skylar Astin as Eugene

Kyle Gallner as Tappert

Alan Ritchson as Butchie

Shaun Toub as Mr. Helwig

Billy Zane as Dr. Engel

Written and Directed by Eric Bress

You can rent or buy your copy here!

Ghosts of War Review:

Despite being filled with potential for numerous horrific tales, World War II has very rarely been touched upon or utilized in the horror genre, maybe vaguely referenced in multiple but very rarely directly used and though Eric Bress’ Ghosts of War manages to get a few decent scares out of this time period, it still proves to be a mostly lackluster and unscary effort.

During the bleakest days of WW2, five battled-hardened soldiers are given a cake assignment; to hold down a Chateau in the French countryside formerly used by the Nazi high command. What begins as an unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter an enemy far more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield. Cut off from contact with the outside world, Lieutenant Goodson and his men begin experiencing inexplicable events and are taunted by malevolent unseen forces. Something is occupying the house; an evil that will not let them leave alive.

Bress is not a bad filmmaker by any means, as he and J. Mackye Gruber proved in their directorial debuts The Butterfly Effect that they had plenty of style behind the camera and knew how to craft an emotional and twisty script, but in looking at the rest of his filmography, it becomes apparent that he can’t quite sustain without Gruber and Ghosts of War is one of the clearest examples. The story may not be the most original affair, but it offers what could have been a nice setup for either a simply fun haunted house ride or the twistier heights that it shoots for, but instead in trying to aim for both it mostly fails in the same manner.

The dialogue is a little rote and full of clichés for both the horror and war genres, with soldiers lamenting the atrocities they’ve committed and horrible things they’ve seen and reflecting on their childhoods growing up and the various spiritual and superstitious beliefs hey may or may not hold. The writing does also initially appear to be full of anachronisms and continuity errors, but as the film progresses these start to resolve themselves in intriguing fashion and offers up a few unique twists to the story that could’ve been great had the surrounding film been better.

As far as the scares go, it’s all pretty par for the course in the modern genre of filmmakers believing that the best way to terrify a viewer is to throw something in front of the camera that wasn’t there a second ago with a very loud musical screech. That’s not to say that some of the imagery on display in front of the lens isn’t disturbing, because the spirits are pretty haunting to look at in a few of their brief appearances, but the more they linger on screen, the less-intimidating they are and the jump scares themselves prove to be uninteresting and more evident of a rush job than taking the time to build suspense.

Despite a cast full of talented performers, they all mostly prove to be uninteresting in their fairly routine characters, becoming a meld of forgettable and cardboard cutouts that make it hard to truly care about them. Brenton Thwaites’ Chris fluctuates back and forth between a wide-eyed younger soldier thoroughly afraid of their current situation and a leader-type trying to help keep his group together, but be it his performance, the writing, or both, it feels like a real imbalance of a central character that proves hard to connect to and even harder to care for.

Though Ghosts of War has some interesting ideas on how to blend a unique story with an old-fashioned haunted house thrill ride, its lackluster writing, uninteresting characters, and dull performances add up to a true waste of potential.

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Ghosts Of War Review: A Movie Horror Fans Will Love

By: Author Tessa Smith

Posted on Last updated: July 14, 2020

Ghosts Of War is a super creepy war movie that is full of jump scares. I love me some horror movies, but this one sure is intense!

If you know me, you know that I love horror movies. Don’t get me wrong, I hate being scared, but for some reason I enjoy doing it to myself. Yeah, I don’t get it either. One of my favorite aspects of horror movies is the suspense. I also kind of have a thing for gore. Again, I totally know this isn’t normal, but it’s me.

Ghosts of war takes all of the things I love about horror movies, and sticks in it a war movie — another one my of my favorite genres. So clearly, this movie is an absolute must watch in my opinion. This movie is beyond creepy.

Five soldiers are ordered to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. When they show up to relieve the group that is already there, they all but run from the place. One even leaves behind his ruck sack. It doesn’t take long for them to figure out why.

Creepy things start happening right away. Hearing noises, seeing things, and eventually, it goes a step further. Eventually one of them finds a journal in the home and discovers that there was a family in the house — and the Nazis murdered them when they first took the house. They drowned the son, hung the daughter, and set the father on fire — all before brutally murdering the mother.

When a group of Nazis show up and try to take the chateau, things get really crazy. The ghosts sort of help them fight them, and one of their own gets severely injured in the process.

As he is dying, he tells them to remember, and that this isn’t real. That it was them. I had no clue what that meant, but I knew it would mean something at the end of the movie. I refuse to give spoilers but let’s just say I had no clue where this twist was going — but it was amazing when it was revealed.

Overall Thoughts

If you love horror movies that are filled with jump scares, Ghosts of War is for you. There is also some gore, although I have seen worse. The story overall is actually a good one. Honestly, often horror movies are lacking when it comes to plot but I was hooked into this one from the beginning, just trying desperately to guess what was happening.

I refuse to give spoilers because trust me when I say, this is more than worth watching from beginning to end. There were moments where my heart was pounding out of my chest, and then I jumped a mile when the suspense was finally broken.

P.S. The ghosts themselves are terrifying close up. So be ready for that. You can see them on the poster and they don’t look so bad… that changes in the actual film.

About Ghosts Of War

Five battle-hardened American soldiers are assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. Formerly occupied by the Nazi high command, this unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy far more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield.

GHOSTS OF WAR stars the ensemble cast of:

Brenton Thwaites (The Giver, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales)
Alan Ritchson (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series)
Skylar Astin (“Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” Pitch Perfect series)
Theo Rossi (“Luke Cage,” “Sons of Anarchy”)
Kyle Gallner (American Sniper, The Finest Hour)
Billy Zane (Titanic, Dead Calm)
Shaun Toub (“Homeland,” Crash)

The film is the directorial sophomore film for screenwriter Eric Bress ( The Butterfly Effect, The Final Destination ).

GHOSTS OF WAR will be available on digital on demand July 17, 2020 and on DirecTV on June 18, 2020.

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Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.

Ghosts of War Ending, Explained

Written and directed by Eric Bress (‘ The Butterfly Effect ’), ‘Ghosts of War’ transitions from one genre to another several times throughout its 90-minute runtime. It’s a war drama in the first act, a horror in the second, and a science fiction in the third. While the movie is more or less predictable because of how Bress employs jump scares and traditional war film tropes, the final twist is genuinely surprising. It gives the otherwise conventional film layers of complexity and makes it quite entertaining. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Ghosts of War Plot Synopsis

In 1944, at the height of World War II, five US soldiers, Chris (Brenton Thwaites), Kirk (Theo Rossi), Eugene (Skylar Astin), Tappert (Kyle Gallner), and Butchie (Alan Ritchson), make their way through the French countryside towards their newest assignment, which is to guard a mansion until further notice. Before the Allied forces take over, the house has been used by the Nazi high command. When they arrive there, they discover that the members of the squad that they are supposed to replace at the mansion are seemingly spooked by something and can’t wait to get out of there.

This confuses Chris and his men. The supplies are full, and the palatial house offers every comfort and luxury imaginable. When they question the other crew, the answers they receive are evasive at best. It doesn’t take them long to determine the real reason for the previous group’s hasty departure. The house is haunted by the spirits of its original owners, a family of four, who were killed by the Nazis apparently because they were giving shelter to Jewish people.

The son (Kaloyan Hristov) was drowned. The daughter, Christina (Yanitsa Mihailova), was hanged. The father, Mr. Helwig (Shaun Toub), was doused with kerosene and burnt alive in front of his wife (Laila Banki). The five American soldiers start getting odd messages like “I have no legs” through Morse codes. Later, a demonic voice screams at them that if they try to leave, they will die. One night, the Nazis attempt to take back the mansion. Although the attack is squashed, Butchie is mortally wounded after trying to protect the others by falling on a grenade.

Before Butchie dies, he repeatedly screams, “This isn’t real,” “It was us,” and Remember.” The remaining soldiers try to leave the mansion but find out that they can’t, as they always end up walking the same roads. They go back to the mansion, hoping that performing the last rites of the Helwig family will free them of the loop. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. They get attacked by the ghosts. However, suddenly, the ghosts start glitching, and Chris wakes up in the real world.

Ghosts of War Ending

In the end, it turns out that none of the things that Chris and his men experienced until that point in the film is real. They are modern soldiers who were deployed in Afghanistan. During a mission to extract a high-value informant, they all suffered severe injuries and have been in a drug-induced coma since. They were placed in a World War II simulation to help them heal psychologically and mentally.

Dr. Engel is the man in charge of the off-the-record facility where Chris and others are kept. He is also represented in the simulation as the Nazi major whom the American soldiers encounter and kill. What Dr. Engel and his team didn’t foresee is that the subconscious minds of the injured soldiers will continue to remind them that the simulation isn’t real. The Morse code about not having legs is Chris’ subconscious reminding him that his legs had to be amputated following the mission. Kirk trying to scratch his legs is the result of a phantom itch, as he too lost his legs.

As Chris correctly figures out, the demonic voice on the radio is not a threat but a warning, which lets them know if they leave the simulation, they will die. Butchie’s self-sacrifice during the German attack was stimulating enough to wake him up from the coma. The fact that he gets injured during the Afghanistan mission while doing the very thing must have also played a crucial role in his awakening. According to Dr. Engel, Butchie died after seeing his physical condition, but before he did, he tried to make the others remember what actually happened.

The Vetrulek Curse

Because it is a simulation, the soldiers find themselves walking on a loop. The diary belonging to a German soldier that Eugene finds appears blank at first to Chris for the same reason. As the memories of their real lives begin to invade the simulation, the text in the diary suddenly becomes Arabic, and the Helwigs, an Afghan family. In the film, Vetrulek is an ancient Islamic curse employed by a victim of an atrocity towards people who stand by and do nothing.

Although it is entirely fictional, made up just for the film, it gives the horror aspects of ‘Ghosts of War’ a theological angle. In Afghanistan, the group’s mission was to move a physician and his family to a secure location in Kabul. The intel the doctor provided led to the capture of some of the top leaders of ISIS in the country. But the terrorists found out that he was working with the American forces. They arrive right before the extraction, forcing the team and the physician’s CIA handler to abort the mission.

They hid and watched helplessly as the members of the Afghan family were killed, in an exact manner as the Helwigs. After the terrorists were gone, the team came out of hiding. It was then that the mother rushed towards them, with an explosive in her hands. The ensuing explosion is what led to their current conditions. Before she dies, she curses them with Vetrulek. It has followed them into the simulation, tormenting and punishing them because they didn’t do anything to protect the Afghan family.

Return to the Simulation

After regaining his memories, Chris realizes what is happening and convinces the doctors to put him back into the simulation, so he can save his crew. However, he loses all his real-world memories during the transition and wakes up in the same forest as the opening scenes, with the same stranger covered in shadows watching him, and Chris asking, “What do you want?.’

The simulation versions of the team members are all resting in the same circular pattern as their real-life counterparts. Evidently, the simulation has undergone a restart. With his memories completely wiped, Chris doesn’t realize this, and is bound to relive the horrors of this digital hell once more along with his friends.

Read More: Scariest Horror Films of the 21st century

Civil War ditches present politics in favor of gripping action and emotion

Ex Machina director Alex Garland wanted to tell a timeless human story, not an agenda-driven, partisan one

A blonde woman in a “Press” bulletproof vest stands in the White House in Civil War

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A version of this review ran in March 2024 in conjunction with the movie’s original coverage embargo. It has been updated and republished for the theatrical release.

In an era of divisive, high-stakes U.S. politics, it isn’t surprising to see so many people online responding to the entire concept of Alex Garland’s Civil War as if it’s inherently toxic. Set on and around the front lines of a near-future America broken into separatist factions, Garland’s latest (after the fairly baffling fable-esque Men ) looks like a timely but opportunistic provocation, a movie that can’t help but feel either exploitative or far too close to home in a country whose name, the United States, sounds more ironic and laughable with every passing year.

And yet Garland says that America’s present widespread divisions aren’t really what Civil War is about . The movie is about as apolitical as a story set during a modern American civil war can be. It’s a character piece with a lot more to say about the state of modern journalism and the people behind it than about the state of the nation.

It’s almost perverse how little Civil War reveals about the sides in its central conflict, or the causes or crises that led to war. (Viewers who show up expecting an action movie that confirms their own political biases and demonizes their opponents are going to leave especially confused about what they just watched.) This isn’t a story about the causes or strategies of post-united America: It’s a personal story about the hows and whys of war journalism — and how the field changes for someone covering a war in their homeland, instead of on foreign turf.

Lee Miller (Kirsten Dunst) is a veteran war photographer, a celebrated, awarded, deeply jaded woman who’s made a career out of pretending to be bulletproof in arenas where the bullets are flying — or at least being bulletproof long enough to capture memorable, telling images of what bullets do to other people’s bodies and psyches. Her latest assignment: She and her longtime work partner Joel (Wagner Moura) have been promised an interview with the president (Nick Offerman), who is now in his third term in office and coming off more than a year of public silence.

It’s a dream opportunity for a war correspondent — a chance to make history, and maybe more importantly, to make sense of the man whose choices seem to have been key in pushing the country over the line and into war. But securing the interview will require traveling more than 800 miles to Washington DC, through active war zones, and past hostile barricades erected by state militias or other heavily armed local forces. Tagging along on this potentially lethal road trip is Jessie ( Priscilla star Cailee Spaeny), a green but ambitious 23-year-old photographer who Lee obviously thinks is likely to get herself killed along the way — or get the whole traveling party killed.

The tension between Lee and Jessie forms the center of Civil War , far more than the tension between any particular political perspectives does. They’re potential mentor and her potential replacement, the past and future of their chosen career, allies but competitors, chasing the same things within a small profession known equally for its rivalries and its interpublication commiseration. That gives the film plenty of low-key, sublimated tension, which gets more air than the actual country-wide conflict the two women are navigating. For all that the movie is coming in a time when pundits keep warning about the potential for an actual new American civil war , Garland’s Civil War barely tips its hand about the specifics of the conflicts.

There’s plenty there for viewers who want to read between the lines, about which states are in revolt (California, Texas, and Florida all get passing mentions as separatist states) and about the soldiers — mostly Southern and many rural — who get significant screen time. (Jesse Plemons surfaces as yet another in his long line of terrifying men with clear potential for violence, and a dangerously blank affect that keeps people from knowing when that violence is coming.) But Lee’s angry exhaustion and Jessie’s fear and excitement over learning more about the profession from someone she respects are the real heart of the story.

All of which makes Civil War a movie more about why war correspondents are drawn to the profession than about any particular perspective on present American politics. And it’s a terrific, immersive meditation on war journalism. Lee and her colleagues are presented as half thrill-seeker adrenaline monkeys, half dutiful documentarians determined to bring back a record of events that other people aren’t recording. They’re doing important work, the movie suggests, but they have to be more than a little reckless both to choose the profession and to return to the battlefield over and over.

Lee never gives any big speeches about the difference between covering war in Afghanistan and in Charlottesville, but it’s clear she’s fraying under the pressure of watching her own country in such a rattled and ragged state, with hardened soldiers on both sides demonizing other Americans the way Americans have demonized entire foreign nations. Jessie, for her part, seems impervious to the weight of that reality, but still far less inured to cruelty and to combat. The two women push powerfully at each other, with a clear, beautifully drawn, yet unspoken sense that when Lee looks at Jessie, she sees her own younger, dumber, softer self, and when Jessie looks at Lee, she sees her own future as a famous, capable, confident journalist.

All of this character work is built into a series of intense, immersive action sequences, as Lee’s group repeatedly risks death, trying to negotiate their way across battle lines or embed themselves with soldiers during pitched combat. The finale sequence, a run-and-gun combat through city streets and tight building interiors, is a gripping thrill ride that Garland directs with the immediacy of a war documentary.

The entire film is paced and planned with that dynamic involved. It’s a particularly gorgeous drama, shot with a loving warmth that reflects its point of view, through the eyes of two photographers used to conceiving of everything around them in terms of vivid, compelling images. A late-film sequence shot as the group drives through a forest fire is especially beautiful, but the movie in general seems designed to impress viewers on a visual level. By mid-film, it becomes clear that Lee shoots with a digital camera, while Jessie shoots on old-school film, and that for both of them, that choice is important and symbolic.

In the same way, Garland’s shot choices and the movie’s vivid color keep reminding the audience that this is a movie about not just documenting moments, but capturing them well enough to mesmerize an audience. In some ways, Civil War comes across as nostalgic for an earlier era of journalism and photography. The collapse of the internet seems to have reset the news to a point where print journalism dominates over TV or social media, and no one seems to be getting their news online. It’s the most prominent retro aspect of a story that’s otherwise reflecting a potential future.

What the movie isn’t about is taking sides in any particular present political conflict. That may surprise and disappoint the people drawn to Civil War because they think they know what it’s about. But it’s also a relief. It’s hard for message movies about present politics to not turn into clumsy polemics. It’s hard for any document of history to accurately document it as it’s happening. That’s the job of journalists like Jessie and Lee — people willing to risk their lives to bring back reports from places most people wouldn’t dare go.

And while it does feel opportunistic to frame their story specifically within a new American civil war — whether a given viewer sees that narrative choice as timely and edgy, or cynical attention-grabbing — the setting still feels far less important than the vivid, emotional, richly complicated drama around two people, a veteran and a newbie, each pursuing the same dangerous job in their own unique way. Civil War seems like the kind of movie people will mostly talk about for all the wrong reasons, and without seeing it first. It isn’t what those people will think it is. It’s something better, more timely, and more thrilling — a thoroughly engaging war drama that’s more about people than about politics.

Civil War debuts in theaters on April 12.

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‘Civil War’ review: Alex Garland’s dystopian vision of America horrifies

Movie review.

Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is essentially a horror movie, one in which the horrors feel uncomfortably close to home. In this vision of America, the country is divided into two violent factions: one led by a fascist three-term president (Nick Offerman, in a small but vivid role), the other an armed rebellion against the government. Four journalists — photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst), her reporting partner Joel (Wagner Moura), veteran writer Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and young aspiring photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) — travel across hundreds of miles of this war zone to reach Washington, D.C., in the hopes of getting one last interview with the president.

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It’s a strange, terrifying journey, punctuated by bodies and blood and an eerily deafening soundscape. They drive past empty streets, abandoned cars, urban buildings with curls of smoke rising. They bargain, at a remote gas station manned by hostile men toting guns, for fuel (their offer of $300 is scoffed at, until Lee clarifies that it’s $300 Canadian ). They witness a firing squad, a bloody riot on a city street, a load of bodies in a dump truck, snipers on the roof of an idyllic-looking small-town street. And they run toward all of it — taking pictures, asking questions, documenting, remembering. If “Civil War” wasn’t so utterly horrifying, it could be a superhero movie, with journalists wearing the capes.

But in its quieter moments — you wish there were more of them — the film becomes the story of an impromptu family: four people united by a common goal. No one is saintly here: Lee, hardened and weary from years of war reporting, bickers with Joel about not wanting to take responsibility for the inexperienced Jessie, and makes it clear that Sammy is a burden; he’s old, she says, and can’t run. But ultimately they take care of each other, in sometimes surprising ways, and the actors let us see that bond. Dunst, whose Lee seems hard-wired to expect danger at every turn, beautifully lets us see the faintest of meltings as she becomes a reluctant mentor to Jessie. And Henderson shows us an aging man full of stories, even those he didn’t want to tell; he’s still seeking one last byline, somehow.

“Civil War” creates the sort of dystopian world in which little flashes of normality seem startling: water bottles, newspaper vending boxes, a dress shop open for business, a quiet hotel room. They’re tiny islands of calm for these characters, racing through a war zone, not knowing how long they can stay alive. Lee, at one point, muses on her career documenting violence around the world. “I thought I was sending a warning home: Don’t do this,” she says. The words hang in the quiet for moment, soon drowned out by gunfire.

With Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman. Written and directed by Alex Garland. 109 minutes. Rated R for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images, and language throughout. Opens April 11 at multiple theaters.

Ghost Light Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Peacock

Ghost Light , directed by John Stimpson in 2018, is a comedy horror film that depicts a group of traveling stage actors whose production of Macbeth gets disrupted when one of the actors unwittingly unleashes the play’s legendary curse.

Here’s how you can watch and stream Ghost Light via streaming services such as Peacock.

Is Ghost Light available to watch via streaming?

Yes, Ghost Light is available to watch via streaming on Peacock .

In the film, a traveling group of actors rehearses for a production of Macbeth. Alex, an amateur actor, takes on the role of Macbeth, while his wife, Liz, portrays Lady Macbeth. Despite warnings about the play’s curse, Alex disregards them, leading to a series of eerie events on set after he miraculously survives a fatal accident.

Cary Elwes stars as Alex Pankhurst, with Shannyn Sossamon playing Liz Beth Stevens. Supporting roles include Danielle Campbell, Carol Kane, and Roger Bart, among others.

Watch Ghost Light streaming via Peacock

Ghost Light is available to watch on Peacock. It is an American streaming service offered by NBCUniversal, providing subscribers with a variety of streaming options, including live TV.

You can watch via Peacock by following these steps:

Go to PeacockTV.com
Click ‘Get Started’
$5.99 per month or $59.99 per year (premium)
$11.99 per month or $119.99 per year (premium plus
Create your account
Enter your payment details

Peacock’s Premium account provides access to over 80,000+ hours of TV, movies, and sports, including current NBC and Bravo Shows, along with 50 always-on channels. Premium Plus is the same plan but with no ads (save for limited exclusions), along with allowing users to download select titles and watch them offline and providing access to your local NBC channel live 24/7.

Ghost Light’s synopsis is as follows:

“A disgruntled summer-stock actor contemptuously disregards the superstition surrounding Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth and, by doing so, unleashes the curse of ‘The Scottish Play’ and wreaks havoc on the company.”

NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.

Civil War Review: A Thematically Hollow Political Thriller

Andy samberg & radio silence to team up for upcoming comedy, magnolia selects april 2024 schedule: new film additions, star trek: strange new worlds season 4 ordered, lower decks ending with season 5.

The post Ghost Light Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Peacock appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More .

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Critic’s Pick

‘Civil War’ Review: We Have Met the Enemy and It Is Us. Again.

In Alex Garland’s tough new movie, a group of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst, as a photographer, travels a United States at war with itself.

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‘Civil War’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The writer and director alex garland narrates a sequence from his film..

“My name is Alex Garland and I’m the writer director of ‘Civil War’. So this particular clip is roughly around the halfway point of the movie and it’s these four journalists and they’re trying to get, in a very circuitous route, from New York to DC, and encountering various obstacles on the way. And this is one of those obstacles. What they find themselves stuck in is a battle between two snipers. And they are close to one of the snipers and the other sniper is somewhere unseen, but presumably in a large house that sits over a field and a hill. It’s a surrealist exchange and it’s surrounded by some very surrealist imagery, which is they’re, in broad daylight in broad sunshine, there’s no indication that we’re anywhere near winter in the filming. In fact, you can kind of tell it’s summer. But they’re surrounded by Christmas decorations. And in some ways, the Christmas decorations speak of a country, which is in disrepair, however silly it sounds. If you haven’t put away your Christmas decorations, clearly something isn’t going right.” “What’s going on?” “Someone in that house, they’re stuck. We’re stuck.” “And there’s a bit of imagery. It felt like it hit the right note. But the interesting thing about that imagery was that it was not production designed. We didn’t create it. We actually literally found it. We were driving along and we saw all of these Christmas decorations, basically exactly as they are in the film. They were about 100 yards away, just piled up by the side of the road. And it turned out, it was a guy who’d put on a winter wonderland festival. People had not dug his winter wonderland festival, and he’d gone bankrupt. And he had decided just to leave everything just strewn around on a farmer’s field, who was then absolutely furious. So in a way, there’s a loose parallel, which is the same implication that exists within the film exists within real life.” “You don’t understand a word I say. Yo. What’s over there in that house?” “Someone shooting.” “It’s to do with the fact that when things get extreme, the reasons why things got extreme no longer become relevant and the knife edge of the problem is all that really remains relevant. So it doesn’t actually matter, as it were, in this context, what side they’re fighting for or what the other person’s fighting for. It’s just reduced to a survival.”

By Manohla Dargis

A blunt, gut-twisting work of speculative fiction, “Civil War” opens with the United States at war with itself — literally, not just rhetorically. In Washington, D.C., the president is holed up in the White House; in a spookily depopulated New York, desperate people wait for water rations. It’s the near-future, and rooftop snipers, suicide bombers and wild-eyed randos are in the fight while an opposition faction with a two-star flag called the Western Forces, comprising Texas and California — as I said, this is speculative fiction — is leading the charge against what remains of the federal government. If you’re feeling triggered, you aren’t alone.

It’s mourning again in America, and it’s mesmerizingly, horribly gripping. Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6. As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone? If that sounds harrowing, you’re right. It’s one thing when a movie taps into childish fears with monsters under the bed; you’re eager to see what happens because you know how it will end (until the sequel). Adult fears are another matter.

In “Civil War,” the British filmmaker Alex Garland explores the unbearable if not the unthinkable, something he likes to do. A pop cultural savant, he made a splashy zeitgeist-ready debut with his 1996 best seller “The Beach,” a novel about a paradise that proves deadly, an evergreen metaphor for life and the basis for a silly film . That things in the world are not what they seem, and are often far worse, is a theme that Garland has continued pursuing in other dark fantasies, first as a screenwriter (“ 28 Days Later ”), and then as a writer-director (“ Ex Machina ”). His résumé is populated with zombies, clones and aliens, though reliably it is his outwardly ordinary characters you need to keep a closer watch on.

By the time “Civil War” opens, the fight has been raging for an undisclosed period yet long enough to have hollowed out cities and people’s faces alike. It’s unclear as to why the war started or who fired the first shot. Garland does scatter some hints; in one ugly scene, a militia type played by a jolting, scarily effective Jesse Plemons asks captives “what kind of American” they are. Yet whatever divisions preceded the conflict are left to your imagination, at least partly because Garland assumes you’ve been paying attention to recent events. Instead, he presents an outwardly and largely post-ideological landscape in which debates over policies, politics and American exceptionalism have been rendered moot by war.

‘Civil War’ Is Designed to Disturb You

A woman with a bulletproof vest that says “Press” stands in a smoky city street.

One thing that remains familiar amid these ruins is the movie’s old-fashioned faith in journalism. Dunst, who’s sensational, plays Lee, a war photographer who works for Reuters alongside her friend, a reporter, Joel (the charismatic Wagner Moura). They’re in New York when you meet them, milling through a crowd anxiously waiting for water rations next to a protected tanker. It’s a fraught scene; the restless crowd is edging into mob panic, and Lee, camera in hand, is on high alert. As Garland’s own camera and Joel skitter about, Lee carves a path through the chaos, as if she knows exactly where she needs to be — and then a bomb goes off. By the time it does, an aspiring photojournalist, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), is also in the mix.

The streamlined, insistently intimate story takes shape once Lee, Joel, Jessie and a veteran reporter, Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), pile into a van and head to Washington. Joel and Lee are hoping to interview the president (Nick Offerman), and Sammy and Jessie are riding along largely so that Garland can make the trip more interesting. Sammy serves as a stabilizing force (Henderson fills the van with humanizing warmth), while Jessie plays the eager upstart Lee takes under her resentful wing. It’s a tidily balanced sampling that the actors, with Garland’s banter and via some cozy downtime, turn into flesh-and-blood personalities, people whose vulnerability feeds the escalating tension with each mile.

As the miles and hours pass, Garland adds diversions and hurdles, including a pair of playful colleagues, Tony and Bohai (Nelson Lee and Evan Lai), and some spooky dudes guarding a gas station. Garland shrewdly exploits the tense emptiness of the land, turning strangers into potential threats and pretty country roads into ominously ambiguous byways. Smartly, he also recurrently focuses on Lee’s face, a heartbreakingly hard mask that Dunst lets slip brilliantly. As the journey continues, Garland further sketches in the bigger picture — the dollar is near-worthless, the F.B.I. is gone — but for the most part, he focuses on his travelers and the engulfing violence, the smoke and the tracer fire that they often don’t notice until they do.

Despite some much-needed lulls (for you, for the narrative rhythm), “Civil War” is unremittingly brutal or at least it feels that way. Many contemporary thrillers are far more overtly gruesome than this one, partly because violence is one way unimaginative directors can put a distinctive spin on otherwise interchangeable material: Cue the artful fountains of arterial spray. Part of what makes the carnage here feel incessant and palpably realistic is that Garland, whose visual approach is generally unfussy, doesn’t embellish the violence, turning it into an ornament of his virtuosity. Instead, the violence is direct, at times shockingly casual and unsettling, so much so that its unpleasantness almost comes as a surprise.

If the violence feels more intense than in a typical genre shoot ’em up, it’s also because, I think, with “Civil War,” Garland has made the movie that’s long been workshopped in American political discourse and in mass culture, and which entered wider circulation on Jan. 6. The raw power of Garland’s vision unquestionably owes much to the vivid scenes that beamed across the world that day when rioters, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “ MAGA civil war ,” swarmed the Capitol. Even so, watching this movie, I also flashed on other times in which Americans have relitigated the Civil War directly and not, on the screen and in the streets.

Movies have played a role in that relitigation for more than a century, at times grotesquely. Two of the most famous films in history — D.W. Griffith’s 1915 racist epic “The Birth of a Nation” (which became a Ku Klux Klan recruitment tool) and the romantic 1939 melodrama “Gone With the Wind” — are monuments to white supremacy and the myth of the Southern Lost Cause. Both were critical and popular hits. In the decades since, filmmakers have returned to the Civil War era to tell other stories in films like “Glory,” “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained” that in addressing the American past inevitably engage with its present.

There are no lofty or reassuring speeches in “Civil War,” and the movie doesn’t speak to the better angels of our nature the way so many films try to. Hollywood’s longstanding, deeply American imperative for happy endings maintains an iron grip on movies, even in ostensibly independent productions. There’s no such possibility for that in “Civil War.” The very premise of Garland’s movie means that — no matter what happens when or if Lee and the rest reach Washington — a happy ending is impossible, which makes this very tough going. Rarely have I seen a movie that made me so acutely uncomfortable or watched an actor’s face that, like Dunst’s, expressed a nation’s soul-sickness so vividly that it felt like an X-ray.

Civil War Rated R for war violence and mass death. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

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Movie Review: ‘Ghosts of War’ is just a series of clichés
Ghosts of War movie review & film summary (2020)
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COMMENTS

Ghosts of War movie review & film summary (2020)
Ghosts of War. "Ghosts of War" is a B-movie that's not afraid to go there —starting with WWII soldiers and their PTSD, leading them into a haunted Chateau, and ending on its most bonkers and heartfelt idea of all. It almost feels like writer/director Eric Bress (of "The Butterfly Effect") built a story backwards starting from this twist ...
Ghosts of War
Unseen forces terrorize five battle-hardened soldiers guarding a chateau deep in the French countryside. Rating: R (Language|Disturbing and Grisly Images|Brief Nude Images|Strong Bloody Violence ...
Ghosts of War review
A gaggle of American soldiers make their way to a fancy French chateau at the end of the second world war. A typical war movie's motley crew of contrasting masculinities, the fivesome must ...
Ghosts of War (2020)
Sleepin_Dragon 6 November 2020. Very much a film of two halves, a very good first half, and a pretty awful second half. Early on, I loved the atmosphere, the implied threat, and the build up, it had a really eerie, uncomfortable feeling, and then.... The Soldiers take out a German platoon, and it all goes to pot.
Ghosts of War (2020)
Ghosts of War: Directed by Eric Bress. With Brenton Thwaites, Kyle Gallner, Alan Ritchson, Theo Rossi. Five American soldiers assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. This unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield.
Ghosts of War
British supernatural horror taking place largely in France towards the end of World War II, alternately tense and quite a rush. Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 10, 2021. Grant Hermanns ...
'Ghosts of War': Film Review
Michael Suby's original orchestral score strikes a note a bit conventional for a war movie that so quickly strays from robust, old-school combat adventure terrain. ... 'Ghosts of War': Film ...
'Ghosts of War' Review
Costume designer: Irina Kotcheva. Casting: Brandon Henry Rodriguez. Rated R, 94 min. A group of WWII American soldiers guarding a French chateau encounter supernatural phenomena in Eric Bress ...
Ghosts of War review
3.5. Summary. British supernatural horror taking place largely in France towards the end of World War II, alternately tense and quite a rush. Ghosts of War is an uncommonly atmospheric and clever film. I watched it on the edge of my seat, while mentally just sitting back to take everything in, and then a time came when writer/director Eric ...
Ghosts of War
It's In Here. Five battle-hardened American soldiers are assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. Formerly occupied by the Nazi high command, this unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy far more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield.
Ghosts of War Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 6 ): Kids say ( 1 ): With its interesting set-up -- a cross between a period war movie and a horror story -- this delivers more bumps in the night that it does genuine scares. This isn't a bad thing in itself, but it is haunted by various weaknesses.
Ghosts of War (2020 film)
Ghosts of War released on DirecTV on 18 June 2020. It was released via virtual cinema screenings, On Demand, and digitally on 17 July 2020. Reception. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 40% based on 43
Film Review: Ghosts of War (2020)
It has a cast of many famous actors including Billy Zane. It is set in war but the actors and the ghosts make it a universally pleasing horror. It's highest feature is the creepy ambience. The story is good and the ending twist is excellent. While not perfect, I think you will enjoy this film. I recommend it as a 7/10.
Ghosts of War
Ghosts of War Movie Review. Written by Shane D. Keene. Released by Vertical Entertainment. Written and directed by Eric Bress 2020, 95 minutes, Rated R ... there are a few scenes in Ghosts of War that would do Scooby and the gang proud. And once I flash-burned that idea into my head, I had difficulty not laughing at a lot of the movie that I ...
Ghosts of War
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the cast of Ghosts of War. In fact, the five actors starring in this movie deliver some really solid performances. The five brothers in arms are portrayed by Brenton Thwaites, Theo Rossi, Kyle Gallner, Skylar Astin, and Alan Ritchson. Brenton Thwaites is in charge as Chris.
Movie Review: Ghosts of War (2020)
A cinematic court-martial should be called. Ghosts of War should be sentenced to death by firing squad, leaving its tormented spirit to drift across the ether of streaming platforms, haunting any viewer unfortunate enough to have watched it. Critical Movie Critic Rating: 1. Movie Review: Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time (2020)
'Ghosts Of War' Review: Hair-Brained Haunted Nazi Mansion Movie
July 16, 2020. If Billy Zane dies in the first five minutes of a horror movie, you can be reasonably certain that he comes back. We call that Chekhov's Billy Zane. So when Zane, playing a Nazi ...
[Movie Review] GHOSTS OF WAR
Although, ghost movies are the only horror movies that actually scare me because I believe in them. The appropriately titled GHOSTS OF WAR by Eric Bress was exactly the scary ghost movie I needed and I had a hell of a time watching it. One thing I really appreciated about GHOSTS OF WAR was the casting.
Ghosts Of War (Movie Review)
Ghosts Of War (Movie Review) PLOT: Set during the end of World War II, a group of soldiers tasked with occupying a French mansion, start noticing things aren't what they seem when ghosts start ...
Ghosts of War Review: A Few Nice Twists Can't Keep This Afloat
Ghosts of War Review: Though it has some good twists and inklings of a fun haunted house ride, the writing proves to be lackluster, the scares mostly ineffective and the performances dull ...
Review: 'Ghosts of War' is hauntingly bad
Review: 'Ghosts of War' is hauntingly bad. There's no true fear in "Ghosts of War," just cheap jump scares reduced to lunging ghosts and well timed musical stings. (Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment) In 2004, first-time director Eric Bress gave us "The Butterfly Effect.". While not beloved by film critics at the time, the ...
Ghosts Of War Review: A Movie Horror Fans Will Love
Ghosts of war takes all of the things I love about horror movies, and sticks in it a war movie — another one my of my favorite genres. So clearly, this movie is an absolute must watch in my opinion. This movie is beyond creepy. Five soldiers are ordered to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II.
Ghosts of War Ending, Explained
Written and directed by Eric Bress ('The Butterfly Effect'), 'Ghosts of War' transitions from one genre to another several times throughout its 90-minute runtime. It's a war drama in the first act, a horror in the second, and a science fiction in the third. While the movie is more or less predictable because of how Bress employs jump scares and traditional war film tropes, the final ...
Civil War folds a tremendous human drama into its thin, vague politics
Tasha Robinson leads Polygon's movie coverage. She's covered film, TV, books, and more for 20 years, including at The A.V. Club, The Dissolve, and The Verge. A version of this review ran in ...
'Civil War' review: Alex Garland's dystopian vision of America
Written and directed by Alex Garland. 109 minutes. Rated R for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images, and language throughout. Opens April 11 at multiple theaters. Moira Macdonald ...
Ghost Light Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Peacock
Ghost Light, directed by John Stimpson in 2018, is a comedy horror film that depicts a group of traveling stage actors whose production of Macbeth gets disrupted when one of the actors unwittingly ...
'Civil War' Review: We Have Met the Enemy and It Is Us. Again
Rarely have I seen a movie that made me so acutely uncomfortable or watched an actor's face that, like Dunst's, expressed a nation's soul-sickness so vividly that it felt like an X-ray ...

Ghosts of War review – uneven second world war horror story

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Ghosts of War Reviews

‘Ghosts of War’: Film Review

Dennis Harvey

Popular on Variety

Reviewed online, San Francisco, July 13, 2020. MPAA rating: R. Running time: 95 MIN.

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Ghosts of War review – very tense wartime horror, despite the clichés

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