Nazis Not Scary Enough? These Soldiers Face Ghosts
As a military veteran myself, I’ve sat at the table with friends, veterans, and comrades and heard their stories of service. We’ve all got our funny tales, the ones that will most likely make your pals bust a gut or spew some of their beer across the table in laughter. Many veterans, however, have their horror stories as well. These aren’t campfire works of fiction, these are real life incidents that may have happened years ago, but haunt them every day. Many vets, like me, know at least one person who couldn’t escape those traumatic memories, and resorted to ending their life. I know this is not the opening paragraph for a movie review that you were expecting, but I wanted to put you in the place that writer/director Eric Bress was when he came up with this story.
A few years ago, Bress stumbled upon a statistic of Military Veteran suicide rates. According to the most recent annual National Veteran Suicide Prevention Report, seventeen American Military Veterans commit suicide every day. You read that right; seventeen per day. These figures shocked Bress, touched him, and inspired him to write a story about how members of our military deal with stress, fear, and ultimately PTSD. That story developed into “Ghosts of War,” a film about five soldiers faced not only with the horrors of war, but horrors of the supernatural as well.
As the film opens, Brenton Thwaites (“Son of a Gun,” “Titans”) leads a group of American soldiers across the French countryside in the later years of World War II. Their mission is simple: shack up at a large country chateau, formerly occupied by high-ranking Nazi officials, and keep the building secure until relief arrives. At first, the job seems like an easy one. The handful of men seemingly have a large, lavish mansion at their disposal, with nothing to do but relax. The merry band of brothers soon find out, however, that a significant Nazi force is heading through the area. With little time to run or hide, the soldiers decide to hold their ground in hopes to survive the night against a considerably larger army. On top of that, their fancy new residence seems to be haunted.
Thwaites is joined by fellow “Titans” actor Alan Ritchson, along with “Sons of Anarchy” alumnae Theo Rossi, and a few other familiar faces. Billy Zane even makes an appearance as a Nazi soldier who goes head to head with Ritchson’s muscleman Butchie character. The cast has the right amount of comradery and disdain for one another to make you believe that they’ve been stuck with each other, walking across the country, for a very long time. As things start to get weird in the mansion, each of them react to their visions in different ways, making for some compelling confrontations between the group.
Sixteen years ago, Eric Bress wrote and directed the cult classic sci-fi thriller “The Butterfly Effect.” While critics didn’t seem to appreciate the film, audiences around the world were captured by two things; Ashton Kutcher’s drastic departure from his normal material and Eric Bress’s impressive blend of sci-fi elements with truly dramatic and traumatic events. In “Ghosts of War,” Bress does a similar job of blending horror elements with war stories in an intriguing tale that is sure to keep you guessing. Bress also does a fine job directing the film, giving us lovely shots of the countryside, as well as nice bits of action throughout. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this film’s premise. Without giving away the ending, I will say that the film went places I would have never predicted it to go. Overall, I feel it was an enjoyable film, and I appreciate the purpose Eric Bress had for making it. I give this film 4 out of 5 stars.
If you or someone you know is reading this right now and you are struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message or tweet to us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!
Victims and Villains is written Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey (and produced by), Caless Davis, Dan Rockwood, & Brandon Miller. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. Ghosts of War is property of Vertical Entertainment. We don’t own nor claim any rights. You can now support us on Patreon. Help us get mental health resources into schools and get exclusive content at the same time. Click here to join today!