Overlord (2018)

War is horror. I think war-horror films are not only justified but necessary. Genre films, when they are good, offer us something honest in their fantasy, something which speaks to the real world through something fantastic. As I got more and more into what many are calling a nazi-zombie movie the more I appreciated just how much this film was capturing the horrors of war and how important that was.

Overlord starts out strong. A plane full of soldiers is flying into Germany and gets shot down. it is a visceral, exciting, terrifying scene. The film creates very real characters only to make us lose many of them quickly, others more slowly, just like in a real war. Overlord gets its humans right and that, in turn, makes its story work so well.

Nazism is a vile evil and Overlord deconstructs this in a very effective way by using the horror genre to understand it. The use of fictional elements to get underneath the real historical and cultural phenomena is a strong and powerful tradition that Overlord taps into. What we see if often very terrifying. Overlord may not be for the feint of heart but in many ways it is for everyone to understand the depths of human depravity and why standing against Nazism is so important.

Upcoming director Julius Avery does a masterful job with his story, keeping it tight and exciting while deftly managing a large cast and interlocking characters. He brings out the humanity of his subjects while telling a thrilling tale at the same time, a tale lousy with moral overtones. Overlord pulls off a small miracle, a great action film with an important story. Also strong is his cast, lead by the promising Jovan Adepo who headlines this piece with a leading man air.

Overall Overlord is a winner and I recomend seeing it and reflecting on it.

Overlord
Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Matilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Pilou Asbaek
Director: Julius Avery
Writers: Billy Ray, Mark L. Smith