User reviews

Overlord is one of those films that starts as one thing but then becomes something else. Following some Allied paratroopers as they land behind enemy lines toward the end of WW2, they come across a small town next to their target - a church with a radio tower on it. With the help of a local family, they must somehow get in there and take it down. However, they soon discover that the building also houses something far worse than Nazi soldiers...

I must say I was genuinely surprised by how good this film actually is. I was expecting the war aspect to be little more than a backdrop to the horror, but even during the build up this actually has a stab at being a decent war film in its own right. Then the horror starts and the film loses none of its intensity, action or pacing. The story is interesting, the characters are believable and the special effects are actually really good. Imagine if the modern Wolfenstein video games were made into a film - that is pretty much what this feels like and I thought it was far better than it has any right to be. Give it a go!

At one stage thought to be some form of Cloverfield sequel/prequel, thanks to the association with wonder producer J.J Abrams and his production company Bad Robot, Overlord is very much a film set in its own universe that takes us on a gore filled World War 2 set adventure to occupied France, as a small collection of American soldiers discover that German run labs are not the ideal place to spend time in.

Directed by upcoming Australian filmmaker Julius Avery whose previous film Son of a Gun showed much promise, Overlord does a lot with its relatively small budget of $38 million as we are thrust into the D-Day invasion and follow a collection of paratroopers on a mission to destroy a German radio bunker set up at the base of an old church building.

It's not being over the top when you say the first 10 - 20 minutes of Avery's film are some of the most thrilling and dazzling of the last 12 months, with the audience given barely a moment to breathe as the films stunning opening set-piece takes place and we launch out of an under fire carrier plane with Jovan Adepo's Boyce and his fellow soldiers.

If Overlord had somehow managed to keep this pace, intensity and style up, Avery's film would be a dead-set undeniable gem but sadly the film unleashes its best too early as the film around it, whilst often entertaining and gloriously over the top, just never quite delivers the thrills, spills and chills like you'd wished it had done.

Truly becoming the cinematic equivalent of the famous Wolfenstein video game series (which must've been a direct inspiration for this tale), Overlord's mix of war time action, sci-fi, straight up visceral horror (found within the Nazi's underground labs) and thriller doesn't always hold up, even if it's great to see a film of this ilk play it completely straight with Overlord forgoing laughs as there's no winking to the camera as the nefarious goings on begin to take hold.

It's a gore-filled and claret flowing exercise, with Avery clearly at home with the action side of things and a little less so at character building, with side players like Wyatt Russell's knuckle-duster loving Ford, John Magaro's stereotypical Italian solider and Mathilde Ollivier's token French female tomboy Chloe having fun but remaining fairly forgettable with Game of Thrones star Pilou Asbæk stealing the acting show with his turn as evil Nazi Wafner.

You never regret going along for this ride with enough imagination, impressive make-up and special effects and darkly imagined horrors such a soldiers traumatic return from death keeping things moving and ever watchable, you just can't help but feel like Overlord had the potential to become a genuine classic of its genre mash-up.

Final Say -

There's a lot to like about Overlord (an unfortunate box-office dud) that's likely to find a much a larger audience on home release but despite its many strengths and standout individual scenes, this Wolfenstein come to life is a mostly enjoyable but mostly forgettable affair.

3 bullet wounds out of 5

Perfect blend of WW2 action, zombies and gore. Don't go into this expecting Oscar nominations, and you'll enjoy the ride. It was exactly what I expected- I was entertained for close to 2 hrs. Got my money's worth.

Overlord is essentially a B-movie with a Hollywood budget, great action, and a TON of gore. I really enjoyed this movie quite a bit, especially in the opening scene, which was shot very well. This movie is an action-horror set during World War II when a bunch of American Soldiers discover that the Germans are up to something sinister in one of their bases, and that is all I will say about the plot. It's awesome to watch. The films cast doesn't consist of any A-Listers or Superstars, but has a lot of recognizable faces such as Wyatt Russell, (who's performance reminded me a lot of his dad Kurt in The Thing), Pilous Asbaek and Jacob Anderson of Game of Thrones fame, John Magaro and Bokeem Woodbine, and newcomers Jovan Adepo and Mathilde Olliver as the leads. To sum it up, Overlord is the type of movie that is going to develop a fanbase years from now, it is very fun and will satisfy those both looking for intense action and gory horror, and I can easily recommend this. We can all thank Julius Avery for directing such a fun movie and J.J Abrhams for deciding to NOT turn this film into a Cloverfield movie.

If you want to go in to watching this film without seeing the trailer, then don't read any reviews - including this one. There are no spoilers beyond what the trailer shows.

I make that opening claim because if you hadn't seen the trailer, you wouldn't know of the dual-genre nature of Overlord. The genre shift to full-blown 'zombies-but-not-quite' action comes after 75 minutes of truly brilliant wartime drama with some moderate scares. The opening scenes of the paratroopers entrance to the war-torn French countryside is a particular highlight for its chaotic, intense and disorientating depiction of what it must've been like for those who did the deed for real in WW2.

The horror element begins to build early on but is never an indication of the upcoming genre shift (if you've not seen the trailer, at least) until the point (From Dusk to Dawn style) where it's made clear that we're not in Kansas anymore. The only bummer I can think of is the film falls into the trap of a predictable final 30 minutes. With all the enjoyment had before then, it's so disappointing to feel let down at the last hurdle.

The soundtrack is immense, the cinematography is brooding without being dark (a style which works for both of the film's genres), and the CGI special effects are affectingly convincing. Don't expect great things from the script (which includes several awful one-liner comebacks), but I think this film will go down as one of the great zombie films of recent years, and may even be noted for its even better turn as a war film.

Best quote: "What is this?!" - "Our greatest achievement. With it, we create super-Nazis; a thousand year army and it's thousand year soldiers."

Wow color me impressed:) I went in with low expectations but from the adrenaline filled, edge of your seat opening I was hooked. I thought it would be schlock horror. What I got was a well acted, well scripted action/drama/horror film that actually had me caring about the characters. Very unique and I agree with other reviewers that it should be a cult classic. I hope more people go to see it in theaters as it deserves a much wider audience.

Fun war movie with a horror twist. On its face, it is a procedural military mission - get in and do the thing to support the impending Allied invasion. The horror twist comes when the soldiers discover some strange stuff happening in the village. Medical experiments are being performed to transform normal humans into super soldiers. The mission now becomes twofold: destroy the tower and destroy the lab! Nothing particularly special or innovative about the story, but it was wildly entertaining and enjoyable. Very exciting edge-of-your-seat action scenes, well-performed roles, top-notch special effects, and solid jump scares. We watched it in the Dolby theater at AMC Metreon in SF. It was super loud and the place was rocking!

I saw this film at the Philadelphia Film Festival and I had a good time watching it. It's a very intense movie with a lot of action throughout; it never has a moment where it calms down. I like that aspect of it but I can definitely see it being sensory overload for a lot of people. It's also quite graphic, and sometimes it's a little gratuitous and overly gory. I think the film relies a little too much on jump scares but the atmosphere is pretty creepy anyway. I think towards the end the film gets pretty over-the-top and silly, but I think it's an interesting setting and it's very well-shot and the VFX are pretty good.

I really felt conned by the halfway point of this, from then on i kept thinking that i'd rather have waited for it to come to TV instead of wasting time and money on it.

From what i just watched, its not the "fun, original, scary, gory, inventive thrill-ride, maximum shock value, insane" film its been reviewed to be. Definitely NOT scary or gore filled, and with the $38 million budget you'd have expected A LOT more!

The opening 5-10 minutes the reviews have been raving about was ok, its not an opening that would warrant a cinema visit, it ain't no Saving Private Ryan, Edge Of Tomorrow, etc battle scene, as it's over in a flash, roughly 1 or 2 minutes of action, pretty much whats in the trailer and the rest is characters chatting! Then it quickly slows to its meandering pace, with been-there-done-that scenes with added cheese and cliche characters, which start to wear your hopes for a fun big budget B-movie way he f down. I just became bored and just hoped for an outstanding action filled and creative finale to win me over. But NO, the ending is just standard gun play, explosions and one fight that's over way too soon and that's your lot! I would have been satisfied if it had maybe matched an exciting Expendable's type finaly as it was a similar premise.

It's a film that never takes its idea's far enough, never too crazy or too gory but just a very controlled and safe 18 certificate B-movie. And it's a movie that mostly relies on the stupidity/naivety of its lead character to make the plot move forward. If you're after a subtle b-movie then this may be for you

I was really looking forward to this because i'd read really good things, and i missed Slaughterhouse Rulez cus of this.

An episode of the Walking Dead is more exciting, gripping, tense and fun.

Check it out and make up your own mind up but i've given you a heads up. I didn't expect the grindhouse style of Planet Terror with Overlord but Planet Terror was a great fun big budget B-movie!!

It's D-day. A squad of paratroopers are tasked with destroying a radio tower on top of a church. Their plane is shot down. After their leader gets shot by the Nazis and one steps on a landmine, four survivors remain. They find refuge with a scavenger named Chloe. The Nazis are experimenting on the locals at the church.

It's a horror story within a historical event. It has a good amount of action and thrills. The characters are compelling. It's always nice to have Nazi villains. It may not be completely new. It is not trying to be break new ground. It's a well-made B-movie and that's commendable.

Entertaining movie that plays out the more fictional side of the Nazi experimentation. We all know it's fact the Nazis during WWII were up to no good, including many extreme experiments using humans as lab rats, this movie takes it and runs with it into an entertaining horror/action flick about what strange discoveries the Germans may have had. It's not as gory or as scary as one would hope for, I personally was hoping for something along the lines of John Carpenter's "The Thing," and while they did use mostly practical special effects, and while it is action packed, with a good story, decent characters, and some good horror moments, it definitely lacks enough to classify it mostly as an action thriller and not a horror. Take "Band of Brothers" and mix it with either "Blood Creek" or "Outpost" (both 2008). Crazy lab experiments, great action and intense scenes, some decent horror moments, but it was mostly just an action flick focused on getting the job done, could have been a lot more scary and effective, but still a decent and worth-while watch!

Definitely a few plot holes, like, what's up with the Aunt? And plenty more, but if you're just looking for a good popcorn flick, involving Nazis, experiments-gone-wrong, and WWII action, it's an effective and fun movie.

I saw this film at a halloween event and i expected this movie to be a horror film after watching the trailer. A movie about Nazi-zombies or something, who's not interested? But it was a let down for me.

Don't get me wrong, the movie looks good. The visuals, the sounds, the characters were great. They kept the story simple whitch i have no problem with. The movie started great and had a slow moment after that as it should be, but i expected to see some kind of 'zombies' after a while. To be fair, you don't see much of the 'zombies' but what you see, is great. The movie isn't scary at all, nor gory or anything you would expect of a horror movie but it had a lot of potential te be one. Maybe they kept it that way to attract a broader audience.

If the intention was a just a WOII movie with a twist...alright i can live with that, it was entertaining. If you expect to see a horror, you will be let down.

Trailer is the best part. All the cliché's were there. And the acting of the lead caracter was stunningly bad. He was panting through the whole movie like he had asthma. CGI was good but that's it. Waste of money.

Entirely awesome, ominous vibes and beautiful cinematography throughout! Hope this becomes a cult classic many years in the future. Great casting, suspense, and well written especially for it's type. Overlord is a pleasant surprise that I would recommend to anyone.

I was excited by the trailer but within my circles I'd heard only extremes regarding its quality. There was the camp that hated it and there was the camp that loved it, absolutely nobody in between.

It tells the story of a band of soldiers during world war II who are tasked with destroying a German communications tower. During their mission however they discover that deep within the bowels of the earth the Nazi military base houses dark secrets.

Immediately I was struck with how good it all looked, the opening visuals were fantastic and that right there made a fantastic first impression. It develops the characters nicely and presents a threat that I personally like. This isn't a Nazi zombie movie as many have suggested but it's of that general ilk and there is something about it that just provides further chills.

The cast wisely have a roster of relative unknowns, in fact the only person I really recognized was Iain "Agents of Shield" De Caestecker and he's far from the movies leading man.

So when all hell breaks loose does it deliver? Well it looks the part I can't dispute that but honestly it goes full on Hollywood for the most part. Every trite trope and generic expectation you'll have it meets and then some.

Despite this it's enjoyable enough take your brain out entertainment. It's big, it's violent, it's gory and it's dumb and sometimes that's all you need.

I can confidently say I'd have written Overlord as a very different film, but what we got is a brainless horror/action flick that you can do a lot worse than.

The Good:

Some great visuals

Decent concept

The Bad:

Stock scream

A few really poorly thought out elements

Generic Hollywood finale

The protagonist was SO irritatingly "good" and moral and even though you may think, it's a guy who has never been to war, his actions and attitude in all of the movie are so idiotic, maybe you needed a guy to be like him to make the plot evolve, but this guy's way of always trying to do "the right thing" in the most nagging way ruined (at least for me) what it was supposed to be just a fun zombie-nazi movie.

Appart from that, it's not that bad, it was fun to watch