Straight Into Darkness (2004) User Reviews

Quit squawkin' and start walkin'

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 14 May 2008]

The Orphanage meets Private Ryan. This is certainly a different type of WWII film. Not your daddy's tale of bravery.

But, it is just what you would expect from writer/director Jeff Burr, who gave us Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Puppet Master 4 & 5, and Pumpkinhead II. A slightly bizarre twist on the usual WWII story.

Two deserters, Ryan Francis and Scott MacDonald, come upon a group of orphans that have mental and physical handicaps. The man and woman who ran the orphanage before the war trained them to fight. Deming (MacDonald) is a real sleaze, who tries to rape the woman despite her obvious scars. They are attacked by 60 Germans who are after treasure in the building where they are holed up.

The story is a mixture of strange and tender amidst the horrors of war. There is enough of Burr's past work to keep horror fans interested, but there is a beauty underneath, if you look for it.

Check it out for a different take on war.

Mediocre "B" war drama saved by action packed ending

[Rocco3000 · 5/10 · 28 July 2005]

This movie is about two American deserters in WWII. Apparently they were court-marshaled for an accident involving a flame-thrower, but not too much is revealed about that, with the exception of the same flash-back annoyingly popping up every 10mins. As they travel the European countryside, not very much interesting happens to them. The two actors are your typical unknown amateur actors who sound like they are reading their lines rather than speaking them. And when the reach a strange orphanage, the story gets weirder before it gets any good.

I thought the direction really wasn't that good, with the exception of the action sequences, which were up to the standard of any other good action director. But the rest left something to be desired. Some movies with small budgets can sometimes pull of really great things, and you are surprised to find out that it was a small budget. This one doesn't and reeks of a B-movie all over it.

If you really love war movies and are desperate for another one, check this one out, I am sure you won't be too disappointed. But the rest of you can pass on this one, you won't be missing much.

An original idea not fully developed ...............

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 23 February 2010]

After a superior opening sequence in the minefield, the film winds down, with much walking and talking. It then picks up again when the battle begins between the orphan army and the Nazis. At this point the movie really has nowhere to go. Obviously the rag tag children are not going to defeat the Germans and their tank. Unfortunately the battle sequences are not always credible, and seem stretched to the maximum. I think that the initial idea of the two deserters could have been further developed, rather than boxing everything into a conclusion that is rather unlikely and therefore somewhat unsatisfying................. - MERK

Basescu rulez

[bigvlady · 15 December 2004]

Andrei Dumitrescu is exceptional. Vote Basescu!!!

It's good to see there are still some filmmakers out there who push their craft beyond some tired formula. Despite a low budget (which shows at times) this film is obviously a labor of love for the director and the cast. The scenes involving the children are superbly handled and director Jeff Burr deserves enormous credit for their effectiveness. I love war films and this one works on that level, but it can't be pigeon holed as just another war movie. There's a lot going on and sometimes the filmmakers' reach exceeds their grasp, but more often the movie is very, very effective. This movie will have you talking

Um... learn to plot?

[eparchos-1 · 1/10 · 11 June 2006]

OK, this movie is horrible. Just FYI. On the off chance that you haven't seen it and might choose to subject yourself to this painful waste of celluloid, CAUTION SPOILERS OMG! So, where to start. Let's try at the beginning! The first scene is AWFULLY familiar... like a direct ripoff of Aleksandr Rogozhkin's "Kukushka". Prisoner being transported by MPs.... Jeep gets blown up, prisoner escapes. That is forgivable, though, as the following scene is pretty cool. Then it all starts to go downhill. So we have two characters, one a sensitive type who's lost and confused, and the other a psychopathic evil type who smashes a dead man's face to an unrecognizable pulp just to fake his own death. I'll call them Misty and the Psycho. Psycho makes Misty come along with him on a random wandering through "Western Europe". So they find a church with a cannibal in it. Psycho wants to kill the cannibal, but Misty got the gun now! Then the cannibal follows them around for a while and then kills himself. Doesn't eat them, doesn't do anything.... just hangs himself. Thanks, Jeff Burr, for this enlightening statement about NOTHING. So then our two heroes find a horse. They ride the horse to an old building and shack up for the night. In the morning, along come two people just back from a hunting trip. Psycho pulls his gun on them, knocks Misty out with the butt of it when Misty starts telling him to stop, and proceeds to play with the old woman's boobies, while the old man has already expressed rebellious tendencies. So, let's clear this up: Psycho wants the old man to watch him play with old lady boobs? Thanks again, Jeff! Since that makes sense! Oh, but this pathetic plot device leaps into clarity when the old man gets the gun from Psycho and captures him and Misty. Turns out this building is a hideout for the old man and old woman and their entourage of deformed and crazy orphans which they've trained to be anti-Nazi partisans.(oh, if I'm accidentally making this sound exciting, it isn't... when drawn out over about half an hour of random shots of foliage, pipes, and flashbacks that have no context or relevance). Oh, and then the Nazis show up. 60 of them, and a tank. Our heroes don't hide. Then a bunch of random fighting ensues where the Nazis don't want to kill them but they're too stupid to figure it out, and we discover that the reason the Nazis are here is to get at a cache of "art" hidden under a trap door in the building.... and by "art" I mean "The production company couldn't afford a poster of the Mona Lisa so I picked this up at a garage sale last weekend!" type "art". All I got to say is the Nazis were probably pretty depressed when they got to the art. So after about 300 or so Nazis are killed (note there were only 60 at the beginning) Misty sneaks out the back door with the remainder of the kids while Psycho causes a distraction. Also, I forgot to mention that the Nazis OFFERED TO LET THEM GO at one point and they were like "NO WAI JOO STEENKY KROWTS! WE WILL FIGHT TO THE AIND!". In fact, they really just sat there with no plan and then, after maximum carnage had been achieved (really incredibly boring carnage, might I add), they snuck away despite the fact that the Nazis "had them surrounded" earlier.... So anyways, Psycho screams "I AM THE CONQUEROR WORM!" about three times as he dies, and I die once each time he screams it. Talk about most incredibly retarded one liner ever. Seriously, why not just have him scream "I AM THE RED DEATH!!" or "QUOTH THE RAVEN: NEVERMORE MOTHERF**KERS" or something.... In conclusion, this movie is a pile of rat turds. Don't be fooled by the "independent film" label, this movie is only independent because Jeff Burr saved up enough money from directing such gems as "Pumpkinhead II" and "Puppet Master 5" that he could afford to go into co-production with a Romanian pimp and pay $3 a head for the crappy actors he got and push this baby into the world!

Sick Movie

[monelaos · 1/10 · 19 September 2005]

This movie is pathetic. Not only the fact that one of the soldiers begins to rape an old lady grossed me out, also the whole story about the army of mentally/physically challenged children. And when I say it grosses me out, I am definitely not meaning the actual look of her body or the way the children are presented, no I am really worried about the idea that is behind all that. What's the statement? I couldn't find one, so i guess this movie is all about entertaining the audience. I can't see anyone being actually entertained by whatever is happening in this movie. If anyone is reading this and feeling the way I am i would appreciate it if you let me/us know. I am aware of the way some anti war movies work, and the way producers confront their audience with human behavior. But "Straight Into Darkness" certainly does not deal with a topic like war crimes in a proper way, so it really shouldn't deal with it at all. If you decide to watch this movie, be prepared to wonder what the **** is wrong with Jeff Burr.

Deserting isn't the easiest thing.

[michaelRokeefe · 3/10 · 18 June 2006]

World War II is waning, and two American soldiers Deming(Scott MacDonald)and Losey(Ryan Francis)desert from their fighting in France. They are soon captured and on the way to their court-martial, they survive a surprise attack and crawl through a mine field to safety. They brave the rugged winter and become confused to their location. Upon finding an empty building, the two are aided by some orphaned children that seem to have some rather strange fighting techniques and their teachers as Nazi soldiers try to surround them. Flashbacks and hallucinations muddle the story. Some of the war scenes are gruesome, but still this film gets old quick. Supporting cast includes: Linda Thorson, David Warner and Liliana Perepelicinic.

"Quit squawking, start walking".

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 11 June 2010]

Outside "The Offspring" and "Night of the Scarecrow" Jeff Burr might be recognised as a journeyman for commercial horror sequels (for the likes of "The Stepfather", "Pumpkinhead", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Puppet Master"); while competently fun still they were mechanically pitched. However Burr's "Straight into Darkness" feels more personal (being dedicated to his dead father), and I would say it's his most accomplished and creative production where its independent tailoring help provide his own vision. Burr's streamlined direction really did surprise me here, where it was more artistic, strange and atmospheric like something out of Michael Mann's 1983 "The Keep" (although there's nothing supernatural going on)… actually it's has the same surreal, dream-like feel where I would see it as a mixture of "The Keep" and definitely "Castle Keep" and throw in "Freaks (1932)". Burr interweaves a fairy-tale air amongst the horrifying spiral into the macabre madness of war. Again it's rather atypical, more so an uncompromising journey story of redemption and affiliation than just an all-out assault on the senses. Sure there's explosions and gunfire, but its trimmed and meaningfully unsettling in its execution. Especially the hanging trees' scene and the eerie final sequences involving an armed band of deformed orphan children taking on a German battalion with a tank, where its depiction of innocence shows it's never spared in war. The reason given to why the Germans are attacking them comes as a surprise, and only makes it even more gut wrenching. I wouldn't call it perfect, as the tight script is predictably penned and the moody narrative can be confounded by rapidly jerky flashback sequences that really don't share any light upon the characters, but just add more emotional baggage from the vague imagery.

Two deserting American soldiers in the final days of WW2 managed to escape from custody by surviving a bombing attack on their vehicle. They head off in to the snowy European woods where they try to survive and this would go on to show how these two men really tick -- as one is psychotic while the other is naïve. While holding up in an abandoned house, they encounter a ragtag of orphan children who bare the scars of the war.

I wasn't expecting much, but Burr projects a desolate, forlorn war-torn landscape amongst the picturesque Romanian backdrop. Stylishly striking set-pieces are formed, as the earthy action is beautifully poised, but at the same time hard-hitting and suspenseful. How the action and music went hand to hand had me thinking of Alex Cox's "Walker"… haunting scoring cues with slow-motion, emotionally over-wrought illustrations. It can be reflective -- pouring in blood and sweat, demons and pain with dark underlining.

The performances of Scott MacDonald and James Legros as the deserting American GIs are commendably good. The script could have done a better job in delving into these two characters than it did, because there were complexities dug up. But motives are quickly squeezed out. A gruff looking David Warner appears and Daniel Roebuck also. The kids are convincing in their roles.

Nothing spectacular, but quite an aspiring and gripping low-budget indie war effort.

One of the worst I've ever seen

[trobinson017 · 1/10 · 21 July 2006]

I don't see how anyone could give this "gem" any good comments. Long, slow moving, drawn out storyline, barely visible plot, bad acting, absolutely pointless flashbacks/dream sequences. I could barely stand to watch the whole thing but I just had to see if ANYTHING would redeem this mess. The description on the CD case made it sound like a thriller on the edge of scary type of war movie. It wasn't sad, funny, scary or thrilling. It was just plain old boring. I haven't seen anything else by Jeff Burr but if this is the best he can do I'll avoid any of his other works like the plague! Save your money and rent something worthwhile, like Erasurehead.

This one's a keeper...

[driveingoddess · 7/10 · 28 March 2005]

I saw this little gem at a film festival in LA. I went in expecting to see another war film but I was in for a treat! I don't want to give too much information away so let me say the movie takes the viewer on a twisting, turning surreal journey that will disturb you at times, frighten you and bring you to tears before the end credits roll but you will be glad you saw it. The movie encompasses several different elements-the perils of war, a touch of macabre, sadness and redemption. All these elements are woven together nicely by director Jeff Burr-who also wrote the film. One of the many things that really caught my eye was the imagery-during the outside scenes the snow is so white you want to touch it while the rest of the picture has a steely bluish gray look that makes you feel like you are experiencing a dreary winter day. The movie also has an eerie dreamy sort of quality to it with great use of flashbacks that only add to the tone of the film. Last but not least, there are a few bloody scenes that prove very effective in disturbing the viewer, without turning the whole film into a gore fest. This film may be "low budget" by Hollywood standards but that's what makes it stand out above the rest. I like the fact that this was not a typical big budget film with big overpaid stars and a bunch of teenagers that looked like they just came in off the WB. The people especially the children were real and that stood out thru out the movie. I think director Jeff Burr did an outstanding job on this movie and I look forward to seeing more of his films. I hope that this comes out in theaters so everyone can have the opportunity to witness a truly moving film.

waste of time

[mheld · 2/10 · 16 July 2006]

Don't waste your time on this one. It starts off well and ends up in a mess. One of the most irritating features is that it is riddled with what may be flashbacks (or flash forwards)for the main character.But you never have enough context to put them all together or make sense of them. They appear like mosquitoes and are just as useful. It picked WWII as the backdrop to show the misery and futility of war.Perhaps it never occurred to the creative minds behind it that we might be speaking German today if the allies had decided not to fight. A poor choice of wars. One of the two soldiers undergoes a sudden transformation that is neither believable nor understandable. The ending appears to have been cut off before it led to anything satisfactory. I wanted a refund of my time after I realized it was over.

Believe the positive comments on IMDb, this one is a winner!

[osvaldobneto · 8/10 · 26 October 2008]

This movie is such a mesmerizing and impressive experience that you won't regret to do. Beautifully shot on Romania with strong acting by a cast that includes Ryan Francis, Scott McDonald (JACK FROST!), Linda Thorson and David Warner. Probably, STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS is Jeff Burr's masterpiece. It have flaws, like some obvious dubbing for the German characters, played by romanian actors. But none of them diminishes the valour of this great movie, that also benefits from a original and powerful script, not to mention the haunting, beautiful musical score.

STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS have a sincere, thought provoking anti-war message and manages to be more than just a movie. Knowing that the kids casted on it were real life orphans only made the experience more human and emotional. War and general movie fans, be sure to don't miss!

Highly recommended - a different take on life and death.

[steve-harris-1 · 7/10 · 12 April 2006]

Thoughtfully composed and disarming cinematography. I liked the minimalist approach to dialogue while letting the images speak for themselves. The use of real people, fantastic people, especially the child actors, was critical to the message and I was reminded greatly of Brecht's poem "Children's Crusade". The pace of the film slowly but steadily reaching a crescendo towards the end, with it's final flourish and eloquent testimony to the futility of war. I would recommend this film to any Humanities teacher wanting to broaden their students experience and understanding of the real world by looking through a different telescope.

This is a film that lingers on in your memory for days and weeks afterwards. Jeff Burr deserves a bigger audience.

worst film ever?

[dkosowski · 1/10 · 21 October 2007]

Okey, i feel i have to write a review about this film, so anyone else wont use 90 minutes of they're lives on it. This is actually the first review I've ever written. I just feel i have to do it.. I have seen a lots of films, and I've got a decent collection of DVD's. Anyways, this film is now in my top 3 worst films I've ever seen. I don't even know where to start? The acting is so bad it actually made me and my mate laugh a couple of times. The story is just boring. The only thing that made me see the whole movie, was the hopes of seeing a girl take off a face mask.

Now, this might be a movie you have to see several times to get it. But trust me, I'm not going to do that. Id rather sit and watch paint dry. By the way, did i mention that this film is horrible?

Conclusion: PLEASE, don't see this movie!

Very interesting film, graphic, terrifying, poignant.

[jasper412 · 26 February 2004]

I recently saw a special screening of "Straight Into Darkness" at the Italian Institute of Culture as part of the "Best of the Milan Film Festival" series. The title is very appropriate -- disturbing and thought provoking, the film takes the audience straight into the darkness, violence and brutality of war. The actors are terrific, most notably Scott MacDonald as Deming. The character's base, savage "survival at any cost" mentality is terrifyingly portrayed by Mr. MacDonald. I was so involved in the story that I was ashamed of Deming being an American. I have seen many films set in World War II, but none has ever affected me quite like "Straight Into Darkness."

Could have been better

[monica-cohn08 · 5/10 · 17 July 2016]

I caught this on broadcast TV. At first it captivated me and I wanted to see more. But then as it wore on, I got more and more turned off by the two soldiers/characters. One was a psychopathic jerk, while the "sensitive" one didn't seem to have any balls. His constant flashbacks to his past became quite annoying. The station I watched it on didn't cue it right between commercials. So it started it wrong and repeated a good portion of what it had shown before. I saw that I wouldn't see the ending, and realized I didn't really care. The only reason I tried is that it got a decent Rotten Tomatoes score, somehow. IMDb's rating seems much more accurate. Maybe it got better in the second half - I'll probably never know...

Frankly it stunk

[rdion-33887 · 4/10 · 29 July 2023]

I gave it 4 stars only because I managed to make it to the end. What a train wreck. The story was terrible. I would go deeper into why it was so bad but I don't want to list any spoilers. Only two main characters who were both unlikeable. The director did a much better job with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as that was actually good. Those that gave this a 10 need therapy. They must give 10's to everything. It was bad. Please don't waste your time. It wasn't much of a war movie. It definitely wasn't a horror movie. There was one good character actor in it and one that used to be but is now long forgotten.

Uninspiring and unconvincing war fable

[jordondave-28085 · 3/10 · 17 July 2023]

(2005) Straight Into Darkness WAR

Co-written and directed by Jeff Burr directing a straight to rental film that has two US war deserters of Losey (Ryan Francis) and Deming (Scott MacDonald) with one of them is psychotic, stumble upon an abandon building inhabited by disadvantaged school children, and an older couple Deacon (David Warner) and Maria (Linda Thorson) who succumb to fighting against wondering overwhelming Nazis odds! The war scenes are some of the worst I've ever seen and unconvincingly at that, and the acting could've been better. It's a low budget and uninvolving with good intentions.

Good movie, creepy, violent, but alright I guess

[Firebrand50 · 7/10 · 3 March 2006]

From experience, let me say, for any parent with young (<10yo) kids, don't get this one out as a "lets stay up late and watch a movie" movie. Even with the aid of copious amounts of bourbon its emotionally gutwrenching and hard to sit through.

This isn't a spoiler but essentially the movie revolves around a WW2 era setting with 60+ machine-gun toting German infantry with tanks versus a handful of mentally retarded/physically disabled (and sometimes both) children and their teachers along with a few deserters from the US army.

Its graphic/highly suggestive scenes of kids killing soldiers and being killed themselves is hard to take, even with the best attempts of the director to make it less of an impact. It contains strong violence and children, what more can I say? Even closing your eyes won't help as the sound effects (kids screaming/machine gun fire/bullets hitting flesh noises/kids groaning/cut to close up shot of a dead 5 year old child filled full of bullet wounds) are equally as descriptive.

Once again, for any person with ties to kids under 10 or so, don't go with this one, its not a "nice" film. If you do watch it, be prepared for realistic and detailed violence on a large scale directed at disabled kids as well as adult actors.

Nah... Its way too confusing

[tylertubisjr · 3/10 · 13 August 2023]

This film has too many mini flashbacks and closeups not very fond of this technique its has too much of this elements that using it makes no sense, there is also too many whispering can't even understand what is it for, in making a film does over using an elements make the movie cringy, there are also a lot of fillers on this film that even thou it will cut off you can still understand the storyline of the film, and some scenes are just unrealistic that even a younger audiences can differentiate it. Overall the storyline has its own potential to shine, that's why its important to choose what elements should a film creator use to avoid over usage of one element.

Captivating.

[haftervan · 7/10 · 11 February 2010]

I must admit it's just the second movie of Jeff Burr i've seen (the other was Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (i'm a big fan of the slashers i must tell).

I have one word for Jeff in S.I.D. "daring."

1.-The general Story I think the director cared more to tell us the story of this two deserters than placing the story in WWII, i think the time or the war was the less important here it could have been told in Kosovo, Acteal México or Afganistan, and he made it the best he could with the money they had. The Story is way different and i'm sure it has inspired some other.

2.- I've seen Losey Character b4, and in the same context. ¿Has any of you seen "saints and soldiers (2003)"? There's a Character who is hiding into the frozen woods, and has recurrent visions of little girls and dolls, eventually you find out that he accidentally killed Some little Girls into a church.. Sounds familiar?.. I'm not saying Jeff stole the story, i just say i saw that character b4... Coincidence maybe.

3.- I'm sure it's kind a tribute to b-movies. I know Jeff is very into B-Movies, and the inspiration in this film of them is "notirious", the band of "freak kids" (With all respect i just used the term 'cos of the movie "the freaks") is a clear tribute to b-Movies.

4.- The Low Budget issue. Even with that detail he could handle it, but sometimes this issue "killed my buzz"

THE CONQUERING WORM

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 6 June 2019]

This is a different type of war story which doesn't make it better. Two American deserters (nervous in the service) make their way across rural France? when they encounter civilians who capture them. When The Germans show up things change.

The film uses a lot of flashbacks which proved to be more useless than useful. One girl wore a leatherface, something director Jeff Burr must of had left over from another film, and like Ed Wood, hates to see a good prop go to waste no matter how inanely it ties into the tale. Scott MacDonald played an unlikeable character very well. Ryan Francis, our protagonist needed more substance to his role. His flashbacks didn't make it.

The children aspect made the film interesting and slightly entertaining, but not something I would watch twice.

Guide: F-bomb, nudity, attempted rape. Available on a 12 pack action film set Called "Under Fire" in the Walmart $5.00 US bin

An Excellent, well made film

[Lyzer · 10/10 · 24 July 2005]

This is an excellent film. As promised, I won't include spoilers. It has the feel of "Johnny Get Your Gun," and is a little like Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." It shows two human's experiences in a very, very dangerous place and time. The two characters have almost contrasting personalities, yet stranded alone must depend on each other. Deming, a nasty and frightening character, is played by Scott MacDonald. He is a fantastic actor, who simply becomes the roles he takes on. Losey, played by Ryan Francis, is more thoughtful. He has more heart, and a conscience.

This film did very well, with good reason, at the film festivals that have shown it. Though it has a low budget, this for the most part does not detract from the film. The movie does have it's light moments, but for the most part, is for the brave hearted. Jeff Burr and Mark Hannah, the director and producer, made excellent choices when they picked the spots for shooting the film. They perfectly reflect the tones of the scenes, be they sad, frightening, or, once in a while, light and hopeful.

All in all, this film is very well made, and well worth your while, with a new take on the horrors of war.

Throwback to the old school finesse of WWII dramas by the likes of Fuller/Siegel/Peckinpah/Aldrich; better than anticipated yarn.

[george.schmidt · 7/10 · 5 June 2006]

STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS (2006) *** Ryan Francis, Scott MacDonald, David Warner, Linda Thorson, Daniel Roebuck, James Le Gros, Nelu dinu, Liliana Perepelicinic. (Dir: Jeff Burr) The WWII melodrama has been done to death ever since V-E day and of late it appears a newfound appreciation for the subgenre has been unleashed ever since Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. I must admit when I was given the task to view yet another struggle-against-all-odds military pic I wasn't crazy about the idea, let alone by an indie director who I never even heard of. However I was pleasantly surprised that my expectations would be overlooked for this well-executed and smartly produced low-budget pic is better than anticipated. Namely filmmaker Jeff Burr (who wrote & directed) and his by-the-seat-of-his-pants smarts manages to make the familiar fresh and the limited funds not necessarily a risk but an obstacle overcome. The story begins when two grunts Losey (Ryan Francis, who resembles a cross- pollination of Ben Affleck, Ed Burns and Paul Rudd) and Deming (Scott MacDonald, a low-rent Tom Sizemore) who desert their platoon (including James LeGros and Daniel Roebuck in cameos) after being shelled in a snowy minefield. Losey is plagued by nightmarish flashbacks to the horrors he's inflicted via his Army-issued flamethrower and the thoughts of his gal back home Donna, (Brittny Lane Stewart). Deming is half-crazed and has violent tendencies as the two trek across the frost-bitten no-man's land of the unnamed European terrain (shot in Romania with affective eeriness) and come across a lunatic priest (Gabriel Spahiu), a forest full of a wedding party dangling from nooses and a horse with no name until the tired duo come across an abandoned mill where they discover they are not alone.

Here they find two school instructors (veteran character actor David Warner and Linda Thorson, best known from TV's "AVENGERS" as Diana Riggs' replacement) holed up with their orphan charges, a brigade of unwanted, developmentally challenged children who have been taught basic training in military weaponry in defense against the Nazi horde that have been through their wooded terrain and unbeknownst to the new strangers making tracks to overtake the edifice for a hidden secret that is housed there.

Overall the production values are very good indeed, particularly the ethereal blue/black color schemes of cinematographer Viorel Sergovici; the kinetic editing of Lawrence A. Maddox and the elegiac musical score by Michael Convenrtino underscoring the dream-like quality Burr maintains in his sparse combination of Sam Pekinpah/Don Siegel/Robert Aldrich/Sam Fuller composition with different film stocks (Super 8 & 16mm for the flashbacks); various speeds of action (slo-mo and jarring sped-up nightmarish imagery to full tilt); skewed camera angles and quick scatter-shots interlaced make for a nerve wracking and compelling viewer ship. What Burr lacks in narrative dialogue (co-written by co-exec.prod. Mark Hannah) he makes up for in his visuals (and audio) skills in competent display.

The acting is solid for the most part although it would've been nice if he allowed LeGros & Roebuck to be in a few more scenes (even if they were flashbacks) and one major hole in the plot (what the hell happened to the lunatic priest?) but the children do a fine job too, particularly the leg-less Nelu Dinu and the haunting Liliana Perepelicinic whose Anna wears an unnerving yet beautiful mask echoing "Eyes Without A Face". The film has an unspoken supernatural air about it too also recalling "The Beguiled", the Clint Eastwood Civil War Gothic thriller when an AWOL soldier finds himself at the mercy of a young girls' homestead. Burr could've used a bit more of that if that was his intention in the long run.

Well done but depressing and violent (though not that bad for a war movie)

[vchimpanzee · 25 July 2016]

This appears to be a good movie, for those who like this sort of thing. There's not a lot of happiness here, but we see people get things done and stand tall despite obstacles, even though the two stars are nothing more than cowards at the beginning.

The main adult actors all give good performances. I would also add the German officer to that list. He is not evil but just doing his job. At one point he states that he feels like a father to his men.

The children do a great job, and I would single out the boy with no legs and the girl with the mask, even though neither says a word. You can just see their determination and courage.

A few years ago a TV detective lost either his wife or his son in a car accident. When the son was alive everything appeared blue. When the wife was alive colors were closer to yellow or orange. That's how much of the movie is. Colors are much more vivid in the flashbacks and visions, though in one case Losey is having a nightmare and everything quickly turns blue, followed by bright orange when there are explosions. It's quite an effective technique. I do wish the brightly colored flashbacks had lasted longer and had more character development, because we really needed positive images.

It's quite good if you like this sort of thing.