Casey Chong with a selection of must-see World War II horror movies for your watch list…
World War II left an indelible mark on world history, and cinema has been constantly fascinated by the conflict, exploring the underlying moral and psychological effects of war, from the soldier’s PTSD to the hellish nature of enduring combat in enemy territory. The World War II trope isn’t just restricted to the war film genre though. We’ve previously looked at a selection of underrated WWII romance movies, and now we’re turning our attention to horror; from supernatural to zombies, we round up the best World War II horror movies worth checking out…
Ghosts of War (2020)
Directed by Eric Bress, best known for writing the second and fourth Final Destination movies and helming The Butterfly Effect, Ghosts of War combines war thriller and supernatural horror within the haunted-house trope. The setting takes place primarily in the confines of a French chateau, where five American soldiers – among them Brenton Thwaites, Kyle Gallner and Alan Ritchson – are tasked to guard the aforementioned location. Then strange things start to happen, making us wonder whether the house is actually haunted or the soldiers are suffering from psychological breakdown due to the effects of the war.
Bress, who also wrote the screenplay, incorporates things-that-go-bump-in-the-night elements, jump scares and ominous mood to mostly intriguing results. Then comes the third-act reveal, which may prove divisive for some viewers, but Bress’s bold decision of flipping the script justifies his story’s underlying metaphor of guilt and remorse.
Below (2002)
Claustrophobic tension is often synonymous with movies that take place in the confines of a submarine. Here is where David Twohy, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Darren Aronofsky and Lucas Sussman, uses this familiar trope by adding the supernatural horror elements in Below. Set aboard the U.S. Navy submarine USS Tiger Shark in 1943, the crew, led by Lieutenant Brice (a typically engaging Bruce Greenwood), has picked up three survivors – among them is the nurse Claire Paige (Olivia Williams) — from a decimated British hospital vessel in the Atlantic Ocean.
Twohy prioritizes a dread-inducing atmosphere over the standard gore and jump scares to establish his horror here. He also made good use of the submarine setting, regardless of its interior and exterior, to draw unspeakable terror and the mounting sense of paranoia as the crew begins to lose their sanity over the supernatural occurrence. It’s a pity that Twohy’s $40 million-budgeted submarine horror came and gone with little fanfare at the time of its release.
The Keep (1983)
Still the oddest film from Michael Mann, who is primarily known for his crime genre work with Thief to Heat and Public Enemies, The Keep earned its distinction for all the wrong reasons, thanks to Paramount’s infamous butchering of his movie. Originally clocked in at 210 minutes, the studio brutally cut the movie down to 96 minutes. The result? The story, adapted from F. Paul Wilson’s 1981 horror novel of the same name, which centers on Nazi soldiers (among them Jurgen Prochnow and Gabriel Byrne) occupying the Romanian citadel that houses a malevolent entity behind the ancient stone walls, suffers from an uneven narrative and hazy motivation.
And yet, it’s hard to deny Mann’s sheer ambition in executing his horror with the utmost mesmerizing effect. He does a good job incorporating atmospheric dread and surreal imagery (the smoke effect comes to mind) with the help of Alex Thomson’s moody lensing and, most of all, Tangerine Dream’s hauntingly hypnotic score that complements the movie’s dreamlike quality.
Heavy Metal (1981)
This 1981 cult classic is renowned for incorporating adult-oriented elements in its animated form that veer away from the standard family-friendly fare. Disney, this is not, since it’s as mature as it gets with the explicit themes of sex, gore and violence. Heavy Metal is told in an anthology series, totalling ten segments.
One of them worth mentioning here is B-17, which revolves around the titular World War II bomber taking a hit during a mid-air dogfight. What follows next isn’t the war enemies, but rather deadlier consequences in the form of the dead crew turning into zombies. The B-17 segment may have been short, but it remains thoroughly engrossing, thanks to the genre know-how direction. The uniquely rendered, rotoscoped animation has a distinctly choppy look and feel that meshes well with the segment’s dark and grisly horror elements. It’s uncompromisingly brutal and graphic, right down to its downbeat finale.
Shadow in the Cloud (2020)
Director and co-writer Roseanne Liang brings a pulpy, feminist energy to this World War II action-horror film in Shadow in the Cloud. Set in 1943, Chloe Grace Moretz stars as Maude Garrett, a WAAF Flight Officer on a ride aboard a B-17 bomber while carrying an unknown package. That package in question remains top secret for the bulk of the movie, while the male-dominated crew begins questioning her sudden appearance. The movie spends most of its time with Maude confined in the ball turret during the flight, and she communicates with the crew by radio.
Liang does a good job mixing chamber drama with themes of military sexism and even Twilight Zone-like paranoia, notably the classic episode of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. This is especially true with the surreal appearance of a gremlin trying to tear off the plane mid-flight. Moretz pretty much shoulders the weight of this movie, and she steals the show with her spunky, take-charge performance as Maude Garrett. Liang’s knowingly B-movie vibe is spot-on, while delivering better-than expected special effects, despite the film’s relatively low-budget production cost.
Overlord (2018)
This J.J. Abrams-produced World War II zombie thriller boasts plenty of grisly, blood-soaked fun and thrills, which follows a group of American paratroopers on a mission to take down a church tower in Nazi-occupied France. Things go awry when they face a Nazi officer (Pilou Asbæk’s Wafner) and later, find out about a secret laboratory underneath the church.
Director Julius Avery gets off to a thrilling start right from the get-go, with the kinetic opening air attack sequence. The second act may have suffered from an erratic pace, but Avery manages to pick up the slack once the soldiers engage in a battle of life and death in the church tower. From here, it’s a vividly graphic and gory fest in an energetic B-movie style. Overlord equally benefits from its ensemble cast, notably Wyatt Russell’s no-nonsense turn as Ford and Pilou Asbæk’s sinister antagonist role as Wafner.
Blood Vessel (2019)
There’s something supernatural aboard a passing, creaky Nazi minesweeper near the end of World War II in Blood Vessel. Writer-director Justin Dix effectively stages a familiar but creepy story of several survivors boarding the aforementioned vessel after their hospital ship is sunken by a torpedo. The vessel hides a dark secret, where Dix uses the vessel’s derelict nature of dark and dimly-lit interiors to explore the sinister goings-on with lots of atmospheric dread and gothic-filled claustrophobia as the mystery lingers throughout the movie.
This Australian production may have carried a low-budget production cost, but Dix doesn’t let it deter him from doing his best in the practical and makeup effects department, which are surprisingly better than expected. It also helps that Dix’s extensive special effects background from working as a droid unit technician in Star Wars: Episode II & III to handling prosthetics in The Babadook gives him an added advantage.
The Devil’s Rock (2011)
This New Zealand import proves that a good, effects-laden horror movie can be done even on a small budget. Directed and co-written by Paul Campion, the story takes place in 1944, where a pair of New Zealand commandos – Captain Ben Grogan (Craig Hall) and Sergeant Joe Tane (Karlos Drinkwater) – are on a mission to infiltrate a Nazi bunker on the Channel Islands. Once inside, something is off about the place, leading them to the discovery of mutilated German soldiers and sinister Nazi occult experiments.
The Devil’s Rock is pretty much a single-location horror movie, with Campion utilizing the slow-burn approach to tell his story, favoring tense verbal exchanges between the two opposing soldiers (Hall’s Grogan and Matthew Sunderland’s Nazi Colonel Klaus Meyer) than a thorough, full-blown horror. This might come across as a turn-off for some viewers, but Campion still manages to bring out the best in his small cast, while layering his movie with plenty of claustrophobic dread and top-notch gore and makeup effects.
What are your favourite World War II horror movies? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong
