DEATHWATCH

1917, England. A platoon of English soldiers are engaged in defending the territory from the invaders. After getting lost in the fog following a retreat consequent to a fierce shootout, the team of soldiers finds themselves above a German trench. After killing some soldiers found nearby and capturing the last one, the English platoon decides to camp right in that trench and defend it. But a malevolent presence lurks among the mud and decomposing corpses, driving the soldiers to turn against each other. Recovered for home video only by the always excellent No Shame, "Deathwatch" is a 2002 English war horror that uses a fascinating idea to bring to life a film that is almost unsuccessful. War horror is a true subgenre that in recent years has grown exponentially, giving rise to sometimes high-quality films (Dog Soldiers). This "Deathwatch" is more akin to that type of movies that use horror only as a pretext to build a dramatic thriller in which the real protagonists are not the scares but the psychologies of the characters, soldiers fragile in spirit, demotivated, at the mercy of the horrors of war. Already "The Bunker" and "Below" had ventured into these territories, achieving decent results, now, with this "Deathwatch" a qualitative step back is taken to find ourselves facing a product that really has nothing or little to tell the viewer (at times there is the impression of watching "The Bunker" again!) and moreover it relies on a rhythm sometimes too slow and unable to keep the attention. The evil that lurks in the trench is completely abstract: a sort of malevolent spirit that no one knows who it is, what it is, what it wants, and why it behaves in a certain way. It has no precise technique with which to act, sometimes characters seem possessed, then objects come to life... other times it is the corpses that come to life! In short, they were not able to make the antagonistic aspect of the story minimally interesting. A major flaw of "Deathwatch" is then the screenplay, too indecisive about which path to take (thriller or war drama?) and unable to manage the themes addressed with effective synergy; moreover, several plot holes are found that culminate in an annoying and botched ending balancing between the moralistic sermon and the pure, irritating, nonsense. Certainly, "Deathwatch" should not be considered a complete disaster, as it still earns some decisive points. To the good direction of Michael J. Bassett, is added a realistic and careful photography, as well as a cast of all respect that includes among the known faces the Jacksonian Andy Serkis (the Gollum of "The Lord of the Rings") and Jamie Bell ("Billy Elliot"), now trapped in the roles of a teenager despite the passage of time. Of sure visual impact, as well as a hit as an idea, is the choice to make the barbed wire that adorns the trench the protagonist of some sequences; sharp metal made alive and capable of inflicting painful damage, as happens in a successful scene with a almost Barkerian flavor. In general, with "Deathwatch" we are dealing with a watchable but frankly useless film. Disappointing.