Overlord

A b-level movie with A-level production values. Overlord hits the horror a little too late in the story to really engage with me, but the overall experience was a fun one.

After a really well put together opening sequence, Overlord would have you think it's simply a WWII flick and nothing more. It's not until we get inside a house and hear the whispering moans of an elderly woman hidden away in her room do we suspect something more is up.

Once Overlord does dive into horror, it feels conflicted. I loved the bit where we get a fallen soldier given life again with the medical serum. In the confusion of being alive again he whips his head back and break his neck. The body horror in this scene is almost Cronenberg level of grotesque and unique. On the other end, the film doesn't do enough with the zombie aspect to make the film interesting.

Towards the climax the horror becomes a little more reliant an action. Our antagonist is part zombie and instead of killing people, he likes to throw them around. This is a common theme in films where the fight can be over relatively quickly, but our bad guy tends to simply throw our hero around the room. Had Overlord leaned a bit more into the horror element a bit earlier, it could have been more inline with From Dusk Till Dawn.

I enjoyed the film, it has some nice gore elements, but wanted the film to do more with the zombie plot. It just seems like it's there with no added weight. Our heroes barely fight the dead and we have zero connection to out heroes. Props to the make-up department though, they hit it out of the park.