Ghosts of War

The ending of Ghosts of War doesn't make sense until one learns that its director, Eric Bress, also perpetrated The Butterfly Effect. Actually, it still doesn't make any sense, but you get the idea – or, rather, you don't. Five American soldiers are sent to guard a French castle formerly occupied by the Nazi high command. We have Chris (Brenton Thwaites), Kirk (Theo Rossi), Eugene (Skylar Astin), Tappert (Kyle Gallner), and Butchie (Alan Ritchson) – or The Leader, The Face, The Brain, The Wild Card, and The Muscle, respectively; that's how I like to refer to them because those descriptors tell you all you need to or could ever hope to know about them. Superficially, this is a haunted house movie. One would think that war, especially one in which the survival or extinction of an entire ethnic group was at stake, carries enough inherent horror without having to add a supernatural element to it. Ghosts of War, however, is not what it seems at first glance. A second layer exists below the surface; the problem is that this deeper level is even more absurd than the first. All things considered, Ghosts of War is a movie about five people playing the most sophisticated version of Call of Duty ever – down to being able to restart the game at the last save point. It's not all bad news, though; Billy Zane has a cameo, and I'll take some Billy Zane over no Billy Zane any day of the week.

This starts off quite well - a group of American squaddies are charged with occupying a chateau in France towards the end of WWII. Once ensconced, however, they start to hear things going bump in the night and soon discover that the Nazis had carried out the particularly brutal murders of the family who had lived there before, and that that family possibly hadn't quite left! Cuties Brenton Thwaites ("Chris") and Kyle Gallner ("Tapert") are decent enough as they lead their men in the hunt for the truth and at times it's a well constructed and paced (don't go looking for any meaningful dialogue) ghost story with some above-average special effects. Sadly, though, after about an hour it all goes seriously off piste and we start having science and Afghanistan (and Billy Zane) enter into the plot and we slide down a slippery slope to ridiculousness. Pity!

I did not know exactly what to expect here but it was a bit different, Billy Zane appeared in it and Directed it. It was surprisingly better than expected. It begins with a small group of WW2 Soldiers heading for a former NAZI controlled mansion in France, they are relieving another group of American Soldiers there. Upon arrival they find a huge Mansion, and the soldiers already there can't wait to leave and get out of the house and none of them are sleeping in any of the nice big bedrooms, they all were camped out on the Main floor together in 1 room. They leave in a rush with not much to say to the new group. This is where they find out why? the Mansion is Haunted. They are now in a fight for their lives, the people are very good I think, and it's a good story, it kept me interested. I won't give away the last part of the Movie, I probably would never watch it again as many Movies I can watch over and over, but this one, it's one and done, it's just that kind of Movie, good once, but enough for me, it just has no re-watch Value. It's fairly well made an directed, I would definitely suggest it if you like War & Ghosts.