Production Companies ApolloMedia, ApolloProMedia GmbH & Co. 1. Filmproduktion KG (I), Bavaria Film, Canal+, CiBy 2000, F.A.M.E. Film & Music Entertainment AG, Film and Music Entertainment Ltd., Medusa Produzione, Odyssey Motion Pictures, Portobello Pictures, Q&Q Medien GmbH
Studio ApolloMedia, ApolloProMedia, Bavaria Film, Film & Music Entertainment, Odyssey Entertainment
Other Titles • Deathwatch (2002) • No Man's Land • Untitled Great War Project • Untitled WWI Trench Horror
Synopses for Deathwatch (2002)
1.
1915. The Western Front. One million or more Allied and German troops face each other across the scarred, cratered plains of northern Europe, thick with mud and blood, the air fetid with the suffocating stench of death and gas. Hundreds of thousands of young men are already buried in this terrible wasteland; hundreds of thousands more will die here before the senseless slaughter ends.
It is here that one young man, only 16, much like you or I, must face his deepest fear, that he will die a coward. Private Charles Shakespeare is convulsed with terror. Death is all about him, the bodies of his closest comrades carelessly shredded by machine-gun fire. He and the last few men of Y Company are utterly lost, deep in enemy territory. Their only shelter is an abandoned German trench, a claustrophobic maze of blind corners and underground tunnels, overflowing with war dead and infested with rats. Here, exhausted and terrified, they seek refuge, waiting to be rescued.
But no-one will come to rescue them. And, one by one, the young men of Y Company begin to die. Others, driven quite mad, turn on each other.
Yet what is this horror they face? Is the soil possessed by something even more terrible than the war that surrounds them, something ancient and unholy? Have centuries of bloodshed have infected the very earth? Is the trench itself alive?
In this cursed, lonely place, Private Charles Shakespeare must overcome a terror greater even than his own deepest fear, a terror beyond all human understanding.
(30 votes)
2.
A small group of English soldiers find themselves in a labyrinth of abandoned German trenches in Deathwatch, a reworking of the classic British supernatural horror tale as a redemptive allegory amid the wider horror of the Great War. The very earth has had its fill of blood and this lost company may already be in hell: imagine the BBC TV film All the Kings Men (1999) crossed with Cube (1997), as realised by a young Ridley Scott. Only Charlie Shakespeare, an impressive Jamie Bell, is sufficiently innocent to realise the evil of the trenches is turning comrade against comrade, resulting in the gradually escalating carnage.
Director Michael J Bassett effectively wracks the tension, aided greatly by a wonderfully decayed set design and story, which may meander, but builds to a chillingly surreal finale. Bell is given strong support from Matthew Rhys and a psychotic Andy Serkis, while Bassett has a fine eye for lighting and composition, as well as the ability to deliver some horrifically effective set-pieces. Taking itself much more seriously than its comparable contemporary, Dog Soldiers (2002), Deathwatch was shamefully overlooked in the cinemas but is surely a future cult classic just awaiting discovery.
On the DVD:Deathwatch is presented anamorphically enhanced at 2.35-1, and bar some compression artifacting in a few scenes looks fine. Likewise the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is both atmospheric and powerful. The feature includes optional subtitles for hard of hearing. Extras begin with 15 minutes of interviews with six main cast members and Michael J Bassett. Also included are 14 minutes of filming footage and 16 minutes of alternate/extended/deleted scenes with text explanations as to why the material was changed or cut. There are three commentaries, with writer/director Bassett giving a serious account of realising his debut feature, then joining Jamie Bell and Lawrence Fox on a second commentary for more light hearted reflections. Finally Andy Serkis demonstrates his commitment to the project with an enjoyable reminiscence of his own. --Gary S Dalkin
(30 votes)
3.
Deliver Them From Evil.
1917. The Western Front. A handful of survivors from Y-Company are utterly lost in enemy territory. They find shelter in an abandoned enemy trench-a claustrophobic maze of blind corners and underground tunnels, overflowing with war dead and infested with rats. It is here the survivors of Y-Company wait to be rescued. But as night draws, nobody comes. They begin to think there is someone...or some THING in the trench with them. One by one the young men of Y-Company die as the unseen stalker terrorizes and preys upon their fear.
(33 votes)
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