A troop of British soldiers lost in battle seize a deserted enemy trench, but their survival is threatened by its ghastly mysteries ...
Good concept - basically the writer/director has converted the legend of The Marie Celeste to the killing fields of WWI, and let loose the psychology that we've built up around that conflict. Or you could think in terms of Dead Calm, maybe even Aliens or 2001. Gasp!
From the opening battle sequence it's clear there was money behind this production, but it didn't carry the impact of the over-the-top finale to Blackadder, so I could have done without all the Boom-Boom-Boom in favour of just slipping into the claustrophobic trek through the mist.
The star of the film is the trench - I got the sense of it as a deadly command centre turning its hostile attention inward. But the mythos of the story is confused, juggling the paranormal and the psychological, with a twist that is telegraphed early on and a conclusion that has it both ways.
The performances are OK, but the actors have to struggle with cut 'n paste dialogue and characterisation, although the hero does come through well in the climax. I loved the rotting corpse gore. Music was ham-fisted, trying to distract from a lack of heart in the story.
Overall: Great setting, but tangles itself in barbed wire.
Good concept - basically the writer/director has converted the legend of The Marie Celeste to the killing fields of WWI, and let loose the psychology that we've built up around that conflict. Or you could think in terms of Dead Calm, maybe even Aliens or 2001. Gasp!
From the opening battle sequence it's clear there was money behind this production, but it didn't carry the impact of the over-the-top finale to Blackadder, so I could have done without all the Boom-Boom-Boom in favour of just slipping into the claustrophobic trek through the mist.
The star of the film is the trench - I got the sense of it as a deadly command centre turning its hostile attention inward. But the mythos of the story is confused, juggling the paranormal and the psychological, with a twist that is telegraphed early on and a conclusion that has it both ways.
The performances are OK, but the actors have to struggle with cut 'n paste dialogue and characterisation, although the hero does come through well in the climax. I loved the rotting corpse gore. Music was ham-fisted, trying to distract from a lack of heart in the story.
Overall: Great setting, but tangles itself in barbed wire.