Ghosts of War (2020)

Directed by: Eric Bress | 94 minutes | horror, thriller | Actors: Brenton Thwaites, Kyle Gallner, Alan Ritchson, Theo Rossi, Skylar Astin, Billy Zane, Vivian Gray, Shaun Toub, Laila Banki, Yanitsa Mihailova, Kaloyan Hristov, Shannon McKain, Nathan Cooper, Matthew Reese, Alexander Behrang Keshtkar, Dawn Sherrer , Alexandra Spasova, Amber Townsend

Director Eric Bress debuted in 2004 with the rock-solid and heavily underrated ‘The Butterfly Effect’ in which he had Ashton Kutcher play a serious role. Before that, Bress was mainly active as a script writer and he was at the basis of the story of ‘Final Destination’ from 2000. Sixteen years after his directorial debut, ‘Ghosts of War’ is Bress’ second canned film. The chance that this war movie cum haunted house movie will become as cult hit as ‘The Butterfly Effect’ remains to be seen.

In ‘Ghosts of War’ – set during the Second World War – it revolves around five American soldiers. This fivesome is ordered to take a French castle from the Nazis. However, this building appears to be haunted.

It is clear that Bress did not have a generous budget. For example, the costumes don’t look very convincing and the cast will never reach the highest levels of Hollywood. The game is wooden and unnatural. In addition, some special effects look very fake. Computer effects are aging at breakneck speed. Even the most expensive blockbusters that use supercomputers to create special effects have to deal with this. Bress did not have supercomputers, resulting in rather clumsy effects. It’s a shame, because it detracts from this film, which despite all its flaws is fine to watch.

Bress has put together a charming story with a special plot twist. With a more generous budget, this film could have broken eight pots. Now ‘Ghosts of War’ is stuck at B-movie level. The idea is there, but is being thwarted by the lack of funding. It is to the credit of the director that he is not stingy with violence and wants to show as much as possible. Unfortunately, these atrocities are not too convincing. Clearly there had been more residents.