War films aren't exactly the usual preferred viewing pleasure of a wasted life, unless they are bad and made in the Philippines (like Warbus [1985]), but much like western horror flicks, if we notice a serious war-set horror movie we tend to gravitate towards it. Ghosts of War, a supernatural horror set in a deserted French chateau towards the end of the Second World War, was a title unknown to us when we stumbled upon the DVD at our local Euro Shop, but once found, it was a given that we would watch it. That same evening, in fact.
Trailer to
Ghosts of War:
Written and directed by Eric Bress, whose first and to date only other directorial effort is his much-maligned but extremely watchable and apparently financially successful Butterfly Effect (2004 / trailer), Ghosts of War follows five American soldiers whose expected dream respite from the violence of war in a huge, luxurious countryside chateau quickly turns into a nightmare. And, for the most part, the nightmare makes one really good, effective and chilling movie.
Ghosts of War's narrative of a group of compatriots stuck in a house from hell is not exactly new, found as it is in films ranging from (to name the first we can think of) The Haunting (1963 / trailer and 1999 / trailer) and/or The House on Haunted Hill (1959 / trailer and 1999 / trailer) to Dead Birds (2004), the last of which even agitates within a quasi-western, post-Civil War setting. Perhaps the biggest flaw of the last-named movie is that its group of identification figures, mostly made up of deserters, is one of violent bank robbers who kill indiscriminately for greed, so identification and sympathy for their plight is hard to come by. In this regard, Ghosts of War does a much better job: the five soldiers may be hardened, blood-thirsty and/or violent, but they are clearly so due to the insanity of war. If, for example, their actions after blowing up the jeep full of Germans seem inhumane and unhinged, they only reflect what war actually is; and in the case of one soldier, Priv. Tappert (young genre-film veteran Kyle Gallner of Strange Darling [2023 / trailer], Smile [2022 / trailer], Scream [2022 / trailer], The Cleanse [2016 / trailer], Red State [2011 / trailer], Jennifer's Body [2009] and more), though his actions at the jeep reveal a cold-blooded greediness not shared by the rest of his detail, his actions when stumbling upon fleeing concentration-camp escapees at least reveal that somewhere within him there is a caring, emphatic human being.
Under the command of Lt. Chris (Brenton Thwaites of Office Uprising [2018 / trailer], Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales [2017 / trailer], Maleficent [2014 / trailer] and Oculus [2013]), the team finally arrive at the chateau, to which they have been deployed with orders to hold it until reinforcements come. It doesn't take long for the five soldiers to realize why the company they relieved were so keen to leave the house: the original residents, a family of four, who were killed by the Nazis, are out for revenge — and much like the ghosts of the average Asian ghost movie, they don't care whom they take revenge upon. (Or so it initially seems.)
For much of the movie, Ghosts of War plays like a truly suspenseful supernatural horror movie, complete with real and jump scares, and the continual intensification of unnatural events. Unlike so many horror movies, there is also character development and revelations, so the viewer has a chance to see the five soldiers as more than just blank slates. Initially, the five are somewhat slow to say "ghosts" to each other, but it becomes impossible not to do so — and then, to make things worse, a flesh-and-blood German squadron suddenly shows up as well. The resulting battle does include one WTF moment, when the hot-bodied Butchie (DILFy Alan "Jack Reacher" Ritchson, below not from the film, of The Butcher [2006 / trailer], Office Uprising [2018 / trailer], The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare [2024 / trailer] and the insanely trashy TV series that should have been successful, Blood Drive [2017 / trailer]) does something that he truly did not need to do, but the other worldly horrors of war that commence within the house are matched in part by the unnatural horrors of what the ghosts do.
For a good four-fifths of the movie, Ghosts of War is truly excellent. The tension and suspense continually increases, and the narrative is continually punctuated by well-placed and timed interludes of real war horror and ghostly chills. Unluckily, our heroes, all of whom manage to gain themselves more than a sliver of respect, understanding and sympathy from the viewer, find themselves trapped where they are: any attempt to leave proves to lead them back to where they started, as if trapped in a time loop.
And that is the point where Ghosts of War, up until then an effective and enthralling and scary and well-made and traditional horror movie, pulls the rug out from under you and, depending on how you look at it, either drops the ball completely or turns ingenious — complete with Easter-egg casting. (Well, "Easter egg" only if you're familiar with contemporary genre-film icons — and, no, it's not Brad Dourif [of, for example, Soulkeeper [2001], Bride of Chucky [1998], Progeny [1999], Urban Legend [1998] and The Hazing [2004]) or John Savage [of, for example, Empire of the Sharks [2017], Alien Lockdown [2004] and American Strays [1996] ].) We, for one, found the genre jump jarring, but everything that preceded it was so good that we are willing to go with the twist, no matter how WTF.
Interestingly enough, the closing scene of the movie actually infers that the möbius-strip aspect of the soldiers' attempt to leave the chateau is playing out on multiple levels. Likewise, some of the last scenes of the five also raise the question of whether, at least for a few of them, death might not be the preferred option.
Ghosts of War. Great ghost movie with a big twist, sort of like as if you're eating you dad's perfectly grilled steak that suddenly transmogrifies into your mom's family-recipe pumpkin pie. Both taste great, but make for an odd combination, particularly if one simply suddenly replaces the other with a blink of an eye.
