DEATHWATCH

Starring: Jamie Bell, Hugo Speer, Matthew Rhys, Andy Serkis and Laurence Fox
Writer/Director: Michael J. Bassett
Running Time: 95 mins
Certificate: 15

1917, the Great War was in full flow and on the western front young soldier Charlie Shakespeare (Bell) was about to face combat for the first time. Forced to go over-the-top and into no-man's land, Shakespeare and the rest of Y-Squadron are lost in the fight when the Hun deploy gas. Marching for what seems like days, the squadron come across a seemingly abandoned German trench with only one soldier left alive. Filled with corpses, it seems that the Germans had turned on themselves and Y-Squadron are now worried that the same might happen to them.

The resurgence of the British horror movie continues, this time we delve into the trauma of war and the evil, which it can create, all the under one of the worst titles ever for a horror film, Deathwatch.

The movie itself has an imaginative premise, the manifestation of pure evil within man during times of war, but it is very poorly handled by first time writer/director Michael J. Bassett. Character development and dialogue seem to have been pushed to the background, with Bassett concentrating more on the look of the movie and the revelation filled final act. He does succeed in recreating a very authentic look for the film by capturing the sheer horror, indignity and senselessness of war but to make this world come alive you need believable characters to inhabit it.

Jamie Bell, who showed so much promise in Billy Elliot, looks like a rank amateur as he delivers his lines as if he is reading them from an autocue. The rest of the cast are just as bad consisting of a collection of over-the-top performances, especially from Andy Serkis, that never endear you to any of them, meaning you don't car if they live or die. Whether this is the fault of the actors, the director or the script itself, we never know.

The final act, with its message of "there are still consequences for your actions in life even during times of war", does make up for some of these shortcomings but it isn't enough to save the movie from mediocrity.

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