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‘Reacher’s Alan Ritchson Absolutely Crushes This Underseen 2020 Supernatural War Movie
When Ghosts of War was released in 2020, it didn’t get a lot of traction and gained mostly unfavorable reviews from the critics. From the current perspective, this horror film set in the penultimate year of World War II hits differently, with its effective mix of not only suspense and action but also supernatural and psychological aspects. Admittedly, the initial premise of Eric Bress‘ film doesn’t come off as very original, as the war setting isn’t anything new to the horror genre, thanks to such outings as Overlord, Trench 11, The Bunker, etc.
Few films, however, offer truly interesting concepts within the genre wrapping, mostly content with finding new ways to introduce various monsters (most commonly, zombies) to the historical setting. A notable exception was M.J. Bassett‘s 2002 film, Deathwatch, which presented war itself as a monster. And Ghosts of War, despite all the plot differences, leans towards the same idea, focusing on the way war shapes horrific moral dilemmas and showing how guilt and shame over certain actions or inaction can create their very own monsters and curses. And now that star Alan Ritchson is dominating on Netflix with his new war thriller War Machine, now is the perfect time to revisit this underseen war thriller.
What Is ‘Ghosts of War’ About?
In 1944, five American troopers of the 82nd Airborne Division arrive at a chateau located somewhere in rural France. They are under orders to guard the place, and at first none of the men think much about the fact that the unit who had the previous shift seem rattled and can’t get out of there fast enough. The guys barely manage to settle in when strange, seemingly paranormal occurrences start happening all around them. Between the mysterious knocking coming from the fireplace—which seems to be using Morse code to send ominous messages—and a journal that details the terrible fate of the family that used to live here, the characters succumb to the dark presence that lurks around them. German soldiers arrive and attack, but at this point, the Americans have already come to realize that what they’re dealing with inside the house might be much more dangerous than the enemies they are trying to keep out.
The Gothic setting of the mansion and all the potential chills that come with it can bring another reference to a supernatural horror set during WWII to mind—the unfortunate sequel to an already unnecessary remake, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, which came out in 2014. Unlike the latter, though, Ghosts of War doesn’t only utilize war as a backdrop to a classic ghost story about a vengeful spirit who wants retribution but incorporates it into the emotional core here: war isn’t the background of the horror; it’s the catalyst for it. Eric Bress isn’t a novice in genre cinema, having previously worked on the Final Destination franchise—both the second and fourth films—as a screenwriter and having directed The Butterfly Effect. In Ghosts of War, which he both wrote and directed, he makes effective use of space, which remains pretty limited for most of the story, making it work for both horror and the prolonged action sequence depicting the attack by the Germans.
The Cast of ‘Ghosts of War’ and Its Effective Twist Elevate It From Being a Typical Ghost Story
Like many movies with a clear anti-war message, Ghosts of War has a very specific set of characters and a very particular cast that all help to sharpen the idea that most people who find themselves in the trenches aren’t black and white heroes or villains. Just ordinary people who try to hold on to their sanity amid chaos and madness. That is especially evident in the case of the future Jack Reacher, Ritchson, who plays one of the privates with his trademark natural charisma of a man who could’ve been the hero of the story and the one to make it to the end credits in some other scenario. Here, however, he unexpectedly becomes the first and almost random victim, once again emphasizing the idea of war as the dark force that devours everything and everyone in its path.
Other actors in the core cast fully contribute to this effect too. Brenton Thwaites plays the unit’s commander, who does his best to lead but comes off just as confused as the men he’s supposed to be in charge of. And Kyle Gallner, who hadn’t fully reached his Scream King status at that point but already had several noticeable genre outings under his belt, seems to be channeling his experience in The Haunting in Connecticut, playing a character who is probably the most perceptive of the supernatural presence inside the mansion. Rounded out by Skylar Astin and Theo Rossi, this group comes off as a bunch of regular young men who are roughened and exhausted by the war, but try to stick to some semblance of normalcy by gathering around the fireplace and scaring each other by relaying terrible incidents as if they were campfire stories.
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While Ghosts of War isn’t by any means a subtle film, the gradual dissolution of the familiar reality is what it does best, hinting at a possible twist with the help of several discrepancies in the story, noticeable to history buffs, and the mention of the famous Ambrose Bierce‘s short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. When Bress’ film first came out, a lot of the criticism it faced was aimed specifically at the movie’s ending, claiming that both the twist and the following resolution sort of render the previous events pointless. In the context of the movie’s broader meaning, though, there is another way to see this controversial ending. In its final sequence, Ghosts of War seems to be fully embracing its psychological horror origin, showing that the only way to deal with trauma is to go back to the roots of it and address it directly, instead of going through the soothing motions that are merely an illusion of moving forward.
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