B Movies Aren't a Bad Thing: OVERLORD Is a Wolfenstein/Reanimator Hybrid and It's a Hoot and a Half

Close your eyes with me for a second and picture this. It's a Friday night in 2006 and like me you're just now hitting puberty and life doesn't make much sense, but none of that matters because you're scanning the 8 foot high stacks of DVDs at your (my) fortress of solitude, AKA your local movie rental store, more specifically Movie Gallery.

For you young ones, this is what we did for fun before Netflix took over and became the behemoth that it is today.
It was a simpler time...

You see a movie that looks interesting in the "New Releases", so you turn the cover around and see this on the back...

From a very young age horror fascinated me, but 9 times out of 10 if it was rated "R", I knew that my parents would most likely say no. But that's ok, because I only had to wait 2 years for it to hit FX where it would most likely be heavily edited!!! Awesome!!

Quite an intro, I know. But I said all that to say that movies like Overlord were what shaped me in my teen years. These were the days when Shaun of the Dead constantly played on MTV on repeat (arguably the film that influenced me the most, but that is for another time). Back then in the early aughts I was introduced to unapologetic gorefests like From Dusk Till Dawn, Planet Terror, Slither, and The Punisher (the Thomas Jane one). These were movies that didn't care what people thought about them, they just wanted to have fun, and for those who didn't have a stick up their butt and could enjoy "mindless" violence, these were very refreshing to watch. 

Sadly, for some reason it seems like we see less of these type flicks now. In 2018, in this current climate, everyone is so concerned with political correctness that we get these fluffy, pretentious films, instead of hilarious bloodbaths. What ever happened to going to the movies to have fun?

OK, enough of my cynicism. I'll get to Overlord. 

Like I said earlier, Overlord is a throwback to the movies that I fell in love with in my young adulthood, and am still in love with today.

On the eve of D-day, a group of paratroopers are dropped into a small town in France, where they have been tasked with destroying a communications tower that has been set on top of a church in town. The group comes to find out that the Nazis are experimenting on the townspeople, and have created a serum that brings the dead back to life. It is reminiscent of the low budget found footage movie Frankenstein's Army, which I would also recommend. 

After the first forty minutes or so, we get into the juicy parts, and it turns into a nonstop battle against these Nazi abominations that features some pretty gnarly body horror and gore.

Listen I like well done gore ok? Sue me. 

Frankenstein's Army (2013)

So far Overlord, has been very well reviewed, but it was made for a niche audience, which means it probably won't make a lot of money. But it is a BLAST. I wish we saw more movies like it on the big screen, it's a B movie with an A movie budget. The last time I saw something like it on the big screen was probably The World's End  back in 2013. I'm sure there's been others since, I just can't think of any, not with a mainstream theatrical release (so I'm obviously not counting Mandy).

TLDR: 7.5/10

Overlord is one that I will definitely be watching again. It's funny, features great characters who you really WANT to win, and excellent Nazi bad guys who are even better when they're all mutated and ugly and gross looking. If you're one of those people who think you're "too good" for this movie, and only watch "high art" films released by A24, do yourself a favor.

1. Turn off your brain

2. Grab a friend         

                                3. Sit down, shut up, and enjoy Overlord.

P.S.   I don't hate A24 movies. Ex Machina, The Witch, and Hereditary were all works of art. I just get annoyed by people who hear about an A24 movie and automatically assume that it's going to be the cat's meow.