Burial

It was on Shudder, which is a horror channel, so I watched it. I thought it was very good, especially for a lower-budget film. The acting was great, the concept was interesting, and it was certainly a thriller with a good plot. No doubt.

It was not, however, a horror movie. Thrills? Yes. Horror? No. There was also nothing supernatural in it.

I mean, when the title talks about Wehrwolves, and yes, I know who they were, you are expecting, I dunno, a werewolf or two? Nope. Nothing supernatural.

I supposed war itself is horror, yes. But it's basically a war film with an interesting premise, some good characters, some good action, and some thrills. As a film, it is good.

There were no werewolves. Not a horror movie at all. We both fell asleep by the end. I think if we had actually known what it was going to be about we may have liked it more, but we're let down. My husband is a big fan of werewolves, so we were excited! At this point I'm basically just writing more characters so this review goes through so anyone else who thinks they're about to watch a kitschy werewolf nazi low budget horror movie know that that is not what they're going to be watching. It will be a meh movie that pulls you in because you think it's going to have werewolves, but only has werewolf.

This is a tense film detailing a Soviet group who are transporting back a coffin to Stalin at the end if the European side of WWII. In Poland, they are attacked by Nazis and have to fight their way for survival. There isn't anything supernatural as a main plotting in this film, but there are a couple moments that suggest something eerie is occurring. Don't expect more than a flash or two on this front. Still works simply from the force of the female lead as she pushes through the chaos around her as she desires to complete her mission. Overall, interesting film but some confusion given similar appearance of actors. Still worth a watch.

Burial is decent enough post WWII story that was horrifyingly mislabeled. Only substance that's even remotely haunting is that a group of soldiers carrying a casket around. In aspects of a war movie Burial manages to present yet another side story of the post WW society that's still grasping the new realities. Gloomy skies with dark woods beneath are tone setters for a darkness refusing to cease it's existence. Cast puts up a fine performance to portray the exhausted soldiers struggling to finish up the final assignment. Apart from it's historical value there's hardly anything that sparks for this flick. But it would pass the time just fine.

Starring Tom Felton: that was enough to raise red flags, but I was willing to give the film a chance -- after all, surely a WWII film with werewolves can't be all bad. Sadly, despite the film premiering at London's FrightFest, Burial isn't a horror film at all: the werewolves in question aren't of the hairy, fanged, supernatural kind, but are instead German resistance fighters (known as Werwolf). This is a war film, and a bloody boring one at that.

The film opens as a man breaks into the home of an old woman, a Russian soldier during WWII, looking to learn about her secret wartime mission. The old woman tasers the intruder, handcuffs him to a radiator, drugs him, and recounts her tale about how she was tasked with transporting Hitler's body back to Stalin in Moscow...

Writer/director Ben Parker seems to be under the illusion that he is saying something profound about the nature of evil, directing with all seriousness, despite the hilarity that ensues from the terrible script and even worse performances. Not one of the actors playing Russians attempt an accent: most sound like they're from London, although I did detect an Irish accent at one point; meanwhile, the Germans are played by Estonians, as if vaguely European would do the trick.

The dull as ditchwater WWII scenes see the Russians encountering the Werwolf, who have been ordered to retrieve Hitler's body; the fighting that ensues is tedious and difficult to follow (especially when you're fighting the urge to take a nap). Felton plays Lukasz, a Polish man of German heritage who helps the Russians to evade capture, and proves to be an even worse actor than Daniel Radcliffe. Hitler's dead body gives the best performance.

About the only positive thing I can say about Burial is that it guaranteed that the next two films of the day would be more enjoyable.