Creatures of War #14: War of the Dead (2011)
To be loved is to be seen. Plus: why we aren't afraid of nazi-zombies
Hello
It’s been a busy 2 weeks. Work has been literal hell (there’s nothing like getting screamed at daily by upset customers), family has been chaos, and we are entering the season of birthdays. Why is everyone’s birthday in September?? I watched Oddity and honestly, don’t understand the hype around it. I caught Jeremy Saulnier’s newest movie Rebel Ridge and was smitten, seriously, it's so good. Horror movie season is about to begin, save me Nosferatu.
Review
A group of soldiers are driven deep into the Russian woods as they attempt to overtake a German bunker. Their mission gets more complicated when the dead won’t stay dead.
War of the Dead is a perfect movie to encapsulate this series: low budget, lots of heart, and a goofy premise. The idea is not new or fresh, but the creators crafted the film with love. Allegedly it took eight years to make and while some may view the film as somewhat of a commercial and critical failure, I can see the vision.
Undeniably, the film could have used a more robust budget1, but it uses every penny it got. The shots are creative and show real thought, the warm dramatic lighting adds atmosphere, and the acting is solid. I’ve seen some complaints that all the tilted shots seem try-hard, but I appreciate the effort. Goofy films so rarely attempt something unique so as a lover of tilted shots (Apostle has some fun ones), I saw this as further proof the film wanted to make something above the flood of mediocre zombie films. The costuming and styling felt real and of the time. Long trench coats that were appropriately scuffed, and the soldiers looked tired and sun-exposed. None of these actors have IPhone-face, and if you took a picture of the cast together and applied a black and white filter I could be convinced they were straight out of 1941. What drew me to these weird war movies in the first place is the fascination as to why someone would take a silly concept like undead-nazis and put in the effort to make a real film, and War of the Dead seems made to satisfy that desire.
The action in the movie is almost non-stop. The zombies are fast and the pace is faster. I’ve always been a horror fan, but my action movie kick is a fairly recent development. Mad Max: Fury Road is the first action movie I saw that really shifted something in my brain. What do you mean you can make a movie with action that never stops? While War of the Dead is no Fury Road by any measure, the smile the action brought to my face was quite similar. Even among all the activity, the film doesn’t forget the characters. In between the gunshots and explosions, we are left room to discover who these men are. The film is not as multidimensional as I’m sure the director intended, but it again shows real promise. In a world where every film has to mean something, I can see the value in a movie that wants to mean nothing beyond a fun, but well crafted, experience.
War of the Dead is by no means a perfect movie. It definitely gets repetitive and can drag through the middle. It won’t blow your mind and you will probably find yourself picking up your phone near the end. This movie will not speak to most people, but it speaks to me, and if you’re a fan of nazi-zombie movies it’s a must-watch. To be loved is to be seen, and I can see War of the Dead clearly.
Why are nazi-zombie movies camp?
I’ve mentioned before I have a bit of a complex about speaking about nazi movies as someone who has very little personal connections to WWII. I won’t get into that again, but these movies have me thinking, why are nazi-zombie movies campy instead of serious?
Nazis are serious, war is serious, and the rise of neo-nazis is serious, why is the idea of undead nazis silly? Beyond the obvious, well zombies aren’t real, shouldn’t the idea of walking immortal fascists be scary? After some thought, I have concluded that it boils down to giving one big fuck-you to nazis. History will not only forever condemn your actions, but you will be immortalized in goofy Tubi films as fools. The world does not find nazi-zombies scary because they do not deserve to be feared. The nazi-zombies always lose, and if nothing else watching them get blown to pieces in fictionalized horror movies is great catharsis.
A couple of months ago I moved to a more conservative rural area. While I feel obligated to say that conservatism doesn’t always mean racism, if you’re a minority who has ever been to a small Republican town then you know these types of places cultivate racist ideas whether they like it or not. I am no scholar so let’s not get into why that is, but I will share how I’ve learned to cope with the causal racism I’ve been subjected to lately. Don’t let them see it bothers you, and laugh at them. Not a big hearty laugh, just a little breathy chuckle. There’s nothing someone who’s trying to rile you up hates more than amused indifference.2 As I mentioned earlier, I just watched Rebel Ridge. I have been a Saulnier fan since Green Room, and I think his films are a perfect example of a more “elevated” fuck-you film. Rebel Ridge does to corrupt cops what Green Room does to neo-nazis, and it’s a lot of fun. Jeremy Saulnier knows how to make a statement while slicing and dicing his bigots, and makes beautiful films in the process.
Occasionally, it’s just more effective to make a fool out of the people who mean you harm, and I think nazi-zombie movies are a cool example of that.
Goodbye, for now
This is my last regularly scheduled Creatures of War. Soon, I’ll put out a final summative post with all my favorite war-horror movies, but after that, this project is kinda up in the air. It’s not goodbye forever, just less regular. I’ll probably put out some posts as I watch more war-horror, as well as mix in some other horror movies. Stay tuned for the wrap-up post in the next couple of weeks, and thanks for humoring me!
Bonus
Here are some good revenge movies:
Audition (1999)
Blue Ruin (2013)
Pig (2021)
Still the most expensive movie ever made in Lithuania though.
This only works for fairly harmless situations. Don’t laugh at someone who’s being violent that won’t go over well.