Overlord Movie Review

“Overlord” contains a World War II D-Day setting for a strange bunch of German Nazis. Just before the Allied forces are set to land on the Normandy beaches, the movie swerves into “Saving Private Zombie”. Yes, the nasty Nazis are conducting experiments to change German youth, and French citizens, into undead zombie super-warriors. And the re is anAmerican paratrooper squad sent in to take out a German radio tower get a first hand view of the horror of war. But also the horror of zombies. Did I mention this movie also features Nazi zombies? Yes, as if the actual horrors of war are not enough, let’s throw into the mix some zombies…

Just before the D-Day landing is to occur, an Allied plane is sent over into France to send American paratroopers behind enemy lines. They have a mission to find a German radio tower in a church building in a small French town. They must destroy that jamming signal from the tower to help the Allied forces start the invasion. On the plane are some new soldiers, plus some long-timers. Pvt. Boyce (Jovan Adepo) was a civilian just a few months ago. Tibbet (John Magaro), Rosenfeld (Dominic Applewhite) and Chase (Iain De Caestecker) are also low-level grunts waiting for the drop zone. They will be joined by Cpl. Ford (Wyatt Russell), who is an explosive expert. But they are led by Sgt. Eldson (Bokeem Woodbine) and he is a hard-nosed sergeant.

But when the plane comes under attack, many are killed before the jump. Boyce gets out, and he meets up with Ford, Chase, Tibbit. But where is Rosenfeld? Sgt. Eldson makes it to the ground, but he is taken by the Nazis and is killed. The rest of them head to the small French village. On the way, they meet Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier). Chloe and her young brother and her aunt live in the village, very close to the church that holds the radio tower. The village streets are patrolled by Nazi soldiers, but they make it into Chloe’s house. They make a plan to attack and take out the tower, so that the Allied troops will have a safe landing. But the group is surprised when Chloe is visited by a cruel Nazi SS commander, named Wafner (Pilou Asbaek). The take him prisoner, and things get stranger from there.

Boyce finds his way into the church/bunker. But there he sees every manner of disturbing things. He also locates Rosenfeld who has been captured. Boyce frees Rosenfeld to take him back. But he also takes a syringe of some strange serum that a Nazi doctor was using for his terrible experiments. Wafner, the evil Nazi soldier, escapes and kills Chase, but Boyce tries out the Nazi serum on Chase. There are many unusual things that this serum can do, especially to a dead body.

Now it is Allied troops against the Nazi troops, when there is an assault on the church. Ford and Boyce rig up the explosives ready to make the tower fall. But there are unspeakable horrors on the loose in the Nazi camp. Could it be? Could it possibly be… Zombies? Why, yes. Yes, there are zombies. What tipped you off about the zombies?

“Overlord” is a unique mix of B-movie war time action taken to a new level of creepy monster scares. It is sometimes bloody and gross, yet parts of the movie seem stuck in the 1950’s mentality. The Nazis are more than evil, and the American soldiers can always come through with a gung-ho attitude. Of course, even when they are France and it is occupied by Germans; everyone has enough common sense to speak English. Except for the zombies. They just growl…