An interesting idea for a supernatural horror that crumbles in the execution (or at least in an increasingly silly and overblown final act), "Ghosts of War" finds a group of American WWII soldiers contending with the paranormal at a French castle that's recently fallen out of Nazi control. Hearing mysterious noises and falling prey to violence even when they're not dealing with German soldiers, they alternate between trying to solve and escape the mystery, which ultimately leads to that very dubious finale I alluded to earlier. To be fair, most of the movie isn't half bad. Sure, it's not the high-tensity wartime horror that "Outpost" was, but for a mild, essentially low stakes horror, director Eric Bress concocts something that's at least watchable. It helps, too, that the cast is really good, with the always excellent Kyle Gallner doing good work and Billy Zane making the most of what little (mostly bad) material he's given. There's even genuine interest in how the movie's time loop scenario is going to resolve itself, until it resolves itself in a very deflating way, of course. Basically the movie lurches from mediocre movie territory to bad movie territory in its dash to the finish, with one character making an especially dumbass move that got an unintended laugh out of yours truly. If you don't mind very heavy-handed messaging and overly elaborate plotting, then maybe you'll enjoy "Ghosts of War" more than I did.
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