If you want to create a movie that deals with the horrors of war, maybe you shouldn't bait and switch the audience into thinking they're about to watch a paranormal horror movie.

Not what I wanted to see. At all.

I went through this mess waiting for the payoff in the final act and was completely disappointed. I don't think the creators had any idea where they were going either.

I realize there are a lot of heavy themes in the film and that's fine but they pulled at a dozen threads and then left them hanging. They brought up a lot of questions and then told the audience to figure it out themselves.

The acting is good. The characters are interesting. But then the story...

The story begins with a lot of potential but it quickly derails. Is it a paranormal movie? Kind of. Is it a preachy one act play about morality and war? Kind of. Is it an unfinished ball of contradictions that ends with a whimper, definitely.

If the goal was to irritate the audience and leave them wishing they'd chosen a different movie, mission accomplished.

One room play created for film, and an ode to WWI through supernatural ethics. A group of people who were friends in WWII gather to support one whose wife has died. But these friends were on the higher echelon in the war, and they often took extreme measures in sake of the war regardless of the costs.

As any good play does, characters have secrets, whether of action or character, that are uncovered and discovered through the fright and terror imposed by the supernatural element. A morality play so to speak and questioning the ethics of war and personal action.

Acting is of good quality, and the plotting is simple as expected of this type of drama. The supernatural element adds to the tension and breaks some of the characters. Slightly trite and a bit characteristic, overall this was a worthy film to watch, just small in actual scope.

Brooklyn 45 (2023) is a recent addition to Shudder that I watched yesterday. The storyline follows a group of friends who were in the military and partook in various sins during their time in the World War. Now that they are together and initiate a seance, the sins from their past will be brought to the light for either judgement or their demise. Will any of the friends survive?

This movie is written and directed by Ted Geoghegan (We are Still Here) and stars Anne Ramsay (A League of their Own), Ron E. Rains (Teachers), Jeremy Holm (The Ranger), Larry Fessenden (The House of the Devil) and Kristina Klebe (Halloween).

This had a unique storyline and premise and somehow felt like the movie "Clue" in some ways to me. The characters were interesting as was the depiction of the era. The horror elements were hit or miss and relied more on CGI than I would have liked. The seance scene was just okay but the dead guy on the floor was fantastic. The last 13-15 minutes were great due to that character alone. Some of the monologue and conversations dragged and were boring. This film needed more scenes like the last 15 minutes and less back and forth/finger pointing between friends.

Overall, this had some unique concepts and worthwhile elements, but falls short of what it could have been. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.