‘Overlord’ needn’t be over your head
Just when you think the scary movie season is over, here comes a bunch of undead Nazi experiments to liven up the box office.
Directed by Julius Avery (“Son of a Gun”) and produced by J.J. Abrams, “Overlord” opened last weekend to $10.2 million at the box office. It’s a two-fisted, flame-throwing World War II action-adventure horror film that follows a bunch of American paratroopers on their most deadly mission yet: taking on a secret German lab in a French village church that’s ground zero for unstoppable zombies and other misshapen creatures.
Here are some (mostly) helpful answers to your burning questions.
What’s the backstory on this movie?
Because it was a secretive project from Abrams’ Bad Robot production company, a lot of people assumed it was the next “Cloverfield” movie. It is not, though this could conceivably be the same film universe that’s invaded by rampaging alien monsters decades later.
What do we need to know going in?
The night before D-Day, a group of G.I.s — including the very green private Boyce (Jovan Adepo) and explosives expert Ford (Wyatt Russell) — are dropped into occupied France to knock out a Nazi radio tower so their boys on the beaches at Normandy can get enough air support. What they find, though, is that the Nazis are using a serum to turn dead villagers and others into hard-to-kill, super-strong zombies. Heroism ensues.
Is it historically accurate in any way?
Well, D-Day actually happened, so there’s that. Nazis also did horrific experiments on people and Hitler was interested in the occult, which has inspired everything from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to the video game “Wolfenstein.”
That Wyatt Russell dude looks familiar. What’s his deal?
Glad you asked: He’s the rising-star son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, who’s appeared in “22 Jump Street,” “Everybody Wants Some!!” and “Black Mirror.” He’s shown shades of his action-hero dad a little here and there, but “Overlord” has some scenes that prove the Russell swagger is definitely genetic. (And like his father, he has a knack for macho one-liners.)
Who else is in this movie might we know?
Adepo is a British actor who starred opposite Denzel Washington in “Fences,” and he was also a regular on “The Leftovers.” John Magaro, who plays American soldier Tibbet, had roles in “The Big Short” and “Carol,” while Marvel fans know Iain De Caestecker (playing war photographer Chase) as Leo Fitz from “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” And Pilou Asbaek, who co-stars as primary Nazi villain Wafner, is best known as Euron Greyjoy from “Game of Thrones.”
What does “Overlord” add to the zombie movie genre?
These aren’t your usual shambling types. These guys are superpowered and more like the freaky-fast zombies from “28 Days Later,” all quick and twitchy and a pain to get rid of since headshots don’t automatically eliminate some of them.
How gory is this thing?
Let’s put it this way: The new “Halloween” is like a Pixar film in comparison.