Fallen Soldiers

War is raging in Europe with the French hell bent on taking on the world. When a British soldier with a very remarkable secret hijacks a young noblemans coach, with his wife onboard. During a struggle the soldier kills the noble man but his wife cleverly tricks him into chains. He begins to tell a story of plagues, monsters and men returning from the dead. As insane as it sounds the story begins to become real, very, very quickly. As we travel furthur, truths are exposed and horrors become real.

The themes within this film play on one area I have studied many years ago. History of this period is filled with rogues, rebellions and a British sense of pride in thwarting that eternal enemy (The French but usually the Germans!) British success has been always over emphasised and over intergrated in the narratives of many of our lives. I could set up this film very easily for a fall. Critics often look to take a film like this down and I always try very hard to avoid this. I could tell you that it is a very on trend and quite current indeed. It has many of the components that today are almost dot to dot marketing tools. The reason I say this is that now, almost every direct to DVD film has to have at least a zombie in it. They also must have a beautiful woman in little (and tight) clothing in it and finally they must have a bit of blood and a very little bit of horror. So we have three checks here as all of the above are in attendance. The have come into the party but unlike so many other films they have shown up and not vomited on the carpet.The have actually come together and made Thomas film work so well.

The film is a blend of explotation cinema and clear sighted genre piece.Thomas has shown himself to be a gifted and very savvy director. He has taken a limited budget, limited terms and not had it hamper his ambition. What he has done is crafted a very clever piece of genre cinema that is not bound by its conventions. Conventions are always there in the mindset of film fans and cinema is often riddled with attempts by film makers stuck in the form. Some use invention but that can cause an audience to run away. Some marry them together and achieve nothing more than a replicant. Yes it is a conspiracy, zombie film but it uses a series of clever adaptions to make this fresher than it has been before. I have had to see a list of films that all have tried to do this but here we have an attempt that will be talked of after this moment in time. Yes it has hammy acting in places and yes the main set it over used but the good cast, great camera work and simply ambition is amazing.

I love the film and feel it should be watched by you. Only if to wonder what is next from Thomas....