Deathwatch

Cert: 15

By ALISON KLABACHER

THE horror of the First World War battlefields is given a new meaning in this disturbing gore-fest of a film that brings a different kind of terror to the trenches.

A group of soldiers, portrayed by big names including Jamie Bell, Hugo Speer and Matthew Rhys, get separated from their regiment and stumble upon a deserted German trench that they decide to hold until back up arrives.

The one remaining Nazi left in the dugout, who is bound and beaten up by most of the gang bar kind-hearted Shakespeare (Bell), tries to warn his captors of evil forces at work in the trench, but he is ignored.

Soon the men begin to turn against each other, and here the film takes off in a feast of death and destruction and strange red mists.

Highlights include one unlucky trooper being barb-wired to death, and the truly disgusting moment when a paralysed solider realises that a hungry family of rats have been chewing away on his legs and he has been left with bloody stumps!

Revolting

Although there is only one battle scene, the audience is left under no illusions about the revolting conditions soldiers had to face while living in the waterlogged trenches - and that would be bad enough without the added horror that the characters in Deathwatch have to face.

Anyone who is in the depths of depression should get out and see this film, because it's the kind of story that makes you realise that things could be worse. There's something spooky about the whole thing, and if you've got the stomach for blood and guts, you'll think it's a definite winner.

Verdict: 6/10

You'll be glad you weren't born 100 years earlier!