One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Lack of good storyline.

Dreadfully Boring

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I saw this film in 2003 on a DVD. Nice film. The movie could have been very good if some attention was paid towards editing n screenplay. Good direction by Michael J. Bassett. Decent acting by Andy Serkis n Jamie Bell. Nevertheless it has some of the most realistic screen recreations of trench life at its worst, rats, rains n ruins. The flick has an eerie atmosphere, wonderfully creepy, suspenseful n nicely enhanced by the mud of trenches. Set design is excellent, shot very well all the dirtiness and filthiness with the muddy trenches n continuous rains. There's enough gore n tension. Some good cinematography by Hubert Taczanowski. The atmosphere, and the design made you feel as if you actually were in a world war one trench. The rain and the place were characters themselves.

The trapped-soldiers-menaced-by-supernatural-evil sub genre briefly flourished around the turn of the millennium. Low budget ghost story productions like THE BUNKER and THE TRENCH proved their worth, so it was inevitable that a bigger-budget film would emerge, although DEATHWATCH is still low budget by many people's standards, with some dodgy CGI work here and there and early battle scenes which aren't too convincing. Having watched it, DEATHWATCH is my current favourite in this genre, and it's clear that the spooky Asian effort R-POINT owes more than a few nods to it. Unusually, the film wins out purely because of the excellent set design. The claustrophobic, muddy, water-logged trenches have never looked so realistic as they have here, and a liberal sprinkling of grime, barbed wire, bodies and rats only adds to the effect. Visually, DEATHWATCH is a treat and a horror film hard to beat for atmosphere.In regards to the characters, it's a familiar story: first they're isolated, then they start arguing and gradually they end up killing each other. The expletive-laden script is hardly anything new, instead harking back to '80s slasher lines like ("What the hell is going on here?"). But the film assembles a great cast of young British male actors who, incredibly, manage to carry it off. Jamie Bell is probably the most realistic of the soldiers, a 16-year-old conscript consumed by fear for much of the production, but because he's subdued throughout it's left to the older actors like Andy Serkis (a club-swinging Neanderthal) and Hugo Speer (the good-natured sergeant) to give truly solid performances.Director Michael J. Bassett returned to the isolated horror genre with WILDERNESS, an equally good movie. From what I've seen, he knows how to do his job and deliver what the audience wants. This wouldn't be a modern horror film without grue, and of course it's all here, but what really works are the inventive bits, like the sentient barbed wire scenes which are fantastic. There's also an obvious but memorable twist involving rats and a wounded man. The ending reaches metaphysical levels and was a little obvious for me, but it ties things up nicely. DEATHWATCH is a decent little British effort with plenty of chills and spills along the way, and I'd watch it for the excellent set design alone.

My only gripe about this film is that it is a trench combat film, yet nobody had or used a spade. I would have liked to have seen that. But other than that this film is very well done. The way it starts off, it could have been a solid WW1 film. The actors are brilliant and the director does a great job of showing how nasty the trenches are, with rats, mud, constant rain, dead bodies, and such. The film is intense, it was tiresome to watch, and I just kept thinking how tired and frustrated these soldiers must be. The acting, the characters, the location (trench), the filming it drew me in. Now let's talk about the supernatural element, reminds me a bit of Jacob's Ladder and Event Horizon put together. Those two films are usually spoken highly of, so I'm saying this as a compliment that it has elements of both of those films put together and executed successfully. Also the ending is kind of like Ghostship, someone on here said it was death, I kept saying to myself Hades, so yeah, there is an ongoing cycle which makes the story a little bit clever. Special effects reminds me of Hellraiser 2 although not as intensive, and also along the lines of Evil Dead, anyway I'll take this over the CGI mess you frequently see today. To me the budget of this film didn't seem low, if I had seen this in the theater I would have been satisfied. The WW1 aspect of the film was good enough to stand alone as a pure WW1 flick IMO, and the undead barbwire guys looked really awesome, too bad we only get to see them once. The supernatural aspect of the story to me is well done too and it makes sense to me. I was pleasantly surprised!

World War II is the 20th-century event that has gotten probably more attention than any other, but World War I was also really important, especially since it created the conditions that led to WWII. Michael J. Bassett's "Deathwatch" uses WWI as the setting for the story of a British platoon that seizes a German trench, only to find that it is inhabited by a mysterious, sinister force.The movie is not about gore and special effects -- though there is some of each -- but more about the effect that the horrific experience has on the soldiers. It's almost a metaphor for the insane impact that war will have on any person. Much like how the soldiers are almost like different people by the end, a person who lives through war will almost certainly not be the same person as before.Anyway, the movie is worth seeing. Just be careful the next time that you find a trench. Starring Jamie Bell (the title character in "Billy Elliott", and soon to appear as Tintin), Andy Serkis (Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and soon to appear as Capt. Haddock) and Hugo Speer (Guy in "The Full Monty").