Ghosts of War

The ending of Ghosts of War doesn't make sense until one learns that its director, Eric Bress, also perpetrated The Butterfly Effect. Actually, it still doesn't make any sense, but you get the idea – or, rather, you don't. Five American soldiers are sent to guard a French castle formerly occupied by the Nazi high command. We have Chris (Brenton Thwaites), Kirk (Theo Rossi), Eugene (Skylar Astin), Tappert (Kyle Gallner), and Butchie (Alan Ritchson) – or The Leader, The Face, The Brain, The Wild Card, and The Muscle, respectively; that's how I like to refer to them because those descriptors tell you all you need to or could ever hope to know about them. Superficially, this is a haunted house movie. One would think that war, especially one in which the survival or extinction of an entire ethnic group was at stake, carries enough inherent horror without having to add a supernatural element to it. Ghosts of War, however, is not what it seems at first glance. A second layer exists below the surface; the problem is that this deeper level is even more absurd than the first. All things considered, Ghosts of War is a movie about five people playing the most sophisticated version of Call of Duty ever – down to being able to restart the game at the last save point. It's not all bad news, though; Billy Zane has a cameo, and I'll take some Billy Zane over no Billy Zane any day of the week.