Yet another straight to DVD review double-bill, you lucky people. They’re rather late, but hopefully Mr. Sledge will forgive me for that. Without further ado…

Firstly we have What War May Bring. Directed by Academy Award winner Claude Lelouch, it has been rather miss-sold here in the UK (it’s actual title should be What Love May Bring) as an historical action epic. While it certainly contains shakily handled WW2 combat, including a Normandy Landings scene that is unlikely to have Spielberg worrying, it is more of a human drama. Set in Nazi occupied France, it follows the love life of Ilva (Audrey Dana), a young French woman who keeps falling for the wrong men (a Nazi commander, two American GI’s at the same time), the film appears to be a passion project for Lelouch, with it being touted as ten years in the making.

Ilva’s actions – and her motivations – are at the centre of the picture, and the pretty Dana carries it on her shoulders. Most of the performances are excellent; Samuel Labarthe is worth mentioning as Horst, the German officer who Ilva sleeps with in order to save her Father’s life. A particularly delicate scene where he – the evil, invading Nazi – plays La Marseillaise on his mouth organ in order to woo her, as his countrymen listen-in in confusion, is rather beautiful. It’s clear that Lelouch is more at home directing smaller, intimate scenes rather than pitched battles. The aforementioned beach landing is especially uninspiring; you can see the ‘dead’ extras get up and continue running up the sand at one point.


Much of the film takes place in and around a Parisian cinema not dissimilar to the one in Inglourious Basterds. Lelouch is obviously a man who lives in film, but it seems he is too easily drawn into self absorption, with a sudden montage of his own work oddly segueing into the modern day where relatives of some of the film’s characters meet and reveal they have family working on the film itself! This odd, postmodern touch right at the end feels unnecessary and too much like Lelouch is more concerned with reminding us who he is than properly concluding what is an otherwise compelling and emotive story.

I’m sure Eaters would love to be a return to the gory, glory-days of Italian zombie cinema. It certainly shares some qualities with the works of Fulci et al, but they’re not necessarily the good ones. Set in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic Italian industrial estate, the film concerns Igor and Alen (Alex Lucchesi and Guglielmo Favilla) two zombie hunters who are sent out on mission to collect experiment guinea- pigs for a scientist called Gyno.


While the film often plays on its strengths – mainly some rather excellent zombie effects and gore – it has a few bloody, gaping wounds. For one, the English subtitling appears rather poor, with a few too many lines making little sense or being totally lost in translation. It’s heros have good enough chops, but some supporting actors are pretty wooden, even for a film ‘presented by’ Uwe Boll. Incidentally, that’s the extent of Boll’s involvement, thank goodness.


Things begin to get jumbled up and somehow a little boring, which is odd for a film that features multiple beheadings and a neo-Nazi dwarf with a Hitler moustache. I can’t even remember how or why he is involved in the proceedings, such was my lack of immersion.


That said, the film does look nice for a clearly (relatively) low budget project. Lots of filters give a smoky, gritty, end of the world vibe; shots of a broken, dilapidated city in the distance are impressively rendered. Sadly, despite a promising looking initial trailer, Eaters just doesn’t quite have the teeth, nor does it add much to an already over-subscribed and bloated horror sub-genre. Give me Zombie Flesh Eaters any day.

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