Ever since Hitler’s obsession with the occult became public knowledge, Nazis and various forms of horror tropes have been like chocolate and peanut butter for horror and SF. Zombies, werewolves, Frankenstein monsters, vampires… and now, with Overlord, from J.J. Abrams, we’ve got Nazis possessed by demons, because hey, opening the gates of Hell won’t have any negative consequences for Germany, right?
Directed by Julius Avery and written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray, Overlord follows Boyce (Jovan Adepo), who, after a disastrous parachuting into Normandy, finds himself tied to a small unit exploring France. They stumble over a surprisingly well-secured Nazi bunker and, figuring it’s strategically important, go after it. Then, well, they discover exactly what the bunker’s protecting, namely some sort of injectable demon hell-juice, and of course some dolt gets infected with it and it all goes horribly wrong. Teaming up with the local French resistance, who as usual in a movie like this is a beautiful young woman (Hélène Cardona), they bust out the flamethrowers and try to save the world. The Nazis, meh, they can get eaten.
The trailer strikes the right balance between cheese and actual horror here, with one particularly gross effects shot saved for the end of the trailer. We’ll see just how badly this particular occult weapons program goes wrong on November 9th.