Overlord, being a movie centered around Nazi zombies and all, is full of the kind of over the top violence one would expect from such a premise. But some of the most gruesome deaths aren’t even done by zombies, or to zombies. Some of the most gory moments in the film come from the actions men take against one another.
The Paratrooper Massacre
The movie opens with a tired and true war film trope: Introducing the various soldiers as they fly towards Europe. It’s a quick introduction to the various soldiers we’ll be joining for the duration of the film. Well, at least some of them. Many of the men aboard the plane are killed before they even manage to get on the ground. A quick succession of events on the plane ratchet up the death count in unique ways.
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Some men are shot from below and bleed out on the floor of the plane. Another is blasted into the wall of the plane when an explosion sends everyone flying. But the most horrifying is the fate that befalls the men in the back of the plane, and almost the movie’s main hero, Boyce. The back of the plane is blasted away, and men are sucked through a flaming hole in the back and out the remnants of the plane. It’s evocative of being killed and sent to hell, and is a great thematic start to the movie.
Getting A-Head Of Herself
The villagers who had been brought into the secret laboratory did not end up having a good time. Boyce gets the chance to explore the lab and finds all sorts of terrifying sights he could never prepare himself for. And considering he got in by riding in a truck just full of corpses, that’s saying something. He comes across a number of corpses, many of them mid-experiment. The most shocking, though, is a woman who has been reduced to just a head and a spinal column.
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This one is a little bit of a cheat though, because the twist is that she’s not completely dead. With the Nazi serum pumping through her and keeping her dismembered head alive, she’s able to feebly beg Boyce for help. He’s not really prepared to (or to even just see a woman with just a spinal cord speaking to him), and he’s forced to leave her behind when he finds fellow American soldier Rosenfeld. But she’s definitely killed by the end of the movie, so we can call it a pass.
Poor Chase
Possibly the single most horrific part of the movie comes after the death of Chase. He’s been shot in an escape attempt by the captured Nazi leader Wafner. Although his compatriots try to save him, there’s just nothing they can do. He dies, clutching his camera. The problem is that Boyce, in an attempt to save his friend, injects him with the stolen Nazi formula.
While the formula seems successful at first, it soon begins to mutate Chase. His strength increases tenfold, allowing him throw his compatriots around like ragdolls. His bones grow and stretch against his skin, which even rips in places. He shrieks, and his veins pump with the serum. It’s not pretty, and neither is the only way they can find to dispatch him once and for all. A hail of bullets can’t put him down, so Boyce surprises him with the butt of his gun, and proceeds to beat his skull until it’s just a pile of gore on the ground. It feels heavily inspired by the works of John Carpenter (The Thing), especially when Chases’ spine breaks backwards. It’s shocking, in the best way.
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The Grenade Trick
After capturing a Nazi soldier, the Americans are able to use him as a distraction. They do so by tying his hands to a bike and covering his mouth with tape. He desperately tries to stop the other Nazi soldiers from pulling off the tape, but they do so anyway. It’s revealed that the Americans stuffed a grenade in his mouth, and attached the pin to the tape. And on top of all that, the sidecar of the motorbike is full to the brim with explosives. When the grenade goes off, we’re treated to the visual of the soldiers’ head exploding before the rest of the bike goes up as well.
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The rest of the Nazis try to avoid the explosion, but many of them are caught in the blast, giving us a long view at their pain and mayhem. And the ones that manage to avoid the blast are then pretty quickly shot down by some of the American soldiers. It’s a very effective plan, and also allows two men to pretty thoroughly wipe out an entire squadron of Nazi soldiers. It’s potentially one of the most “video-gamey” moments of the film.
The Explosive Finale
The final stretch of the movie contains some of the most surprising kills in the film, especially as our heroes all individually discover that fire seems to be the only thing that can really bring down the reanimated creatures. Chloe manages to survive an attack by one of the creatures, and discovers that even shooting it in the head isn’t enough to take it out once and for all. She eventually manages to grab a flamethrower and take him out.
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That doesn’t compare to the absolutely brutal brawl that ends the movie. Ford and Wafner demolish one another in a fistfight, both empowered by the serum. Even causing an explosion at Wafner’s feet isn’t enough to stop him. Eventually, Ford orders Boyce to set the remaining charges around the radio tower while he activates the C4 in the lab. The last we see of either men (or any of the creatures for that matter) comes as the C4 blows and engulfs them all in one last gruesome blast.
In theaters now, director Julius Avery's Overlord stars Jovan Adepo, John Magno, Wyatt Russell, Bokeem Woodbine, Pilou Asbaek, Jacob Anderson and Iain De Caestecker.