Hidden Gem Recommendation: Overlord

Overlord is an action-horror movie that came out in November 2018, and for some reason, it never got the recognition it deserved.  It was almost entirely overlooked by audiences, so even though it's less than two years old, most people don't know about it.  And in my opinion, that's a real shame.  While it's not an all-time classic, it's still a really good movie that combines genuine horror with likeable characters and cool action.

It's set in World War II, and it follows a group of American soldiers who are dropped behind enemy lines to destroy a German radio tower in preparation for the D-Day invasion.  Their plane is shot down, and only a handful of them make it out of the wreck alive.  The few survivors band together to complete their mission, and along the way, they discover that the Germans are conducting terrible, unnatural experiments to create an invincible army that their enemies will be helpless to fight against.

From the very first scene, the movie drops you right in the middle of the action.  It starts out with the soldiers flying to their destination, and after only a few minutes they begin to take heavy fire from German anti-aircraft artillery and are shot down.  After that intense opening, the film slows down a bit and gives you some time to get to know the characters, and that narrative choice really pays off later on.  These filmmakers understand that a good movie requires more than just good scares and good action.  If you don't care what happens to the characters, those other elements will be little more than just visual noise.

And in this movie, you really care about the characters.  While some of them are somewhat stock personalities, like the cold-hearted veteran who's all about the mission and the wide-eyed newbie who wants to help everybody he meets, the actors play their roles well enough that even these overdone tropes feel fresh and enjoyable.  You get to know each of the main soldiers as a unique individual, and you establish an emotional connection with them, which in turn makes you really care about them.  You want them to come out of this horrifying scenario in one piece, so when the action and scares pick up again, you feel the fear and the suspense much more acutely than you would if the characters were just generic cannon fodder.

Even the main bad guy is pretty well-done.  You don't get to know him nearly as well as you come to know the good guys, but the little bit the film does tell you is enough.  He's a pretty despicable human being, and when you get good guys that you really care about facing off with a bad guy that you really despise, it makes for some engaging storytelling.

But Overlord is about more than just good characters.  The pace begins to pick up again when you discover the Nazis' secret laboratory and the nefarious experiments they're conducting, and it's super intriguing.  The movie wisely refrains from answering all your questions right away, choosing instead to build up the suspense and let your curiosity linger for a bit.  You want to know just what these scientists are doing, so your eyes become glued to the screen as you search for answers.

From there, the movie slowly builds up its WTF factor until an awesome third act that makes good on all the promises of the first two thirds of the film.  As the American soldiers fight against a monstrous enemy to complete their mission, the movie pulls the curtain back on the Nazis' secret experiments and shows you the full extent of the horrors they've been working on, and it's great.  It combines some of the best elements of the action and horror genres into a slick, cohesive whole that satisfies your cravings for cool monsters and fun fight scenes.

At the end of the day, Overlord is a relatively simple story that's executed really well.  It isn't going to blow your mind, but the filmmakers squeeze every ounce of potential from it and manage to make the film way better than it has any business being.  In particular, they find a perfect way to balance character development with the faster-paced action and horror scenes.  The movie never slows down so long that you get bored with it, but it also never devolves into mindless action devoid of emotional grounding.

Admittedly, this isn't the kind of film that can transcend its genre and appeal to people who don't normally like action-horror, but if it sounds like something you would enjoy, you should definitely check it out.  With likeable characters, fun action, and really cool horror elements, this tragically underseen gem deserves to reach a much wider audience than it did when it was first released back in 2018.