Deathwatch (2002 film)
| Deathwatch | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Michael J. Bassett |
| Produced by | |
| Written by | Michael J. Bassett |
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| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Hubert Taczanowski |
| Edited by | Anne Sopel |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
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| Language | English |
Deathwatch is a 2002 British-German horror film written and directed by Michael J. Bassett and starring Jamie Bell, Laurence Fox, Kris Marshall and Andy Serkis.
During the prologue, a squad of British soldiers is seen assaulting a German trench at night during World War I. Sergeant David Tate (Hugo Speer) is caught in the barbed wire and calls out to Private Charlie Shakespeare (Jamie Bell), a 16-year-old member of the squad, to rescue him from the entanglement. Shakespeare, however, has completely broken down from fear due to the chaos around him, and runs off into the fighting, only to be seemingly buried by shellfire moments later.
The next morning, the squad finds itself slowly advancing through a dense mist which, contrary to their fear, is not a poison gas. As they emerge from it, they come across a complex, maze-like network of German trenches, where they find an apparently besieged handful of terrified German soldiers, who at first ignore the cries of Private Willie McNess (Dean Lennox Kelly) to surrender in apparent terror of something else further down the trenches. Private Thomas Quinn (Andy Serkis) shoots the first and attempts to shoot the second, but McNess stops him and the German stumbles down the trench. The third, Friedrich (Torben Liebrecht), surrenders. Convinced that they have broken through the enemy lines, the soldiers decide to secure the trenches. Doing so, they explore them and find ominous signs that something there has gone very wrong: rotting bodies litter the ground, apparently victims of in-fighting among the Germans due to barbed wire and German bayonets sticking out of many. While detonating charges to close off some passages, they hear a demon-like growl, and as they walk away they fail to notice vast amounts of blood pouring from the mud.
Later, while Private Jack Hawkstone (Hans Matheson) is exploring more of the trench, he is called away by the other soldiers. As he turns to leave, he notices a body covered in mud, leaning against the wall of the trench. It turns out to be the second German, who had escaped from their initial encounter. As Hawkstone calls for help, the German lunges at him with a makeshift weapon and Hawkstone is forced to shoot him, wounding him and resulting in a fistfight between the two in the mud. During the skirmish, Private Barry Starinski (Kris Marshall) runs up and shoots the German, who falls to his knees. Quinn taunts and then executes him with a pistol round to the skull.
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