J.J. Abrams long awaited new project, 'Overlord', is finally coming to cinemas this week. The film is set in a horror-alternative World War II, in which American soldiers, who have been dropped behind enemy lines on a mission, discover a terrible Nazi experiment which adds a supernatural horror to their straightforward military mission. In anticipation of the release of this film, we had the opportunity to speak with Julius Avery. The film's director, and Wyatt Russel, the lead actor, at the Sitges Festival.
The film is a clear hybrid between the genres of war and horror film, yet Avery shows that this compilation of genres doesn't have to be a trait only of the B-Movies, highlighting the attention he paid on character development. As well as creating an adrenaline-fueled action film, Avery said "what I wanted to do was put some time into making sure that the characters were believable and that we loved them before we through them into hell".
He said that the first time he read the script it struck him as being like "'Indiana Jones' on acid", due to its intense and crazy action scenes. 'Overlord', for Avery, is the war film that he has wanted to make since he was a child, fascinated by his Grandfather's own role in the Second World War.
D-day As You Have Never Seen Before
So where exactly does 'Overlord' take us? The film is set in one of the key moments in WWII, but in a way which has never been seen before; a team of paratroopers are dropped into Nazi territory on D-Day and have to face horrors which go beyond all expectations. Scientists and doctors have experimented with bringing the dead back to life, creating a spectacle of action and gore which cannot be imagined, and which has been little seen in popular mainstream cinema.
It comes to cinemas on 9th November.
