At one stage thought to be some form of Cloverfield sequel/prequel, thanks to the association with wonder producer J.J Abrams and his production company Bad Robot, Overlord is very much a film set in its own universe that takes us on a gore filled World War 2 set adventure to occupied France, as a small collection of American soldiers discover that German run labs are not the ideal place to spend time in.

Directed by upcoming Australian filmmaker Julius Avery whose previous film Son of a Gun showed much promise, Overlord does a lot with its relatively small budget of $38 million as we are thrust into the D-Day invasion and follow a collection of paratroopers on a mission to destroy a German radio bunker set up at the base of an old church building.

It's not being over the top when you say the first 10 - 20 minutes of Avery's film are some of the most thrilling and dazzling of the last 12 months, with the audience given barely a moment to breathe as the films stunning opening set-piece takes place and we launch out of an under fire carrier plane with Jovan Adepo's Boyce and his fellow soldiers.

If Overlord had somehow managed to keep this pace, intensity and style up, Avery's film would be a dead-set undeniable gem but sadly the film unleashes its best too early as the film around it, whilst often entertaining and gloriously over the top, just never quite delivers the thrills, spills and chills like you'd wished it had done.

Truly becoming the cinematic equivalent of the famous Wolfenstein video game series (which must've been a direct inspiration for this tale),Overlord's mix of war time action, sci-fi, straight up visceral horror (found within the Nazi's underground labs) and thriller doesn't always hold up, even if it's great to see a film of this ilk play it completely straight with Overlord forgoing laughs as there's no winking to the camera as the nefarious goings on begin to take hold.

It's a gore-filled and claret flowing exercise, with Avery clearly at home with the action side of things and a little less so at character building, with side players like Wyatt Russell's knuckle-duster loving Ford, John Magaro's stereotypical Italian solider and Mathilde Ollivier's token French female tomboy Chloe having fun but remaining fairly forgettable with Game of Thrones star Pilou Asbæk stealing the acting show with his turn as evil Nazi Wafner.

You never regret going along for this ride with enough imagination, impressive make-up and special effects and darkly imagined horrors such a soldiers traumatic return from death keeping things moving and ever watchable, you just can't help but feel like Overlord had the potential to become a genuine classic of its genre mash-up.

Final Say -

There's a lot to like about Overlord (an unfortunate box-office dud) that's likely to find a much a larger audience on home release but despite its many strengths and standout individual scenes, this Wolfenstein come to life is a mostly enjoyable but mostly forgettable affair.

3 bullet wounds out of 5

In Nazi occupied France, in what I'd say is the same time period Aldo Raine was collecting scalps and chasing after Hans Landa, a ragtag group of paratroopers crash lands near the headquarters of a diabolical science lab where humans are taken against their will to guinea pig a top secret serum that transforms them into super-human zombies.

Overlord is exactly the kind of film you'd expect to see in the early 80's in the naughtier section of the video store. A WWII-set, Science-Fiction blood binge made for midnight viewings... or at least, that was the intention. Overlord, the actual film, has trouble expressing itself in this way. At times it takes itself too seriously. Other times, it goes for the gross out moment, but never takes it far enough. Overlord seems to be afraid of it's own shadow. It should've been more outrageous, more shameless and more hard-R that it is here. A worth while effort, and far from a cheap cinematic affair, but not satisfying.

Overlord should had been a fun sleazy Naziploitation horror film.

The Walking Dead meets Private Ryan mash up. Unfortunately the film does not gel.

It is an unpretentious low budget World War 2 horror film but it lacks zombies. It should had been heaving with the undead.

As part of the D-Day invasion. Paratroopers are on a mission to destroy a radio tower in a church in France but their plane is shot down. The survivors are helped by a local woman who is pestered by a local Nazi chief for sex.

The soldiers discover that the Nazis have been carrying out sinister experiments with the locals in the church. A mysterious serum can bring life back to the dead.

It takes a while for the schlock horror film to liven up and is not nearly as fun as it set out to be. It needed the cheeky verve such as the scene where a nazi is despatched back to base on a motorcycle with a tape on his mouth and a grenade inside.