Cert 15 Stars 3

Scares and shoot-outs are well-balanced in this Second World War haunted house horror influenced by the work of lauded sci-fi writer Robert A. Heinlein and his speculative ideas of future military technology.

Brenton Thwaites plays the fresh-faced leader of a five-strong squad who’s pleased to be ordered to defend a deserted French chateau, and it’s only after a fierce battle with a passing German platoon events become weird, beginning with their field radio seemingly picking up signals from beyond the grave.

Sadly old-school special effects slowly give way to glossy CGI, and fans of Hollywood’s forgotten man Billy Zane, will be disappointed at his lack of screen time.

The script speaks to humanity’s ageless appetite for warfare and though it flags up the idea the Second World War represents a moral high ground in comparison all subsequent wars are found wanting, it fails to give itself adequate time to explore it.

But for the most part this offers pretty effective entrainment, with the main actors putting in a shift among the bloody and sometimes brutal action which is choreographed in a shoot ’em up video game stylee.