WarHunt

A mix of fun genre zaniness -- with a tacked-on Mickey Rourke -- and snatches of ridiculously awful filmmaking, this wartime horror tale doesn't offer enough of the former to overcome the latter. WarHunt starts with some humdinger dialogue, like Sarge's "this ain't no opera... these [rifles] ain't violins, but they just happen to make sweet music of their own." Rourke gets some, too: "You know you're back in the thick of things when lukewarm dirt passes for coffee," he growls wearily, his face battle-worn, capped with an eyepatch and cloaked in a leather jacket. That stuff, paired with the haunted woods that are filled with spooky sounds and eerie omens, seems promising. And for a while it seems like this movie might be silly fun, not unlike Shadow in the Cloud.

But the not-fun stuff eventually kicks in. WarHunt is frequently too dark, and it's sometimes difficult to see what's going on. It's confusing, and not in a fun way. For a time, it looks like there are only two witches, but by the final showdown, we learn that there are actually three. And the digital effects that show the villainous witches turning into swarms of black feathers look cheap and smeary. The G.I. characters likewise tend to blend together, making it hard to tell them apart, let alone identify with any of them. The three top-billed actors often choke on their hammy dialogue, slipping down into what comes across as poor performances. Last but not least, the big "it ain't over yet" moment is more likely to inspire eye-rolls than gasps.