The Top 10 Best Military Horror Movies
Military Horror Movies Prove War Really Can Be Hell
Most horror movies feature a monstrous antagonist tearing through victims like tissue paper, but what about when the prey can put up a fight? I don’t mean your typical final guys or final girls either, I’m talking about characters who have been trained to kill. That’s usually when you get military horror movies, in which soldiers face off against otherworldly forces. As badass as some of these soldiers might be, even the best of the best can have trouble when their opponents are supernatural. In order to earn a spot on the list below, a film has to feature active or former members of some branch of the armed service as the protagonists. I don’t mean that in a “Golly, I hope the army defeats Godzilla” way. They have to be main characters with names that the audience hopes will survive whatever horror they’re facing. Now, get ready to lock and load, because this list of military horror movies is Oscar Mike!
10. The Devil’s Rock
A lot of military horror movies are set during World War II since the Nazi Party had strong ties to the occult. I suppose it only makes sense that a monster like Adolph Hitler would seek similar company. The Devil’s Rock follows a group of Kiwi Commandos sent on a top-secret mission on the eve of D-Day in order to draw attention away from the landing at Normandy. They arrive ready to kick Nazi butt, but it turns out that the Third Reich has been branching out into otherworldly acts of evil. Deep within the outpost, they’ve been sent to sabotage, Der Fuehrer’s lackeys have summoned and bound a demonic entity. Putting down Nazis might be pretty straightforward, but fighting a pissed-off, sadistic succubus is another mess entirely. While some might not think a super-hot sex demon sounds scary, a demon is still a demon, and she puts these New Zealanders through the wringer.
9. Blood Vessel
From Nazi’s messing with demons to Nazi’s messing with vampires. Well, technically strigoi, but they’re basically the unromanticized old-world version of vampires, which makes them a lot scarier than Edward Cullen. When an Allied Hospital ship sinks at sea, things look grim for the few survivors who made it aboard a lifeboat. Just when all hope looks lost, a German Minesweeper appears out of the fog and they’re able to get aboard. Of course, they probably wish they had stayed on the life-raft because they not only find the crew gone, but soon discover why they’re missing. I appreciated Blood Vessel because it took a more monstrous approach to the vampire (strigoi) to it bordered on being a creature feature. That combined with the claustrophobic lower decks of the ship makes for a delightfully satisfying military horror.
8. Spectral
What happens when DARPA gets called in to deal with weaponized ghosts causing chaos on the battlefield? Well, you get one hell of a proton-pack that’s for sure. A lot of military horror movies have a strong action-adventure vibe to them, probably because of all the inevitable gunfire, but the ghosts in this film are definitely nerve-racking. Not only are they next to impossible to see with the naked eye, but they can also pass through physical objects (like bullets) with no problem. To make things worse, they can snatch the soul right out of you if they get their ectoplasm-covered mitts on ya. Luckily, it seems like the military has people for just this sort of thing. It turns out that Special Forces commandos aren’t half bad at taking on ghosts when they have the right gun for the job. Heck, they could probably even give the Ghostbusters a run for their money.
7. Dog Soldiers
When it comes to the old-school movie monsters, werewolves are my favorite. In fact, the whole idea for this list came from a recent rewatch of this entry in particular. Dog Soldiers tells the tale of a Special Air Service training mission in the Scottish Highlands that goes horribly wrong. When the British Commandos sent to train against the SAS team, find them torn to shreds, they realize that they should have brought some live ammo with them. Not that any ordinary ammo would help against what’s waiting for them in the woods. Faced with supernatural apex predators known as lycanthropes, the team retreats to a small cottage to make their last stand. Despite the odds stacked against them, the commandos prove that a little creativity and a ton of tenacity can go a long way. While it’s not what I’d call “traditionally good.” Dog Soldiers is a cult classic and a lot of fun.
6. Overlord
If I had to pick one film to sum up the potential of military horror movies, it would be Overlord. While it didn’t earn the number one spot on this list, Overlord featured everything great about the micro-genre. Besides, it also features one of my favorite movie characters to ever punch a Nazi in the face, Boyce (Jovan Adepo). The heroes this time around are American paratroopers sent behind enemy lines before D-Day in order to knock out a radar and communications tower Nazis set up in a small French village. A wrench gets thrown into their plans when they discover the Nazis are trying to perfect Hitler’s thousand-year Reich by experimenting on the villagers. The results are monstrous, nearly invincible Übermensch that could hand victory to the Axis power. Just like that, the outcome of the war suddenly rests on their shoulders. I won’t spoil the ending, but I’m sure I don’t have to remind you what happened in WWII.