‘Overlord’ Wins Early Raves at Fantastic Fest: ‘Everything I Wanted From a WWII Nazi Zombie Movie’

This J.J. Abrams-produced horror film is looking like a must-see for “Wolfenstein” fans

Overlord trailer
Paramount

Up for some pulpy, horror exploitation goodness this fall? If the reaction from its premiere at Fantastic Fest is any indication, “Overlord” may be exactly what you are looking for.

Last night, the WWII zombie film from director Julius Avery and producer J.J. Abrams earned rave reviews at the genre-oriented film festival in Austin, with “Deadpool” creator Rob Liefeld and “Doctor Strange” writer C. Robert Cargill among those in the audience. Early tweets and reviews have been glowing, praising the film as a must-see for anyone who likes their horror films as enthusiastically nasty as possible.

Comparisons have also been made to the video game series “Wolfenstein,” which has been putting a monster twist on the Nazis since 1981.

“I can’t even put a number to how many years I’ve been wanting a film adaptation of ‘Wolfenstein.’ After such a long time killing Nazis, monsters, and Nazi monsters, I wanted the opportunity to sit back and let others do the work for me, all with a Hollywood budget,” wrote Jonathan Barkan in his review for horror site Dread Central.

“Having just walked out of the world premiere at Fantastic Fest, that desire has pretty much been 100% met.”

“Overlord” stars Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell as members of a WWII paratrooper team that drops into France ahead of D-Day to take out a signal jammer located on the top of a church tower. But the team finds something much worse: the Nazis have built a lab beneath the church and are conducting experiments on the townspeople, turning them into grotesque and hostile beasts. ”

Paramount will release “Overlord” on Nov. 9.

Check out more of the reactions from the premiere in the tweets below.

Jeremy Fuster

Box Office Reporter • jeremy.fuster@thewrap.com • Twitter: @jeremyfuster

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