Ghost Brigade

Rebel zombies result after a Union platoon opens fire on surrendering members of the Confederate 51st. After reports surface of crucified Yankee soldiers, General Matthew Haworth (Martin Sheen) orders Capt. John Harling (Adrian Pasdar) on a search-and-destroy mission. Prevailing upon the jailed leader of the 51st, Colonel Nehemiah Strayn (Corbin Bernsen), Harling mistakenly seeks live marauders. Meanwhile the undead Confederates are busy slaughtering fellow Southerners and slaves--excluding the mute Rebecca (Cynda Williams) whose voodoo powers spare her. Psychically communicating with the bigoted Strayn, Rebecca leads the reconnaissance squad toward the truth: hundreds of years ago a great evil was uprooted from Africa and transported to America by slave traders. Dormant due to slave magic, the curse was reactivated by the ambush of the 51st and can only be curtailed by silver bullets, running water, and fire. Melting down silver items into ammo and surrounding their entrenchment with a makeshift irrigation canal, Strayn and Harling combat the army of darkness and live to distinguish themselves on opposing sides of the Civil War. Sacrificing herself, Rebecca forces Ghost Brigade leader Josiah Elkins (Roger Wilson) to shoot her with an anti-phantom projectile that passes through his body and hers.

GHOST BRIGADE offers 50% folk legend exposition to 50% narrative action. The film wastes so much time filling in details of the cadaver squadron it seems longer than the Battle of Gettysburg. Trying for the hallucinatory atmosphere of the film version of Ambrose Bierce's OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE, this unusual chiller falls prey to mundane scripting, combat-booted direction, and inferior sound mixing. When dialogue, SFX and music seem to assail the ears from different parallel universes, is it any wonder that the victims' screams ring hollow? This also fails to capitalize on the fascinating symbolic concept that the demonic forces of slavery inspired the Civil War. GHOST BRIGADE is certainly off-beat enough to hook genre buffs, but it doesn't trudge the extra mile. Despite the presence of Sheen, a player in numerous War-Between-the-States flicks, cast members seem decidedly out of place in the historical period. As for the terrifying Ghost Brigade and their white warpaint makeup, they register as zombie minstrels from an 1860s touring carnival. (Graphic violence, profanity.) leave a comment