History Film / Deathwatch2002

* DaylightHorror: Most of the movie, but the night scenes are almost equally long as the day ones and the daylight itself is consistently gloomy.

British [[GenreBusting war horror movie]] made in 2002. It was the directorial debut of M.J. Bassett, who later went on to direct the movie [[Film/SolomonKane Solomon Kane]] and starring Creator/JamieBell and Creator/AndySerkis.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Many of the events in the movie could be put down to the soldiers being driven mad on some kind of gas, and the deaths themselves are grounded enough that the events leading up to them could be written off as hallucinations, or explained in some other way.

* OnlySaneMan: Charlie provides a consistent voice of reason, and often tries to mitigate brawls between the other characters as they slip into madness.

* RareGuns: The MP-18 - the world's first submachine gun - is used by Charlie to MercyKill [[spoiler: Quinn]]. It's recognizable by its snail-shaped drum magazine.

British [[GenreBusting war horror movie]] made in 2002. It was the directorial debut of Michael J. Bassett, who later went on to direct the movie [[Film/SolomonKane Solomon Kane]] and starring Creator/JamieBell and Creator/AndySerkis.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Most of the cast, who are each shown to be morally flawed (or just unlucky) in some way, are shown to get their comeuppance in various gruesome ways. Especially Quinn. *shudder*]]

** [[spoiler: McNess is pulled into the ground by...something.]]

British [[GenreBusting war horror movie]] made in 2002. It was the directorial debut of Michael J. Bassett, who later went on to direct the movie [[Film/SolomonKane Solomon Kane]].

** [[spoiler: MacNess is pulled into the ground by...something.]]

* MercyKill: Charlie does this to Chevasse [[spoiler:after he discovers rats are eating his legs]].

* SwarmOfRats:

** Tate gets caught on barbed wire during the opening scene, and later [[spoilers: gets thrown into barbed wire and trapped before he's bludgeoned by Quinn.]]

** He taunts an enemy soldier before shooting him and attempting to scalp him. [[FridgeHorror Just what is that fur coat of his made of, anyway?]]

* FogOfDoom: Hey, it's UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Fog of Doom is already all over the damn place, both natural and weaponized.

%%* TheReveal: [[spoiler:The German soldier at the end.]]
* SanitySlippage: All the characters [[TemptingFate after they enter the creepy abandoned trench]] and [[WhatAnIdiot decide to hold it]] [[GenreBlindness until backup arrives]].

** Before he even goes over the top, he's taunting the Germans
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Jennings and Tate fit this, but it's subverted by Tate being somewhat more sympathetic and AFatherToHisMen than Jennings.
%%* CluelessAesop

** Tate gets caught on barbed wire during the opening scene, and later [[spoilers:gets thrown into barbed wire and trapped before he's bludgeoned by Quinn.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler:The whole haunting and supernatural phenomenna going on in the abandoned trench. Including ''living barbed-wire''.]]

* NothingIsScarier: The earlier portions of the movie, before the squad members start getting killed off in mysterious ways by unknown forces or themselves under suspicious coincidences.
* OfficerAndAGentleman: Averted by Jennings and Tate, both of them enormous {{JerkAss}}es. This trope is also [[DoubleSubversion double subverted]] by Tate, since he's oficially [[SergeantRock a sergeant]] and acts pretty jerky, but shows some signs of being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

%%* OurGhostsAreDifferent
%%* PsychoPartyMember: Overtly Quinn, and later [[spoiler: Bradford]].

* TheSquad:
** NewMeat[=/=]TheHero: private Charlie [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous Shakespeare]]
%%** SergeantRock: sergeant Tate
%%** UpperClassTwit: Captain Jennings. Particularly {{narm}}y when he definitely [[GoMadFromTheIsolation goes off his nut]].
%%** TheEngineer[=/=][[spoiler: TheFundamentalist[=/=]BewareTheNiceOnes]]: [[CanadaEh private Bradford]]
%%** PsychoForHire: private Quinn
%%** ColdSniper: private Starinski
%%** TheMedic[=/=]MauveShirt: Doc Fairweather
%%** RedShirt[=/=]SacrificialLamb: private Chevasse
%%* WarIsHell: Oh yes. By miles.
%%* WorldOfHam: All of the soldiers, with the possible exception of the German.

%%* ADateWithRosiePalms: All Starinski wanted...

%%* AxCrazy: Quinn (Andy Serkis) is about as Axe Crazy as a character can get. The [[CoolGuns/SubmachineGuns Bergmann MP-18]] also makes an appearance. Its correct for the time period, as the SMG started being introduced in small numbers in 1916, but should be using the "snail drum" instead of a stick magazine.

* EldritchLocation: Wherever the squad have gone, it's taken a match to the rule book of physics and flips off such a thing as night and day, changing from one to the other and back unpredictably and quickly.
%%* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Starinski, almost. But only with himself.]]
* FogOfDoom: Hey, it's UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Fog of Doom is already all over the damn place.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Connected to the FogOfDoom above. [[spoiler:The protagonists were fighting off the Germans from their trench in the middle of the night, but got knocked out and awoke in a somewhat different location, surrounded completely by thick fog. And the night suddenly changed to ''[[FridgeHorror day time]]''.]] One or two of the characters even [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the unusualness of this.
%%* GainaxEnding
%%* GenreBlindness: Both played straight and averted.

%%* OnlySaneMan: [[KidHero Charlie]] and, to a questionable extent, private Chevasse and doc Fairweather.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

-->Quinn: "I went to Blackpool once..."
-->Starinski: "Oh, was it nice ?"
-->Quinn: "I killed a man there... Yeah, it was nice."

%%** UpperClassTwit: Captain Jennings. Particularly [[{{Narm}} narmy]] when he definitely [[GoMadFromTheIsolation goes off his nut]].