History Main / DeathWatch

* The tabletop game set in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' universe, ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}''.

* The 1966 film set in prison, ''Film/{{Deathwatch 1966}}''.
* The 2002 film set in World War I, ''Film/{{Deathwatch 2002}}''.
* The tabletop game set in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe, ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}''.

* The 2002 film set in World War I, ''[[{{Deathwatch 2002}} Deathwatch]]''.

* The 1966 film set in prison, ''Film/{{Deathwatch}}''.

* The tabletop game set in ''{{Warhammer 40k}}'' universe, ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}''.

* The 1966 film set in prison, ''Film/Deathwatch''.

* The tabletop game set in ''{{Warhammer 400000}}'' universe, ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}''.

[[redirect:Film/{{Deathwatch2002}}]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathwatch_3358.jpg
[[caption-width:226:''[[{{Tagline}} Deliver them from evil]]''.]]
''For the entry on the Warhammer 40,000 game that used to be here, see TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}.''

''For the entry on the 1966 film, see Film/{{Deathwatch}}.''

British [[GenreBusting war horror movie]] made in 2002.

Set during WorldWarOne, a group of British soldiers "go over the top" in an assault against German lines. However, in the middle of the battle, a mysterious fog descends upon the battlefield and the night suddenly turns into day. Hours later, they finally stumble upon the German trenches only to find a mere 3 German soldiers, petrified and pointing their guns down their own trenches. The British soldiers call for them to surrender, but the Germans are more scared of something in the trench than them. After murdering two of them and torturing the third, the British troops begin exploring the trench, only to find the bodies of more Germans, seemingly killed by friendly fire. Even stranger, the trenches seem to lead nowhere, simply doubling back on themselves. With a prisoner babbling about demons, impenetrable fog, and a broken radio, they quickly form a defensive position and wait for reinforcements that never come.

Though their radio can't send messages, it can still RECIEVE them. High command seems rather sure that the attack failed and there were no survivors....

Needless to say, it [[ItGotWorse starts getting worse]] from there.

----
!!This movie provides examples of :

* ADateWithRosiePalms: All Starinski wanted, [[SarcasmMode poor dear]].
* AnachronismStew : Not very overt, but there are some inconsistencies. In one scene, Charlie picks up and wields a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP_18 Bergmann MP 18]] SMG - unless the film is set in 1918, this early example of a machine pistol can't possibly be found on the front, since the Germans started using it in the last year of the war. The Lee-Enfield rifles wielded by the soldiers are also a later, WWII-era version of the model (the WWI version being harder to come by). But the most obvious example by far is the surprisingly small radio receiver they find and repair. No country had military or civilian radios that small and advanced during WWI. It would fit better in the 1920s.
** Regards the SMLE, the WW1 version (the No.1 MkIII or MkIII*) is not difficult to come by at all: the Australians went on making them until after World War 2.
** Actually, the Bergman was first fielded by 1916 in small numbers
* AxCrazy / BloodKnight : Quinn (Andy Serkis) is about as Axe Crazy as a character can get.
* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough : Jennings and Tate fit this, but it's subverted by Tate being somewhat more sympathetic and AFatherToHisMen than Jennings.
* CluelessAesop
* DaylightHorror : Most of the movie, but the night scenes are almost equally long as the day ones and the daylight itself is consistently gloomy.
* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Starinski, almost. But only with himself.]]
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Averted, even though it's not a war movie in the traditional sense.
* FogOfDoom: Hey, it's WorldWarOne. 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.
* [[spoiler: GainaxEnding]]
* GenreBlindness : Both played straight and averted.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Most of the cast are commonly seen on British TV (but perhaps not to the point that everyone knows their names without looking them up).
** [[BillyElliotPlot Billy Elliot]] and [[Film.TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]] wade through the mud of a haunted trench on the western front.
* 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*]]
* LastNameBasis : A subversion, since in the script and credits, the characters are mentioned by their full names. But the only personal name used on screen regularly is Charlie's.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane : [[spoiler:The whole haunting and supernatural phenomenna going on in the abandoned trench. Including ''living barbed-wire''.]]
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent / WhatTheHellIsThatAccent : Is Bradford supposed to be Canadian or British ?
* 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.
* OnlySaneMan : [[KidHero Charlie]] and, to [[YourMileageMayVary a questionable extent]], private Chevasse and doc Fairweather.
* [[spoiler:OurGhostsAreDifferent]]
* PsychologicalHorror / SurrealHorror : It's implied that, [[spoiler: rather than 'crazy unexplained barbed-wire magic', [[YourMindMakesitReal the cause of the company's fate may have been collective madness]] - wandering into a maze-like trench filled with dead Germans without contact from your superiors for weeks is bound to do this kind of thing to you.]]
** Or to give the writer a little more credit :[[spoiler: They all died in the initial attack, the trench is a form of Purgatory, and the German is an angel/demon who's purpose is to test the morality of their characters. Those that fail die and stay in the trench, those that succeed get to leave it. Notice that this makes a lot more sense, given what's mentioned in the Foreshadowing entry.]]
* PsychoPartyMember: Overtly Quinn, and later [[spoiler: Bradford]].
* PsychoticSmirk : Quinn most of the time. [[spoiler:By the end of the movie, Bradford has an even creepier smile on his face when threatening Charlie.]]
* 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]].
* SinisterMinister : [[spoiler: [[NotSoHarmless Bradford]] ]] slowly morphs into this because of his gradual SanitySlippage. [[spoiler:He was quite TheFundamentalist before as well, just not insane yet.]]
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism : Unabashedly cynical in it's portrayal of TheSquad, whose members are mostly [[HumansAreBastards bastards]] at best and [[AxCrazy violent]] [[SociopathicSoldier psychos]] at worst. Needless to say, the image of the [[IronWoobie tragic]] [[StiffUpperLip yet cheerful]] "Tommies" seen in British WorldWarOne propaganda [[{{Deconstruction}} gets completely shattered]]...
* SociopathicSoldier: Quinn.
-->"Thank god he's on our side, eh?"
** How about this exchange ?
-->Quinn: "I went to Blackpool once..."
-->Starinski: "Oh, was it nice ?"
-->Quinn: "I killed a man there... Yeah, it was nice."
* TheSquad :
** NewMeat / TheHero : private Charlie [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous Shakespeare]]
** SergeantRock: sergeant Tate
** UpperClassTwit / TheNeidermeyer : Captain Jennings. Particularly [[{{Narm}} narmy]] 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
** BonnieScotland: private [=McNess=], token stereotypical Black Watch (Highland Regiment) soldier.
** RedShirt / SacrificialLamb : private Chevasse
* [[RiverOfInsanity Trench Of Insanity]]
* WarIsHell: Oh yes. By miles.
* WorldOfHam: All of the soldiers, with the possible exception of the German.
* WorldWarOne : The setting is the western front, presumably in the later stages of the war (cca 1917). And it's as muddy and [[{{Mordor}} grim]] as ever...

* TheReveal : [[spoiler:The German soldier at the end.]]

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory

* MoralEventHorizon : [[spoiler:Quinn has one when he tortures the German prisoner. Also, Bradford turns into a KnightTemplar slash CompleteMonster near the end.]]

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: In spades, from [[spoiler: Starinski's barbed-wire constriction]] to [[spoiler: Quinn's barbed-wire... uh... invasion]] to [[spoiler: Chevasse's impromptu leg surgery, taken care of by the local trench rats]], among much else.
* 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*]]
* LastNameBasis : A subversion, since in the script and credits, the characters are mentioned by their full names. But the only personal name used on screen regularly is Charlie's.

* SoBadItsGood: Heck, most of the movie (even though a lot of scenes elevate it to BetterThanItSounds status).
** [[spoiler:[[BloodyHilarious The scene where Chevasse looks at his rat-decapitated legs]] and [[{{Narm}} makes hilarious faces and sounds]]. They did not have to show us the chewed bloody parts of the legs, [[SpecialEffectsFailure completely unrealistic at least to the layperson]], alongside Chevasse [[HamAndCheese hamming it up.]] ]]
** [[spoiler:The crazy unexplained living barbed-wire.]]

* TruffautWasRight: Averted, even though it's not a war movie in the traditional sense.