With his Marvel Cinematic Universe return on the horizon, an underrated Wyatt Russell movie is getting a new streaming home. The youngest son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Wyatt Russell first began acting as a kid, with small roles in a few of his father’s movies, including Overboard, Escape from L.A. and Soldier, eventually taking a hiatus while playing for various hockey teams. He would later return to acting in the early 2010s with roles in the likes of The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ: The Oath, the English-language remake of We Are What We Are and 22 Jump Street.
Russell would start to make a proper name for himself in the mid-to-late 2010s with his turn in Black Mirror‘s “Playtest”, AMC’s Lodge 49 and Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!. He would further propel himself to mainstream stardom starring as John Walker/U.S. Agent in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a role he’s since reprised for the soon-to-release Thunderbolts* and the in-production Avengers: Doomsday. He’s starred in a variety of other blockbuster projects, including Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, a TV spinoff of the Monsterverse, though one film that’s since been forgotten is about to get new eyes on it.
Overlord Is Coming To Shudder In May
The J.J. Abrams-Produced Nazi Zombie Movie Is One Of Russell’s More Underrated
Just prior to joining the MCU, one of Russell’s biggest movie roles was that of the 2018 horror action war movie Overlord. Starring alongside Jovan Adepo, John Magaro and Mathilde Ollivier, Russell starred as one of a group of American soldiers in World War II who, while journeying into France to destroy a German radio-jamming tower on the eve of D-Day, find themselves confronted by inhuman experiments conducted by the Nazis. Produced by J.J. Abrams and helmed by Julius Avery, Overlord was well-received by critics, but underperformed at the box office.
Overlord maintains a “Certified Fresh” approval rating of 82% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 67% from audiences.
Now, just over six years after its theatrical release, Overlord is getting a new streaming home on Shudder. The Nazi zombie action movie is set to drop on the horror-focused streaming platform on May 1. Other notable movies joining Overlord on Shudder in May include Jacob’s Ladder, Tremors, Cannibal Holocaust, Rust Creek, Lady Vengeance and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.
For fans of:
- The Nazi zombie horror subgenre
- Wyatt Russell
- J.J. Abrams-produced movies
Why You Should Watch Overlord On Shudder
It’s Got More On Its Mind Than Its Horror Premise Suggests
Though technically around longer than them, the creation of the Wolfenstein game franchise and the multiplayer mode of the Call of Duty: Black Ops series helped popularize the Nazi zombie concept. But, where this led to the likes of ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Snow and Frankenstein’s Army, which took a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the concept, Overlord instead aims for a much more sincere approach in its tone, delivering some genuinely chilling monster designs and nicely ambiguous rules for their existence.
Additionally, the movie works to highlight the genuine horrors of war through its protagonist, Jovan Adepo’s idealistic Private First Class Boyce. From Overlord‘s harrowing opening sequence of jumping from a plane in the midst of it being sH๏τ down to watching his fellow soldiers die suddenly from landmines and German soldiers committing war crimes on French natives, writers Billy Ray, who’s about to return to the Hunger Games franchise for Sunrise on the Reaping, and Mark L. Smith, who recently found success with Netflix’s American Primeval, never let the human story be forgotten amid the horror genre fare.
Arguably, the biggest reason to revisit Overlord when it premieres on Shudder on May 1 is to watch Russell’s performance as the war-hardened Corporal Ford. Much like his later turn as Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the star must navigate a тιԍнтrope between ensuring audiences still side with him while also being horrified by the lengths he’s willing to go for his mission. With the movie arriving on Shudder just before Thunderbolts*‘s release, it will serve as a good reminder of Russell’s unique range.
What ScreenRant has said about Overlord:
This is a B-movie zombie horror set during arguably the most pivotal moment of World War II. Overlord contrasts those real-world stakes with the supernatural threat of zombie-Nazis for a wildly entertaining ride. Overlord Review: J.J. Abrams’ Zombie-Nazi Horror Film Delivers The Thrills
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Overlord Facts |
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Budget |
$38 Million |
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Box Office |
$41.7 Million |
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Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score |
82% |
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Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score |
67% |
Other Wyatt Russell Movies Streaming Right Now:
- We Are What We Are (Pluto)
- Night Swim (Prime Video)
- Shimmer Lake (Netflix)
- The Woman in the Window (Netflix)
- Cold in July (AMC+)
Source: Shudder
