After having lost communication with a distant outpost, a group of soldiers investigate the disappearance of the men stationed there, and discover a strange mystery that drives them all to madness.
We start off very quickly, the soldiers in the group coming right upon the outpost in question. Very little time is given to get to know the soldiers, but through their interactions and attitude toward their newly assigned Lieutenant, we get a pretty clear picture that the rest of the guys have been together for awhile and don’t take kindly to a new and unseasoned leader. This kind of storyteller works well, especially here. Being thrown right into the mix of things seems appropriate given the material. We are staying with this group for good, so anything besides how they interact with each other seems pointless.
The Lieutenant is given orders to hold position at the base of the hill until backup arrives. The other soldiers don’t particularly like that order, so one of them runs up the base of the hill by himself. After one of them steps on a mine chasing after him, the others are forced to head to the top anyway to look for a proper place to administer medical attention.
Once inside the men discover a ghastly sight. Blood everywhere, strange incantations written on the walls with charms to ward off evil hanging all over. Something terrible has happened here, and no one is left to tell them what it was.
One of them hears noises coming from inside a wall. Chipping away, he discovers someone has been walled up deliberately. After the team decides to free them, they pull out an old, hideous woman who doesn’t speak but moans constantly. The soldiers are divided on who she is, some claiming she is a witch after her reaction to the charms left in the room, others that she is a guerilla spy.
A violent interrogation yields nothing but moans. The men are still left with the mystery of what happened, and delve deeper into paranoia and madness, believing that this so called witch is responsible for the fate of the others, and will be for theirs as well.
This film is hard to watch sometimes. You can really feel the isolation that each of these men start to feel. It’s almost claustrophobic in a way that it is shot. There are some very powerful images that stay with you, even days after watching. One scene in particular in which the soldiers are forced to amputate the leg of the soldier who stepped on the mine is, in all honestly, one of the hardest scenes I’ve ever had to watch. It’s not the gore, you don’t even see it happen. You HEAR it. You SEE the reactions of all the men who are in the room. The sound, which is what I can only imagine is the most life-like sound of a bone being sawed off, sends everyone, including the viewer, over the edge. The reactions of the men makes it all the more real; a fantastic scene and a job well done by the actors involved.
My biggest problem with the film is the label of ‘horror’. Psychological definitely falls into this category, but the film isn’t built up to reflect that initially. We are given all this evidence that something supernatural is about to happen, that it will be right around the corner, but nothing comes. In fact, the biggest flaw of the entire film seems to be that nothing ever really happens. The soldiers are constantly frightened of the terror that may or may not be unleashed upon them, whether it is by supernatural means or by a guerilla attack.
Another thing that is a bit unbelievable is how fast the chain of command breaks down. Almost instantly in the movie there are soldiers disobeying orders. What else is it besides their duty that is keeping them on that hill? There is an obvious mutiny, it just doesn’t make much sense as to why they would choose to stay rather than run for the jungle and back to civilization. If there was another reason as to why they couldn’t act on this, it wasn’t explained very well.
There are some great scenes in this film, it is very unique in many ways, but there was little that left me interested in the story.
Video
The Squad is presented in 1080p 2.35:1. The video has an earthy tone to it that gives it a very gritty look. Many of the scenes take place in the dark and are hard to see, but overall the quality is good and really sets the tone for the film.
Audio
The audio is presented in DTS Master Audio Spanish with English subtitles. The soundtrack is great, as well as the effects, namely the bone sawing scene. Some of the dialogue sounds kind of hollow at times, but usually sounds fine.
Special Features
The Making of The Squad
Theatrical Trailer
The Squad is an interesting psychological horror film that takes you head first into madness. There are many, many creepy scenes; the bone sawing scene alone is worth at least one viewing. However, the lack of any real developments in the story and the unsatisfactory build up to be a great supernatural mystery makes this film unremarkable.
