War of the Dead 2011

In a dim, claustrophobic corridor of an underground bunker, prisoners march under armed guard. As they approach the final door, one prisoner seizes a moment to strike at a guard, but the door slides open and German soldiers spill through to mow the group down. Most fall, but one prisoner is grabbed and dragged through. He’s strapped to an operating table, a drip pushed into his arm and blood pumped into his veins. The captive’s eyes eventually flick open, revealing irises that have turned a pale, zombified white.

Sometime later, presumably in 1941 during the Continuation War, Captain Martin Stone leads a highly trained platoon of American and Finnish soldiers, accompanied by a cameraman and his young son, on a mission to strike the bunker—unaware of the horrors they’re walking into. Their assault is quickly repelled, driving them back into the forest. As they attempt to regroup, a shambling soldier staggers toward them. They open fire, only to discover the corpse is one of their own; the creature rises again and a number of undead burst from hiding in the trees to pull the unit apart.

Forced to flee for their lives, Stone and the Finnish contingent—Captain Niemi and Lieutenant Laakso—along with the cameraman’s son, take shelter in a trench. There they encounter a lone Russian soldier, Kolya, who seems disturbingly aware of the zombie threat and guides them to a nearby house where they can hide. The group is soon torn apart by the chaos of the undead, with Niemi bitten and then killing the young cameraman before Laakso shoots him dead. In the midst of the danger, Stone discovers a car in a garage, just as Kolya reveals impressive hand‑to‑hand combat skills that help them survive.

As the trio presses deeper into danger, Niemi reappears and attacks, though they manage to escape again. They stop at another cabin and wrestle with whether to confront the supernatural menace or abandon the mission entirely. There they find Dasha, Kolya’s ex-girlfriend, mortally wounded; the four press on toward the bunker, hoping to locate a radio to call for help.

Inside the facility, the group is again split up, and Kolya convinces them to keep moving toward a radio room, where they hope to call for air support. They eventually locate the radio, and Kolya and Laakso manage to summon headquarters to request an airstrike to collapse the bunker for good. The tension peaks as Niemi materializes once more at the bunker and a brutal fistfight erupts between him and Stone, while the radio room is overwhelmed by the encroaching undead. Laakso and Kolya flee, but Kolya is dragged into a zombie’s grasp and falls to his death. Laakso races to the surface to set signal flares for the incoming fighter-bombers, narrowly escaping the bombs, and reunites with Stone just as a Russian battalion arrives to investigate the scene, signaling that their grim mission is finally complete.