Ghost Brigade (1993)

The 51st Alabama Regiment is decimated at the Battle of Cotton Creek. Its commander, Col. Nehemiah Strayn (Corbin Bernsen), is presumed dead, but winds up in a Union prison camp.

Now someone is torturing and slaying Union soldiers. And in the mouth of one of those soldiers, Union officers find a belt buckle from the 51st Alabama Regiment.

Somehow, some members of the regiment survived, and Capt. John Harding (Adrian Pasdar), the Union’s foremost tracker, is summoned to find those survivors and bring them to justice. To accomplish his mission, he frees Strayn from his prison cell.

What Harding doesn’t know is that he isn’t tracking down soldiers. He’s tracking down a ghost brigade of blood-thirsty men trapped somewhere between life and death.

Review:

Don’t be fooled by all the big names in the cast, this is every bit as bad as it sounds. There’s a director’s cut out there that’s 12 minutes longer, but it’s hard to imagine how an extra 12 minutes would help.

Apparently, a Union artillery shell opened up a hole in Cotton Creek. An ancient African curse slipped through, and that’s why Civil War soldiers from both sides wind up roaming the battlefield like a brigade of the undead, looking for new recruits all the time.

The battle sequences look like poorly-staged re-enactments. And don’t expect many of the big names in the cast — like Martin Sheen or Billy Bob Thornton — to hang around on the screen for long. Their roles are strictly guest star variety. Matter of fact, it’s hard to understand how they got involved in a venture like this.

Cynda Williams plays Rebecca, a former slave who’s mute, but can relay messages to Strayn by touch and by doing so teaches him to respect blacks. Roger Wilson is Maj. Josiah Elkins, Strayn’s second in command who now leads the “trapped” brigade.

Directed by:
George Hickenlooper

Cast:
Corbin Bernsen … Col. Nehemiah Strayn
Adrian Pasdar … Capt. John Harding
Ray Wise … Col. George Thalman
Cynda Williams … Rebecca
Roger Wilson … Maj. Josiah Elkins
Jefferson Mays … Martin Bradley
Billy Bob Thornton … Langston
Martin Sheen … Gen. Haworth
David Arquette … Murphy
Matt LeBlanc … Terhune

aka: The Grey Knight
The Killing Box

Memorable lines:

Gen. Haworth : “Blue and gray is not always black and white for many of us here in Kentucky. “

Col. Strayn: “You boys been raisin’ a whole lotta hell.”
Josiah: “Country’s already gone to hell, Nehemiah. We’re just starting an army to set things right.”

Col. Strayn: “What side are you boys figurin’ on fightin’ for?”
Langston: “Sides are what killed the country. We want to resurrect it.”

Josiah: “A sword’s just a stick, Nehemiah. A gunshot just a meaningless piece of metal. Let death breathe on your face and breathe right back. That’s the sweetest victory of all.”

Ray Wise as Col. George Thalman in Ghost Brigade (1993)