But this new masterpiece of sadistic violence includes scalped heads and sweet revenge on part of the Jews, during which World War II gets rewritten.

If you're familiar with Quentin Tarantino's works, e.g. Pulp Fiction (1994) and Kill Bill (2003), then you must be familiar with his style; his films are graphic, brutal, explicit, and unapologetic.

“Inglourious Basterds” fits right in with the rest of Tarantino's flicks, only this time the gore is even more realistic: If you can't stomach scenes where a man's head gets scalped, you might want to reconsider watching this movie.

A fictional film where history falls into an alternative universe, “Inglourious Basterds” is set in Nazi- occupied France during the 1940s; the opening chapter of the film depicts 'The Jew Hunter,' Colonel Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz), cold-heartedly slaughtering a Jewish family in hiding. Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) is the sole survivor to escape alive and unscathed, and as fate would have it, four years later she gets the perfect opportunity to enact revenge upon her family when high-ranking SS officials gather at her cinema.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) is recruiting a crew of Jewish-American soldiers to infiltrate France for the sole purpose of killing Nazis. The gang, known as the “Basterds,” quickly establishes a reputation among German soldiers as they go off on a bloody rampage, scalping hundreds of SS soldiers.

The plot thickens in Chapter Three: “German Night in Paris,” when Operation Kino is set in motion. All of the Nazi party's top leaders, including Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and Bormann, are gathered for the movie premiere of “Nation's Pride,” a film featuring a local German hero who single-handedly killed over 300 Russians in three days. To kill all four of them would mean the end of the war. As the tension mounts, the film escalates to an alarming and catastrophic climax that will leave audiences stunned into silence.

The cast gives a spectacular performance; Brad Pitt deliveres his lines with a near-perfect southern accent with just the right amount of suave; French actress Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus is the epitome of a deadly femme fatale; and Til Schweiger merges right into his role as Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz of the “Basterds,” a character memorable for his lightening-quick butchering of 13 SS officials.

There's no denying that Tarantino's dramatic characterization often borders exaggeration. It's easy to hate Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels as they are portrayed in the film. However, Waltz's portrayal of “The Jew Hunter” is definitely the most chilling and worthy of mention; his character's evil nature truly embodies the definition of inhumanity. Waltz received the Best Actor award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival for his role.

The film title, though copied from a disparate 1978 Italian movie, is aptly suitable; indeed, there is nothing “glorious” about the “Basterds” or in the massacre of the Nazis for that matter – yet Tarantino's film is strangely satisfying to watch. Never-mind history; it quenches a twisted thirst for bloodshed and a perverse sense of justice within the human psyche most would not be willing to admit they possess.

Tarantino has always had a knack for leaving audiences squirming in their seats during moments of unbearably drawn-out tension, and he hasn't lost his touch. Yet “Inglourious Basterds” is still littered with scenes of pure comic hilarity, punctuated by etchings over screen stills or brilliantly entertaining dialogue between characters.

In the final sequence of the film, as Brad Pitt's face hovers above the camera saying something along the lines of, “I believe this might just be my masterpiece,” one can't help but think that Tarantino might be saying the same of his film.