Outpost
Eastern Europe.
A group of mercenaries, led by DC (Ray Stevenson), are hired by Hunt (Julian Wadham) to protect him as they enter no man’s land in search of minerals, or so the story goes. The mercenaries think it is going to be easy money, they were never so wrong.
It turns out their destination is an old abandoned WWII bunker.
The minerals just a story.
The easy job a lie.
DC has his men search and protect the bunker, While Hunt searches for the reason he is there.
They find a pile of bodies and one of them is still breathing.
They are attacked, one of them wounded. Yet they can’t find any evidence of their attackers. So it begins.
Hunt finds what he has been looking for; it is not minerals but a machine that the Nazis had been working on that allowed them to transport soldiers instantly over great distances. These weren’t just ordinary soldiers they were also unstoppable. Unfortunately for him the mercenaries also discover reels of film that show the experiments that had taken place in the bunker and among the faces they see in the film is that of their lone survivor.
Hunt tells them that the machine is worth a fortune and worth the risk; he tells them that he has called for back-up.
Other forces have other ideas.
The mercenaries start getting pick off one by one.
They realise there is no escape and this is now a battle for survival, but they don’t know what they are up against. Hunt has an idea and he tells them – somehow the people they are being attacked by are the soldiers who they saw in the films – they had been trapped by the machine. The knowledge isn’t a great help, it does mean that Hunt can at least come up with a plan to stop the supernatural Nazis.
DC agrees the plan and his men start to fight the dead Nazis in order to bring them to Hunt and the machine. Nice plan and it almost works. The machine is old and fails at the crucial moment.
They all die.
Next day and the relief team arrive, they start to secure the bunker and they find a survivor. We know what will be happening next.
I really enjoyed this movie. The bunker provides a claustrophobic and atmospheric set; this is added to by the muted, almost sepia, tones that the film is shot in. When there is violence it is quick, brutal and gory. The chill factor is well done – we know that the Nazis are going to appear behind people, but still a bit of a scare when they do. The script is intelligent and allows for thoughts about good and evil life and death. While it is not a character piece there is still room for them to display a little about them, they may be world weary they are not yet ready to give up the ghost.
All of it is helped by some very solid performances, especially from Ray Stevenson.
Director, Steve Barker, and writer, Rae Brunton, have served up a nice little treat.
An effective horror thriller.
IMDB gives it:5.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes gives it: no reviews by critics and 35% by the audience
Steve Baker, screenplay Rae Brunton
posted by pat at 3:52 PM
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