GP506

This Korean movie looked really promising and definitely has some great cinematography to offer. One thing is for sure, there must be a strange interest for war/army horror movies ... RPoint, Dog Soldiers, The Bunker and even remakes of those movies, well GP506 fits in between these movies fine. The movie is set on a guard post on the North/South Korean border where strange happenings occurred and a whole team of 21 soldiers got killed. The one surviving is killed when found blood drenched and wielding with an axe among the remains of the other soldiers. Since the army wants to cover up what happened one soldier is sent in to uncover what happened that night before 6o clock in the morning when an army troop arrives to cease the evidence. From here on the uncovering begins slowly (the movie is 2 hours long, so I expected it) and the new team of soldiers soon finds another surviving man who hesitates to tell his story. The movie is edited in an interesting way of flash backs telling the story fragments found in diaries and the movie soon turns out to be a mix of The Bunker and The crazies because whats behind it all is not the ghost movie you expect at the beginning. I don't want to ruin too much for you, because otherwise you'd spend 2 pretty slow hours to reach the final twist. The problem is that the movie is way to long and repetitive... the visuals are nice, the editing is interesting but it wears off soon. After all its a lot of drama elements in there and although there is some blood its rather on the sidelines for me. GP506 could have been a great movie but its way too long and fragmented for me and will sure not please the typical horror crowd with its ending. If you can't get enough of the movies mentioned before give it a try, but I think its not the same class even though the cinematography is superior to e.g. The Bunker.

Maybe some of you would say that this movie is good and appalling.

Yes, they make the prosthetic faces disgusting enough for some of you. But, just that nothing more. With addition a little bit of action, many talks and talks again, and there even no a slightest humor in there: make this 2 hour long movie seems so boring.

And for the plot, there so many obscurities about that: the origin of viruses, how they spread, etc etc.

For us to know, that this film is a horror genre, there is no use to make the quasi-dramtical int there. The film should scare us in the context of amusement, instead of that, this film just makes me irritated. They makes the horror movie halfheartedly.

And 2 hours seems like forever.

A grisly yet derivative horror flick set on a border post between North and South Korea. THE GUARD POST turns out to be a very familiar journey in its depictions of the terrors, both real and imagined, that befall a group of soldiers living in an ultra-remote and dangerous locale. The film it most resembles is R-POINT, another Korean movie with a very similar background, and if it isn't quite as good as that film then at least it makes the effort.

THE GUARD POST offers a neat blend of psychological fear and in-your-face graphic horror. It opens with a massacre (wisely kept off-screen) and we subsequently follow the fortunes of a group of soldiers sent to investigate what happened. What exactly did happen won't really surprise anyone – the theme is extremely familiar these days in plenty of horror films – but it's handled in an efficient way that maximises the various scare scenes to strong effect. There's physical horror present in the film too, but rather than dwelling on it, it's presented in brief, jarring visions which add to the viewer's disorientation.

One flaw prevents THE GUARD POST from being a great film: the disjointed editing. The decision was made to tell both the back-story leading up to the massacre and the present, investigative story at the same time, with rapid-fire editing between the two time frames. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult for the viewer to tell whether what's going on is happening at present, or in the past. It doesn't help that only a few of the main characters are given any kind of depth, and trying to distinguish one huddle of soldiers from the next is a difficult process. If it wasn't for this, then THE GUARD POST could have been a truly great viewing experience; as it stands, it's something I enjoyed but wouldn't bother with a second time.

Thankfully Covid 19 (the Corona virus) does not make people crazy. Can you imagine being Quarantined and going mad? Wait - that is actually happening to some all over the world? Ah well ... all kidding aside and 2020 references aside (which may or may not get old fast), this movie is quite the monster when it comes to being stuck.

It is also a bluepring on how to interweb two timelines. How to do the now and what happened here a while ago. Technically more than sound (top notch actually), this has many merits. The pacing may seem off to some (going for 2 hours), but it needs time to develop. If I had a criticism, it is about not delving into all the characters more. Something that the movie could have done. Unfortunately there isn't time .. even in a long movie like that. Also the characters that are important get shined on. Not much, this is horror overall so ... this is quite niche and will not appeal to too many people, but those who like these types of movies should like it to say the least

I went in expecting one of these soldiers facing something supernatural that turns them on each other using their hidden secret/fears kind of story. However the South Korean made feature 'G.P. 506 aka The Guard Post' virtually keeps the same get-up, but takes on a refreshing angle using a different kind of threat and for the majority of the time it's an effective gimmick.

An army investigator is put in charge of a soldier unit to find out what happened at G.P. 506 (and to possibly cover it up), which saw the original team brutally massacred by one of its own (well that's what it seems?) and what this second team uncovers is something terrifyingly devastating.

It's an unusual, but immensely unpredictable military horror/mystery story covering its bases in an interestingly progressive non-linear narrative that constantly moves between present time and flashbacks in a very muddled fashion. At times it was confusing adjusting to which period was which, as they replay scenes over and over again of the lead up to eventful bloody massacre of the original team of G.P. 506 where they would try to reach the correct conclusion. A sense of deja vu really seems to creep in with the actions of the newly appointed team with there investigation. Even then the jadedly slow-grinding and over-long plot leaves you questioning some story devices and knotty developments, but this extremely cold and dread-fill atmospheric tale manages to pull you in as it constructs a threatening environment from its dourly tight bunker quarters, confronting paranoid friction and grippingly suspenseful exchanges that mostly ignited in graphic slabs of twisted violence. There's authentically poignant make-up FX brought across. Su-chang Kong's sleek direction is visually crisp, while maintaining a stark punch and the camera-work fluidly covers many angles. The music is emotionally stirring in its arrangement by adding to the creepy air and the sound effects have that chilling imprint. The starch performances by all are reliably solid and convincing.

A fine addition to the growing military/horror fodder.