Outpost

I had no expectations when I started watching this movie. I had some time on my hands and it seemed decent enough to kill some time with. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.

The idea around the movie isn't all that unique but it delivers it with an atmosphere and style that is nothing short of wonderful. The acting in this little gem is top notch. The setting itself enhances the story and events that take place, and with minimal special fx I might add. I am somewhat of a veteran to the chiller movie genre, but this one did send a shiver or two down my spine. Nice to see something that can provoke a reaction without relying heavily on gore.

All around I would say that it is well worth watching.

This was a treat to find. I went into it with no expectations, as I do will all "B" movies, and really enjoyed this movie.

There is no weak acting so once you get into the story you are not tossed out. The story is very good, a clever twist on hauntings ala "From Beyond".

The special effects are well done and the gore is good. I personally think the first two death scenes should have been a bit more horrific, but I am not complaining. Sound effects are perfect and that helps to bring you into the movie a lot.

I can easily recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good ghost story with lots of mood. As good as "ghost ship"

A well produced, horror flick that follows some many traditions in this field. A good "hook" script idea with a poorly thought out, daft explanation. Too many horror films-when dealing with out of this world concepts-do exactly the same. Lets have a brief 10 minute exposition of the just read out from the script by a leading character! Still, it has some creepiness and fairly good cinematography, a muted. bleached colour/contrast (ala Saving Private Ryan). The plus points are the enemy-shadows of their former selves; shadows of SS army ghosts (or ae they?). Aside from the problems with the "lets quickly make up an explanation" theory thrown in, the main problems are as follows: The mercenaries seem to made up of a spectrum of foreign soldiers-which is fine-but the accents of some are amusingly bad! "You can be sure o one ting. No-bod-dy gives a foook about oz!" says the "African" guy. The accents didn't totally kill the films "playing it straight" approach, but did bring out a wry smile!

Unlike Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers effort, this film lacked any sense of humour at all and might have been better for a "Hicks" type character from "Aliens" to have a mordant black sense of doom and humour. There seems to be one Irish soldier employed for this purpose but most of his lines fall fairly flat for the most part, although he is merely unrecognisable from the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost "Spaced" series, where he played (a v.funny) cycle courier with a mind messed by drug use! Overall, the visual design was very good despite its obvious budget constraints, such as the ghost/zombie elements-notably the Nazi approach from the back-lit tree-line. Are they underfire, or not? Well worth a watch then but I walked away feeling that it could have been so much better. I think the writer of this might have been influenced by a few films but...... Many years a go (back in 1977) I went to see cheap schlock horror movie starring Peter Cushing, about a zombie U boat crew who rise from the depths to kill the cast one by one. It was quite effective for the time-probably a bit daft and tame now-but the memory of it stayed with me. Shock waves, Almost Human and Dead Corps were the titles it ran under.

Although the idea of this movie is not entirely new (similar plot lines can be found in older movies like "Shockwave" from 1976 and computer games like the "Castle Wolfenstein" series) it is still rather original and appealing: Nazi scientists attempt to create indestructible "super soldiers" in order to achieve world domination.

The acting is very good.

The movie's special effects are also well realised and a certain amount of suspense is undeniable, especially at the beginning of the movie.

However, there were some inconsistencies that ruined the movie for me.

Firstly, the explanation given in the movie about why the paranormal phenomenons happen is incomprehensible. I would have preferred no explanation at all than a badly researched pseudo-scientific one involving some obscure Einsteinian theory. It makes it impossible to understand what the scientist is actually after the whole time.

Secondly the director seems to bend and adapt the "powers" of the undead at will, making them devoid of any credibility. Sometimes they materialise in sealed rooms and attack with great speed and deadly accuracy but in the next scene they stumble around like brainless zombies and can't even open doors. This fails to create the feeling of the main characters actually being stalked and hunted in a claustrophobic environment. I did not get a feeling of urgency and even felt a little bored at some point.

This movie disappointed me because I believe a chance has been missed to make something truly creepy and scary.

If you are just looking for gore and horror, however, you might still want to watch this movie. I would not actively recommend it though.

Us Brits have got reasonably good at producing limited budget scary flicks like this where a group of armed protagonists are stuck in an isolated location and have to fight supernatural forces (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Deathwatch). I enjoyed most of this movie. It only started to get ridiculous towards the end. Anyone who gets the twists in movies easily will have the entire film sussed in the first twenty minutes, and anyone who doesn't might be pleasantly surprised by it. Either way it makes it difficult to comment directly without spoiling it.

However I can say this. A rag tag group of mercenaries are hired on false pretences to accompany and protect a scientist in search of something in an abandoned bunker in Eastern Europe. We get to this point fairly quickly without a laborious preamble. Once there, strange things begin to happen and the soldiers begin to get picked off. There is a reason for these goings on, and to start with it is handled quite well but the writer/director messed up big time by not exploring it more and because early on walls and doors are no obstacle to the enemy, and claymores and trip wires remain untriggered. The enemy does not do what they want it to, it cannot be predicted and comes an goes in small groups. However in the climax the walls and doors are an obstacle and suddenly the enemy is very helpful in it's own possible demise, setting off claymores and tripwires and coming at them en masse and predictably.

Additionally I would very much like to have seen more exploration of why these things were happening and the motivation of the enemy. But alas there isn't and in the final act it just becomes silly, their actions show they have an agenda but earlier on it was explained that they were just doing what they knew.

Because of budget limitations there are very few special effects but be clear this isn't a 'low budget' film with all the negatives that go with that label. what is done is done well, it's very atmospheric, and the lighting and cinematography is very good. The actors all put in decent performances, there's a couple of good lines, one very iconistic shot with a flag (you'll know when you see it) and some good gruesome deaths.

All told this is quite a good movie given it's limitations, but what a shame the story gets silly in the final act. I came away having enjoyed it but for once in my life wishing it had had some big US money behind it.

Worth watching. Not as good as Dog Soldiers, or The Descent but better than Deathwatch and The Cave.