Outpost: Black Sun

Bigger is better? Well I didn't find that to be the case with "Outpost II: Black Sun". Director Steve Barker follows up his 2008 action-horror "Outpost" with this sequel which actually expands on the original's concept (Nazi, occult and experimenting) and doesn't just limit its action to the bunker. It loses its simple set-up, which was atmospheric and eerie with a ghost-like tale to its novelty, replacing it with bloodier attacks and kinetic actions where our zombie Nazi storm- troopers lumber through a warn-torn Eastern Europe. The sequel pretty much follows on from the previous feature, as a NATO task force is sent to Eastern Europe where an unstoppable killing force is murdering everything in its path. Lena a Nazi hunter is on the trail of notorious war criminal Klausener, which sees her heading to Eastern Europe where she meets up with Wallace an engineer. In all it's a okay follow up that doesn't limit itself, but adds more to the formula than simply rehashing what has gone before it. The threat isn't confined this time around and there are few surprises. Some motivations of certain players can be blurry with how the plot develops, but it did become somewhat weary the further along it went with a lazily dismal ending to cap it off. The performances are durable with Richard Coyle and Catherine Steadman in the leads, but I didn't find any of the characters, especially their support to stand out. Barker seems to replace the slow-burn suspense of the original for brutality. It might not be as rough around the edges, but the action did feel choppy and still have that repetitiveness that lingered in the original. An atmosphere is created bringing out a grim apocalyptic air and the dead zombie soldiers (which the make-up FX is strongly detailed) have a lumbering appearance that can break out into a vicious intensity. But here don't have that ghost ability to teleport and to come out of the shadows. David Gant looks creepy as the dead Nazi general Klausener.

As a big fan of the first film I was looking forward to seeing black sun .The budget seemed slightly bigger than the first but sadly had removed the very things that made the first film great.If you've seen the first film , then you will know that the Nazi super soldier zombies could teleport using unified field physics which was used to make them into super soldiers of doom.All they seemed to do in this film was walk! Secondly being super zombie soldiers they used to move silently in the first film.In this one they make cliché zombie noises for no reason what so ever.The thing that really irritated me about this film the most was the zombie hag witch!she was'nt in the first film (thank god)There was no explanation as to who,why or what her purpose was.In this film all she did was hobble around the bunkers tunnels laughing in the style of a pantomime witch escorted by two zombie soldiers. When I first started watching the film it started off great with a bit of a back story to the bunkers creation but then degenerated into a yawn fest.I don't know why they had a stupid hag woman zombie in it? I have no clue why they made the super soldiers into average soldiers that made daft noises giving away their location all the time.Since they did'nt teleport anymore ,they should've given the zombie soldiers little pink bikes with bells on so they could get around quick .Even though the first film did'nt make me jump , it did have a few moments that demonstrated how sadistic the soldiers could be , this also seemed missing in black sun. I liked the first film that much I actually bought it to add to my collection, the second one I won't be buying .

p.s. The acting in the film was good (apart from the cliché zombies)and if the director had kept the very things that made ouptost great this movie would've also been great.I hope if they make a 3rd film they re watch number one and realise they removed the things that made Outpost unique.

I was looking forward to watching OUTPOST: BLACK SUN, having enjoyed the first film and being a fan of Nazi zombie films in general. However, this sequel appears to have been shot by a crew without much talent, because it's generally a mess, and a poorly-shot mess at that.

The story begins promisingly as a young woman tracks down an old Nazi in Paraguay. It's great to see the veteran Michael Byrne in this minor role. However, things start slipping when she gets teamed up with an obnoxious researcher (Richard Coyle, sporting an American accent) and a team of grunts to go and investigate another Nazi menace.

What this all boils down to is lots of shaky cam work as the characters run around, kill, and are killed by Nazi zombies. The villains are pretty weak here, indistinguishable from loads of other movies, and the characters are paper thin. Everything has been shot in the dark, and clumsily with it, which means the action is no better than something you'd see in the ultra low budget likes of THE ZOMBIE DIARIES: WORLD OF THE DEAD and its ilk. What could have been a strong and terrifying supernatural-themed movie turns out to be badly shot, badly scripted, and completely forgettable to boot.

Loved the 1st one, low budget and yes a few ott accents but a good idea and all round great horror flick. I was counting the days for the 2nd one, shooting was on and off and I kind of gave up on its coming out, and now having seen it I wish they had ran this past a few fans as I am sure they would have said NOOOOOOOOO! THE GOOD Starts well, setup is OK. Gets in to action faster than the 1st. More money spent on it. Music is fine. Script for the most part is fine.

THE BAD Those not so good accents are back. Too bright, the first used darkness and shadows very well. Woman lead, I know i know, but she just does not work for me. The film seems to stray from what made the 1st so good, for me the Nazis were walking...no need to rush they cannot be killed, and they also popped out of shadows, there one second then gone, but in this its more like 28 days later Nazis. The lead Nazi is dif actor (not want to do or dead?) the guy in 1st was a spooky mofo, I was not happy to see him missing. Addig more new elements does not always make a better film, the crazy Nazi was just lame, and close to the end there is the main twist...if you can call it that, well it made me laugh, in a horror movie thats not a good sign, don't want to spoil it but the force was strong in that Jedi master....once you see it you will get it.

I wish they looked at what people liked in the 1st and upped it, got a strong 2nd film out, made their money, then think about where to take it once they have a good budget, maybe bigger names (yes bigger names is not always a good thing) This falls in to my list of such a shame movies, could have been great and should have been.

Yawn!.... Well, here we go again with yet another savagely vicious zombie movie - But, this time around it's been specially flavoured with a demented Nazi-twist to its storyline, which I guess was supposed to make it much more interesting to watch. But, it didn't.

One of Outpost's biggest strikes against it was the nuisance, meddlesome, female character, Lena. This woman was, pretty much, the only female in what seemed to be a male-dominated cast. And, strike #2 against Outpost was that each of these males was nothing but a typical army jock who was hell-bent on proving to his fellow troopers that his balls hung lower than theirs'.

Anyway - The biggest problem with the Lena character was that one minute she wanted to be treated as if she were just one-of-the-boys, and, then, in the next minute she was demanding special consideration due her gender as a female. (Spare me!)

If that wasn't annoying enough - Outpost was also one of those irksome horror movies where the characters clearly didn't know what the hell they were dealing with (the Nazi zombies), yet, they handled the whole situation with a truly remarkable competence.

In conclusion - For all that it was worth, this super-lame, poorly conceived Zombie/Nazi movie should have really been billed as a twisted slapstick comedy - 'Cause that's all it was to me.