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.

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.

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.

I really enjoyed the first one, it was one of those films you came across and thought "theres nothing else to watch" but found yourself presently surprised.

The sequel however is a different matter entirely. Although not a bad film, its not a good one ether. The plot has a massive amount of holes, the script is straight out of a b-movie and the acting was fairly dull.

There were moments of excitement but they are few and far between and unlike the first film this one contains not a single tense moment at all. I found myself many times throughout the film checking my phone or tablet which is a pretty good sign of how interesting a movie is.

Sequels always being rubbish aside, don't pay to see this film, watch it on TV or stream it online when you've watched everything else of merit on Netflix.

As others have noted Outpost 2 starts out with interesting opening, a bit of back story to the first enjoyable outing. Of course this is solid B Movie territory.

Alas momentum is soon lost as the movie sags with a depressingly predictable script swaying into ridiculous cliché, (Nazi hag Zombie ?!) The first Outpost worked because it had some genuine suspense, decent horror and likable non cardboard characters.

if your a fan of the first and or the sub-sub genre of Nazi super Zombie it's probably still worth a watch, it looks well and does flirt with interesting moments.

Early John Carpenter this is not a real shame as the original Outpost certainly was close. The awful poster sums it up.

Misjudged.