Room Six.com review:
http://roomsix.com/2008/04/movie-review-outpost-2007In the tradition of Dog Soldiers comes this low-budget British film about a group of soldiers battling an unseen foe in the remote woods of Eastern Europe. I was hoping that this movie would be just as good, but while it was enjoyable and had a few good things going for it, overall it was a bit of a letdown.
Ray Stevenson leads a group of mercenaries into the depths of Eastern Europe, supposedly on a mission to recover some prized minerals for a mysterious benefactor. What they discover instead is an old World War II bunker that was used by the Nazis to experiment with Einstein’s Unified Field Theory. The SS officers and soldiers used in the experiments are presumed long dead, but perhaps the bunker isn’t as empty as the mercs think…
You go into a movie like this with all kinds of assumptions. You think the acting is going to suck, the effects are going to suck, and you basically kick your feet up, ready to roll your eyes and mock the film. But this movie is pretty solid as far as performances go, with just the right amount of creeps and booga-booga to make it work as a decent ghost movie. There is gore, but it is not gratuitous and slopped on in buckets, nor is it trying to be “torture porn”. Some of the guys have a very rough time, to be sure, but most horror viewers will stomach the kills with little difficulty.
The movie was shot with a muted palate that made some of the exterior shots appear almost black and white, adding to the lifeless setting and overall atmosphere. The bunker itself is a great location for a ghost movie, with just the right balance of interior claustrophobia and exterior relief. The actors all react to their situation with the machismo expected of brass ball clanking soldiers. Of course, their bravado doesn’t last too long once they realize just what their enemy actually is…
Lots of scares and jump moments, with the viewer knowing something is going to happen, but the director, Steve Barker, doesn’t always do it when you think he’s going to do it. As a result, tensions are built and sustained throughout. There is a formula here, but things are shaken up just enough to keep it from being too much of a paint-by-numbers job. For example, the character you assume is going to get it really bad doesn’t. Although he does get it, it is not the payoff scene you’d expect.
Where the movie drops the ball is in a few “technical” details that also involve the ending, so I won’t go into them here. Suffice to say there’s an inconsistency that doesn’t seem to add up. But if you liked Dog Soldiers, chances are you won’t mind grabbing some popcorn and watching this one.
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