Skip to main content

Outpost

2008
Dir. Steve Barker

In a nameless, war-torn eastern European town, mysterious businessman Hunt (Julian Wadham) hires ex-marine DC (Ray Stevenson) to recruit a team of ex-soldiers to protect him on a somewhat risky journey into deepest, darkest, undisclosed ‘eastern Europe.’ His dubious plans are to scope out an old military bunker.
The hard-as-nails gang of cynical, battle-worn veterans and mercenaries (including Richard Brake and Michael Smiley) are rather unsavoury to say the least, and assume that their shifty employer is in search of buried Nazi gold. Once at the outpost however, the men make a horrific discovery that turns their entire mission on its head and pits them against a force of unimaginable, and apparently supernatural, evil.

Outpost is the latest military themed horror film in a sub-genre that includes The Keep (1983), Deathwatch (2002), The Bunker (2001), Shock Waves (1977) and R-Point (2004). It is a concept that appears to be infinitely more interesting and provocative than it has been successful. These films usually follow a similar formula: an isolated group of soldiers involved in ‘routine’ war-waging/training operations that are interrupted by a supernatural, malevolent force. The ‘war as hell’ slant is played out until bleak conclusions reveal the source and raison d’être of the evil force. But can anything be more terrifying than war itself? These films admirably set out to convince us otherwise, with usually mixed results.
While Outpost isn’t strictly a war-horror film - its more closely aligned with Dog Soldiers (2002) or Predator (1987), its imagery certainly evokes memories of those other films.

Indeed, one of the most striking elements of Outpost is its visual effectiveness. The creepy, claustrophobic setting is minimally lit and contains long dark corridors that stretch off into pitch darkness, and corners, around which anything could be lurking, waiting to pounce… A number of haunting and commanding images are splattered throughout, including the backlit spectral soldiers wandering out of the fog-draped forest, and a dank room with its corners cluttered with corpses. Every shot seems meticulously designed to induce shudders and crank up the tension. Another utterly horrifying moment occurs when one of the men discovers that one of the ‘corpses’ he has been locked in with, is not as dead as he thought. The sight of Johnny Meres as the ghost-faced, blank-eyed Nazi general, is truly shocking and most unsettling. Unfortunately there isn’t enough in the story, or indeed the characters, to enhance this tension and a reliance on imagery alone simply bleeds into style over substance. But what style!

While director Barker and writer Rae Brunton’s sparse script works to flesh out the characters, at times it is quite difficult to tell them apart. With such a moody and sinister location, it is a shame that the story can’t match the setting and events soon disintegrate, with any pathos evoked eventually evaporating like the spectral Nazis in daylight.

The zombie/ghost Nazis, when they finally put in an appearance, are incredibly effective. In the darkness it is only possible to make out their unmistakable uniforms; their faces remain concealed by the featureless dark. Another device deployed, seemingly to create effective jump moments and nothing else, is the fact that these figures can teleport and re-materialize anywhere. Usually behind one of the mercenaries. It is not made clear if they are actually zombies. Or ghosts. Or both. Still, the sight of them is enough to induce all sorts of night-terrors.



Some attempts are made to explain the origins of these shadowy foes. As it turns out, Hunt was never after Nazi gold, but a secret weapon that the Germans were developing during the war to enable their victory. Flashbacks depict horrific experiments carried out on German soldiers in an attempt to create ‘Super-Soldiers’, incapable of being killed: the ultimate killing machines. Inevitably the cast are whittled down in an increasingly gory series of murders and graphic set-pieces. The grim events march onwards to their bitterly bleak climax, in a film that will leave more than a couple of supremely creepy images lingering in your head afterwards…
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Ash Tree

1975 Dir. Lawrence Gordon Clark Part of the BBC’s annual series A Ghost Story for Christmas , which ran from 1971 to 1978 and featured some of the small screen’s most chilling moments, The Ash Tree was the last of several MR James adaptations directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Written for television by David Rudkin, It stars Edward Petherbridge in the dual role of Sir Richard, an 18th century aristocrat who inherits the vast estate of his late uncle, and of Sir Matthew, his 17th century ancestor whose role in local witch trials, and the death of Ann Mothersole (Barbara Ewing), haunts Sir Richard.  With a slim running time (just over 30 minutes) The Ash Tree is one of the shortest entries in the series, but it is also one of the densest. The amount of detail and information packed in, without compromising or diluting the impact of the source material, is admirable. Clarke manages to convey events and flashbacks by utilising an interesting narrative structure and some ...
Read more

Mandrake (2022)

Mandrake tells of probation officer Cathy Madden (Deirdre Mullins), who is assigned to help with the rehabilitation of recently released ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty), who had been incarcerated years prior for the murder of her abusive husband. Rumours have long swirled in the local area concerning Mary’s dabbling in witchcraft and involvement in cases of missing children. No sooner has she been released, than the bodies of several local children are found in the woods near her farmhouse. As Cathy and local police delve deeper, the veil between real and imagined starts to fray and Cathy is drawn into a dark world of occult ritualism and blood sacrifice. Directed by Lynne Davison and written by Matt Harvey, Mandrake is a delicious slice of witchy, Northern Irish folk horror, dripping with atmosphere and arcane lore. While Irish horror is having a moment right now, with acclaimed titles such as Aislinn Clarke’s Fréwaka and Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother mining rich and cr...
Read more

Kensal Green Cemetery

During a recent visit to London, a friend and I decided to explore Kensal Green Cemetery in the west of the city. Founded as the General Cemetery of All Souls by barrister George Frederick Carden in 1833, Kensal Green was inspired by the garden-style cemetery of Pere-Lachaises in Paris. Comprised of 72 acres of beautiful grounds, it was not only the first commercial cemetery in London, but also the first of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ garden-style cemeteries established to house the dead of an ever-increasing population. Campaigners for burial reform were in favour of “detached cemeteries for the metropolis” and in 1832 Parliament passed a bill that led to the formation of the General Cemetery Company to oversee appropriate measures and procedures concerning “the interment of the dead.” The company purchased land for the establishment of Kensal Green in 1831 and held a competition in order to select an appropriate designer. Among the prerequisites in the brief provided to entrants, we...
Read more