Outpost (2008)

Director:

Steve Barker

Writers:

Rae Brunton (screenplay)
Kieran Parker (story) ...

Release Date:

11 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror

Tagline:

You can't kill what's already dead

Plot:

In war-torn Eastern Europe, a world-weary group of mercenaries discover a long-hidden secret in an abandoned WWII bunker.

Plot Keywords:

Ex Soldier | Mercenary | Bar | Nazi | Pistol

Cast

Ray Stevenson	...	DC
Julian Wadham	...	Hunt
Richard Brake	...	Prior
Paul Blair	...	Jordan
Brett Fancy	...	Taktarov
Enoch Frost	...	Cotter
Julian Rivett	...	Voyteche
Michael Smiley	...	McKay
Johnny Meres	...	The Breather
Xuki Robeli	...	Newsreader
Mark Smith	...	Nazi Soldier #1
Graeme Temple	...	Nazi Soldier #3
Charlie Jeffrey	...	Nazi Soldier #2

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:R (2008) | Singapore:M18 (cut) | Argentina:16 | Ireland:18 | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, UK

Company:

Black Camel Pictures

Trivia:

When DC pulls out the pistol from its holder in the generator chamber, its sound is identical to Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001) (VG) when the player swaps weapons. Similarly, when the soldiers emerge from the truck, the slamming noise is the same as in RTCW when the player attempts to open a locked wooden door.

Quotes:

DC: You said that that machine of yours was made to control them?
Hunt: Not control, contain. But they obviously got the maths wrong.
McKay: You know, for a smart man, you don't say much of anything useful, do you?
Hunt: Now, the last time you found yourself dealing with the undead, what did *you* do?

Movie Connections:

Followed by Outpost II (2010)

A very nice surprise!

Outpost was quite a surprise for me, and that means in a good way. I remember hearing about it a while ago but forgot all about it. I had the chance to see the movie recently and I sat down without any expectations at all. I figured it would be your typical B movie with horrible acting, but boy was I wrong. The first 10 minutes of the movie had me convinced that it would be a lot better than I had anticipated.

Memories surfaced of Dog Soldiers, mainly because a large portion of the Mercenaries team were of British, Scottish and Irish background. The cast mainly were from UK, which was nice to see them all acting different roles (Russians, etc, however poorly they did the accents).

One of the great things about Outpost is the setting. You really get a feel for a war torn country and the bunker itself seems rather eerie. The cast did a great acting job and to actually see some proper firefights for once was nice and realistic. The Mercenaries acted in a team, calling out when they are moving, setting, reloading and giving off information that would help the group move to cover, etc. Nice touch! The actual story was pretty good as well, but I won't ruin that here. Basically it is a mixture of horror and action with lots of suspense. The director deserves credit for being able to make a lot of things believable, as well as putting together the story into something that isn't a mess.

I gave this an 8 out of 10, because in my opinion, this is on the same level/quality as Dog Soldiers. Not a mega budget, but the actual story/acting/casting/direction all deserve credit. I would have paid to see this in the cinema, it was just that good. A movie that will probably go missed by lots, but for those who watch it then it most likely will be a surprise just like it was for me. If you watch it, don't expect too much from it and then you'll be able to enjoy it that much more as everything unfolds into "Wow, this is much better than I thought it would be".

Don't miss this, it's definitely worth it.