Outpost (2008)
Sub-Genre- Haunting
In Attendance- Me...
Cast Members of Note- Ray Stevenson, star of HBO's Rome and the upcoming Punisher: War Journal.
What's it about?- A bunch of mercenaries are hired to escort a sniveling scientist to an old abandoned Nazi bunker in war-torn Eastern Europe; but any hopes for killing some random village peasants are dashed when they discover the bunker to be haunted by some pissed off Nazi ghosts.
When they find some crazy machine that has to do with some kind of insane "other dimension" jazz, the hi-jinks and hilarity begin. (By hi-jinks and hilarity, I mean people start dying pretty quickly.) Have the Nazis ever thought of maybe talking things over? They might just be surprised at what a little honest discourse could accomplish.
To make matters worse, the creepy SS Officer charms his way into their hearts, only to betray them with bizarre leiderhosen and schnitzel experiments; never trust a Nazi, even if he has the face of an angel!
I wont ruin the ending here, but suffice it to say that Arbeit nicht macht frei.
The Good- This is not the average direct-to-video fare. Outpost is an effective ghost movie, with style to spare. The setting is great; a creepy old abandoned Nazi bunker in a still war-torn Eastern Europe... you can almost feel the ruin and danger that the Mercs are about to face.
For a small budget, the look of the movie is great... I especially liked the use of light and shadow in reference to the ghosts... pretty impressive. I mean when the characters spot random dead Nazi's just lurking around and staring at them, it was a bit unsettling.
There are some great genuine scares, although they come in the fashion of a more subtle and underlying danger. Atmosphere is what gives this movie its legs.
Also, Ray Stevenson is cool as always.
The Bad- Not exactly the most original of horror flicks... It got the job done though.
The Downright Horrendous- When the machine kicked in, why didn't they run like hell?!?
The Gory- This one gets pretty violent, especially toward the end. Seeing multiple Nazi Ghosts stabbing a guy to death was pretty cool. Eye violence usually works too. There is no shortage of the nastiness here.
The Naked- None whatsoever, and that's a good thing.
Best Line- "That light at the end of the tunnel ain't heaven. It's a muzzle flash" or "Oh.... You're humming my balls!"
What did we learn?- The Nazi's like H.P. Lovecraft a lot; it's good for us that the creepy shit they experimented with never worked.
Rating- B- Far from perfect, Outpost manages to deliver a solid and pretty entertaining ghost story. A rental for sure, and there are far worse things you could end up buying. Give it a shot.
Final Thoughts- Ray Stevenson rocks.
