Outpost: All Quiet On the Eastern Front …

27th September, 2009.

Good Lord! I’ve found my remote control!

No, seriously, Tim, I’ve found the remote control Tom managed to mislay!

Mostly because Steve managed to sit on it, tonight!

Mostly, because Allison insisted on the big chair, tonight, it’s easier on her neck.

Me and Adrian just had our usual ones! I just think it’s a shame Paul didn’t stay with us, tonight, I think he’d’ve enjoyed tonight’s movie.

The Steven Barker directed action/horror — and Scottish produced — film that is Outpost.

And when I say produced, it seems it was down on something of a shoestring budget.

Not that you know it.

Well, you’d notice …

But you wouldn’t mind …

~≈†≈~

Outpost is set in an unspecified, war-torn part of East Europe, and follows the mysterious Mr Hunt (Julian Wadham), when he hires a group of mercenaries, led by DC (Ray Stevenson).

Ostensibly, for what Hunt describes as just a quick, 48-hour job.

To check out some property, out there …

Hmmm …

I’ve been a barman.

And one thing I’ve learnt is simple: never trust anything told to you by ‘a bloke in the pub’ …

It’s never the whole story.

Our hapless — and ultimately doomed — squad of tough guys stumbled upon a Nazi era bunker, complete with a very experimental device.

And the surviving guinea pigs; SS troopers who been killed, and resurrected as part of the Nazi régime’s desperate last efforts to stave off military disaster.

Hmmm …

Maybe saying doomed, there, was giving away a little too much of the plot.

Because Outpost does not have a happy Hollywood ending. Not by a long shot; that makes a pleasant change to many horror films.

This is a very bleak and un-Hollywood kind of film.

What’s even more surprising is the fact that, although “Outpost” has a noticeably small budget* — even to a non-critic like me — what Black Camel Productions and director, Steven Barker had, all went on screen. (I think the most technically complicated effect^ — a series of sparks when the Machine is turned on, to delay the zombies — was a similar sort of animation used to create the Id Monster, in “Forbidden Planet”. Something at least fifty years old, when you think about it. Most of the rest of the effects shots were stuff that seemed — to me — to be fairly simple. Back lighting to create creepy silhoettes, simple make-ups, enhanced by the lighting and relatively simple-seeming blood-bag effects and good use of camera angles, during torture or death scenes.)

~≈†≈~

Can we move on, somewhat?

Can we?

Yes, let’s …

Here’s what I’m thinking …

There’s possibly quite a lot to be said about Outpost, there really is. I mean, we can possibly mention that zombie Nazis seem appropriate.

After all, many of us in Britain love the idea of re-fighting the Nazis; it was, after all, one of history’s nastier régimes, and one that needed opposing.

And, as Billy Bragg pointed out in an interview for a BBC documentary about science-fiction, a few years ago?   For many of us, World War Two felt like the last time Britain make a major, positive, contribution to the world; one that shouldn’t — he felt — be either surprising, or seen as a bad thing.

I think he’s right, there.

I think that — much as myself and Adrian would like to see fresh creative films — it’s nice to be reminded that some evils are still with us.

It’s also a film that begs a couple of questions.

One’s quite a deep one that Adrian raised; if we try and make a super soldier, why are we surprised if those efforts backfire.   Or, more nastily, go according to planº.

The other one was really trivial …

The character described as ‘The Breather’ turns out to be the zombie Nazi’s bald, scarred, commanding officer.

I got wondering where his monocle was …

Which got a cheap laugh, if nothing else …

~≈†≈~

But let me sum up, here, if I can … ?

I can?

Goody Gum Drops.

Now, I know there’s an Outpost 2 in production. Whether that’ll be any good, is a whole other matter, but based on this … ?

Well …

I’ve no hesitation in recommending Outpost, to you; I don’t know if it’s worth buying, but it’s certainly worth renting.

After all, it got a a whole mile of talk from Steveª, a “That’s VERY Good”, from Allison — high praise, from her — and a “Cool!” from Adrian.

And I’ve just spent two hours writing this …

That’s very high praise, indeed!

~≈†≈~

Outpost
★★★★

* I’m told that the Scottish couple who own Black Camel put £200, 000 of their own money into making the movie. If I’ve understood the figures, correctly, that’s usually what the BBC spend on one episode of the new “Dr Who”. Cara, DON’T! Just … Don’t!

º After all, that is a big plot point, in this film. The zombies SS troopers are super-soldiers, and know nothing other than how to kill. There’s an old saying about being “… hoist with one’s own pétard” that comes to mind, here. Or maybe I should be comparing them to landmines. After all, landmines hang around and kill people years after the war they were placed in is over. Not like supernatural zombie troopers, then …

ª Steve, bless him, can talk some; but if a film takes his fancy, he can become very eloquent,. Watching him and Adrian, tonight, was quite a treat, in that regard.

^ I’ll admit, in addition to not being a film critic, I’m also not a special effects person. If you are, please, feel free to comment.