Review of Outpost (2008) by Craig B — 20 Jun 2010

I knew exactly what to expect when I paid £3 for Outpost on DVD. A by-the-numbers action movie with a supernatural twist. No acting awards, not plot to speak of, no nothing, just mercenaries with guns and Nazi zombies.

Outpost does what it says on the tin. No more, no less and for its 86 minutes, I enjoyed it. I was reminded of the big budget Doom adaptation from 2005, this is a similar movie, not least because both movies star Richard Brake. Plot-wise, things are simple. A shady businessman/scientist hires a group of mercenaries to secure a disused military bunker. We don't know why until they arrive but when they discover human remains from Nazi experiments and a survivor, things begin to get weird. What follows is simply put, a battle against the undead as the mercenaries find themselves fending off an army of resurrected Nazi soldiers that refuse to stay dead.

There are loads of holes in the plot, including the zombies being able to teleport at will at the beginning of the movie but being held back by a door at the end. Also, I couldn't help thinking that if the Nazi's had managed to develop this kind of army, why the hell didn't they win the war?!?!?!? However, the movie does start strongly and incorporates a lot of well worked suspense and tension into the story. The acting is poor to average but I loved it because most of the cast are British and the movie isn't intended to win awards anyway, it's just a fun night in with a couple of beers and that's it. The ending will probably split the opinions of most viewers but I thought it was good enough for a movie of this nature. I thought of Doom and Dog Soldiers as I watched and whilst Outpost is maybe inferior to and probably has less plot than both movies, it is a decent enough 86 minute action diversion as long as you have very low expectations going into it.