Outpost (film)

Outpost

Theatrical poster
Directed by Steve Barker
Produced by Arabella Croft
Kieran Parker
Written by Rae Brunton
Starring Ray Stevenson
Julian Wadham
Richard Brake
Michael Smiley
Enoch Frost
Paul Blair
Julian Rivett
Brett Fancy and Johnny Meres.
Music by James Seymour Brett
Cinematography Gavin Struthers
Edited by Alastair Reid
Distributed by ContentFilm
Release dates
  • 11 March 2008 (2008-03-11) (United States)
  • 16 May 2008 (2008-05-16) (United Kingdom)
Running time
 90 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Outpost is a 2008 British horror film, directed by Steve Barker and written by Rae Brunton, about a rough group of experienced mercenaries who find themselves fighting for their lives after being hired to take a mysterious businessman into the woods to locate a World War II-era military bunker.

Plot

In a seedy bar in a town ravaged by war, scientist and businessman Hunt (Julian Wadham) hires former Royal Marine turned mercenary D.C. (Ray Stevenson) to assemble a crack team of ex-soldiers - Prior (Richard Brake), Jordan (Paul Blair), Cotter (Enoch Frost), Voytech (Julian Rivett), McKay (Michael Smiley) and Taktarov (Brett Fancy) - to protect him on a dangerous journey into no-man's land. Their mission is to scope out an old military bunker in Eastern Europe.

Once at the outpost, the men make a horrific discovery that changes the dynamics of the entire mission: the scene of a bloody and gruesome series of occultistic Nazi experiments, carried out by the SS during World War II, using reality shifting and reanimation to create invincible soldiers. Amidst the carnage, they find a survivor, Götz (Johnny Meres).

At night, the clearing around the bunker is suddenly lit, and silhouettes of people are seen against the light. Soon after, Taktarov is gruesomely killed by an unseen foe. Later the same night Voyteche is killed by two Nazis. The next morning, Voyteche and Taktarov's dead bodies are found joined at the head, with Taktarov's skull containing a spent round. D.C. demands answers regarding the assignment from Hunt: an unnamed corporation wanted Hunt to find and recover a large generator-like device responsible for the SS's reality-shifting experiments. D.C. orders Cotter to retrieve Hunt from the generator room. While trying to convince Hunt to leave, Cotter is killed by an SS soldier with a pickaxe. It is revealed that Götz is actually a surviving SS brigadier general - a "breather." When Prior kills Götz, the "breather" comes back to life and MacKay is killed. The mercenaries and Hunt attempt to evacuate the outpost, only to be slaughtered by the undead German army.

A second corporate team arrives 72 hours later to carry out the same assignment, only to find a "breather" among the piles of naked corpses. The clearing is lit again, revealing the illuminated soldiers surrounding the bunker. In the distance stands the brigadier general, who gives the SS soldiers a nod, and they begin their assault on the team.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Scottish couple Arabella Croft and Kieran Parker and their production company Black Camel Pictures. They mortgaged their Glasgow home in order to raise £200,000 to finance production. The script is by Rae Brunton, based on Parker's original concept, which he described as "Platoon meets The Sixth Sense".[1]

Although set in Eastern Europe, filming was done in a munitions factory in Dalbeattie, in a forest near Castle Douglas, and in the Glasgow Film City studio complex in the Govan area of Glasgow.[1][2] Filming began in January 2007.

Sony Pictures bought distribution rights to the film for £1.2 million.[1] Sony released it directly to DVD in the USA on 11 March 2008. Following favourable reviews, the film was exhibited theatrically across Europe. The film's European premiere was at a gala showing as part of the Dumfries Film Festival[1][3] on 3 May 2008, followed by limited distribution to 130 UK cinemas.

Reception

The original reception was mixed. Outpost currently holds a three star rating (5.9/10) on IMDb.

Sequels

Outpost has spawned two additional films in the series, a 2012 direct-to-DVD sequel Outpost: Black Sun and a 2013 prequel Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz.[4][5][6]

Barker returned to helm the 2012 Black Sun but did not return to direct Rise of the Spetsnaz, which was directed by Kieran Parker, one of the producers for Outpost and Black Sun.[4] Both films were largely panned by mainstream critic outlets.[7][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Govan zombies taste film success", BBC News website, 16 April 2008
  2. ↑ Document : Film Premiere Comes to Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway council website, 16 April 2008
  3. ↑ "May programme", Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre website
  4. 1 2 Hanley, Ken W. "Q&A: Director Kieran Parker on "OUTPOST: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ"". Fangoria. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Outpost II: Black Sun Begins Casting". Bloody Disgusting. 18 August 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  6. ↑ Ward, Audrey. "ContentFilm picks up horror sequel Outpost II". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Outpost: Black Sun". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "OUTPOST 3: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
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