Outpost (2008)

Outpost proves that nazi-zombies don't only show up in 70's weird exploitation films. Another ''recent'' nazi-zombie film is the Norwegian film ''Død Snø'' (A.K.A. Dead Snow). Although they are both nazi-zombie flicks they are barely comparable. Dead Snow was a great combination between horror, gore and humor while Outpost is much more serious and very dark. While Dead Snow might be a bit more sympathetic both are still very good movies. 


In a seedy bar in a town ravaged by war, mysterious businessman Hunt hires ex-marine D.C. to assemble a crack team of ex-soldiers to protect him on a dangerous journey into no-man's land. To this gang of hardened warriors, battle-worn veterans and borderline criminals killing is just a job - and one they enjoy. Their mission - to scope out an old military bunker. It should be easy - 48 hours at the most. Lots of cash for little risk, or so he says. Once at the outpost, the men make a horrific discovery that turns their mission on its head - the scene of a bloody and gruesome series of experiments, carried out by the Nazis on their own soldiers during WWII. Amid the carnage, they find something even more disturbing - someone who's still alive. As war rages above ground, and a mysterious enemy emerges from the darkness below, D.C. and his men find themselves trapped in a claustrophobic and terrifying scenario. Their mission is no longer one of safe-guarding - it's one of survival. ...

Outpost starts with a relatively quiet start. It's set in eastern Europe and director Steve Barker does a great job at making it look as raw and gray as possible. Anyway the build up takes quite a long time. About 30 - 40 minutes pass without pretty much anything happening. And while it certainly the weakest part of the film it really doesn't bore either due to some small things (atmosphere and radio noice for example). Even when the soldiers reach the buker things don't really speed up but the dark halls of the buker do create some great tension. And finally the night is there. This is where things start to get pretty cool. 

From out of nowhere a light and dozens of nazi zombies appear from the woods. The soldiers of course open fire but notice that they can't kill 'em and that the zombies/ghosts can disappear and appear out of no where. That's due to a machine in the bunker that was build by the nazis to create an invisible army. One by one the soldiers get picked off by the zombies. The kills aren't really gory but are in fact very dark and horrific. Outpost also manages to be very dark and tensive and at times even scary.

The acting was pretty decent for horror standards. The English accents did annoy me a bit, but hey, it's an English film. The best performance comes from Richard Brake, who some genre snobs might know from his roles in Doom (2005) and his small part of an ambulance driver in Zombie's Halloween II (2009). He plays the character ''Prior'' who is one of the mercenaries/soldiers. It's the typical redneck bad-ass. Ain't afraid of nothing, a cool appearance, always a one-liner ready for every situation and blasting his shotgun like it is a water gun. 

Outpost turned out to be a very cool, dark little horror film. After the 30 minute mark there's lots of action, gunfights and unbreakable nazi-zombies. A great atmosphere (especially in the night scenes) and some amazing tension make this a very fun film to watch.

Fun Fact (Source: IMDB)

When DC pulls out the pistol from its holder in the generator chamber, its sound is identical to Return to Castle Wolfenstein 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.