Outpost

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Steve Barker directs. Gavin Struthers behind the camera. Alastair Reid cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 2Released 18 years ago.
• 3Part of the "Outpost Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 4Directed by Steve Barker, shot by Gavin Struthers. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Editor Alastair Reid shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Ray Stevenson and Julian Wadham and Richard Brake carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "You can't kill what's already dead!".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0892899 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Classified under 10 themes, including "nazi", "bunker", "eastern europe", "mercenary".

The technical file

Cinematography

Gavin Struthers

Editing

Alastair Reid

Production design

Gordon Rogers

Costume design

Alison Mitchell

Runtime

90 min · 1h 30m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Outpost (2008) ↗

IMDB rating

5.8/10 · 18,081 votes

MPAA

R

Part of

Outpost Collection

A war-based action horror film series centering on themes of occultism and Nazi zombies.

• 
  Outpost

  2008 · this one
• 
  Outpost: Black Sun

  2012
• 
  Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz

  2013

Also by

Steve Barker

• 
  The Rezort

  2015 · ★ 5.5
• 
  Outpost: Black Sun

  2012 · ★ 5.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  OUTPOST TRAILER

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Arrrrrrrach2017-02-18
  ★ 6/10

  This film should have been more than it was. The premise is great, the atmosphere is spot-on, the costumes and make-up are menacing and the characters are pretty decent. This menace is somehow lost, however, at some point during the overblown final plot-arc, which is a major shame because it really looks stunning and builds up some satisfying apprehension. I cannot give it less than three stars, but only because I absolutely love this sort of thing, having grown up with Wolfenstein and Doom to take me to the early hours. One day somebody will nail this idea and unleash true grim krieg.

  Read full review ↓
• John Chard2018-10-29
  ★ 7/10

  Down in an abandoned bunker in Eastern Europe... "SPOILERS" Outpost is the feature length directing debut of Steve Barker, it's written by Rae Brunton and is produced by Arabella Croft & Kieran Parker; who financed the film themselves by mortgaging their own Glasgow home. Starring are Ray Stevenson, Julian Wadham, Richard Brake & Michael Smiley. The plot sees scientist and businessman Hunt (Wadham) hire a mercenary crack team headed by DC (Stevenson) to protect him on a perilous mission into Eastern Europe. There they are to locate an abandoned bunker in no-man's land and seemingly gather information to aid Hunt's research. However, once at the outpost, the men make a horrific discovery - one that is only the start of the terror to come. Lets get the blatantly obvious negatives out the way first, the kind that pithy critics enjoy beating an independent film with. Outpost is not fresh, certainly not in story, setting and god forbid -- logic. Channeling (by the makers own admission) John Carpenter's spooky 1980 movie The Fog - with more than a nod towards Michael Mann's The Keep & Ken Wiederhorn's Almost Human - Outpost does, from the off, have a familiar ring to it. Yet Barker's movie can stand on its own two ghostly feet on account of it having heavy atmosphere that's nicely blended with no short supply of the grisly. This is not about cheap shocks, though. Barker slow burns the first half hour and then steadily turns up the heat as the secrets of the "Outpost" start to unravel, with the sense of dread that accompanies said unravelling palpable in the extreme. Away from the rewarding creepy vibe that dominates the piece, the technical aspects also stand up considerably well. Barker's directing is unobtrusive and aware of its genre roots, with a cartoon/animation section deftly effective, while Brunton's screenplay is lean and lets the characters breath. That it has commentary on the barbaric nature of the Nazis and slots in a Die Glocke for its core, also, should not be understated, war is hell is as apt a saying here, as apt can be. Note worthy on the war is hell theme is that here the makers are saying war is always and everywhere,… not only is the film set with one foot in a historic war and the other in a "today" war, but each of the mercenaries represent a soldier from a different war-zone around the world. With the wooded valley of Dalbeattie near Castle Douglas in Scotland standing in for Eastern Europe, Gavin Struthers does wonders on photography. Smartly stripping the colours down to a near monochrome finish that lends weight to the historical context of the story, he also makes the interiors claustrophobic and captures rich detail for the exteriors. The score from James Seymour Brett is one of the better ones for a low-fi British horror, suitably pulse like, and the acting is no-nonsense and befitting the characters within. With a no cop out and suitably bleak ending, Outpost isn't after the popcorn crowd. It may be heavily influenced by past down in the woods army like shockers, but it sure as hell shows the likes of Rob Green's awful 2001 movie, The Bunker, how it should be done. 7/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Black Camel Pictures

  GB

• RE

  Regent Capital

  GB

Key crew

• Executive ProducerGraham Begg
• Production DesignGordon Rogers
• MusicJames Seymour Brett
• CastingKate Plantin
• EditorAlastair Reid
• ProducerKieran Parker
• Costume DesignAlison Mitchell
• EditorChris Gill
• Executive ProducerJamie Carmichael
• Line ProducerSuzanne Reid
• ProducerArabella Page Croft
• ProducerCharlotte Walls
• Production DesignMax Berman
• Executive ProducerNigel Thomas
• Special EffectsKen Petrie

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• nazi
• bunker
• eastern europe
• mercenary
• revelation
• trap
• super soldier
• zombie
• occult
• ex soldier

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2008-03-11R

Also known as

International titles

• Eksperyment SSPL
• A helyőrségHU
• Outpost 1CA
• Outpost 1 - El BunkerMX
• Outpost 1 - El BunkerES
• Outpost 1 - El BunkerUS