Zombie Film Review:

Director: Steve Barker

Year: 2008

Review: WARNING: This review may contain spoilers. The setting is present day in a very depressing Eastern Europe, there is a quick flash of local bar and then straight into it… A multi-national group of mercenaries and one employer who is not giving too much away and then they find what the employer is looking for… The Outpost… and it will probably not surprise you too much to find out they are not alone…

This film has been compared to everything from the Blair Witch Project to Dog Soldiers …. I personally feel that if you had to liken this to any other genre piece out there it would be a European version of the classic R-Point with a slightly more tangible foe…

This film may not be a complete zombie genre piece in the style of Romero, but without giving the game away the foes belong here, side to side with their slightly scruffier, flesh eating cousins…

Zombie Quality: ****

They are shadowy figures that throughout the film are not really clearly seen, the cleverest thing about them is simply they have two ways of looking, either as naked or dressed in their WWII get up… Both are amazingly sinister and have an amazing impact on the viewer…

Zombie Behaviour: **

Not your traditional flesh munchers, but they are the animated corpses of the dead and they are walking about… destroying the living… although here they are using pickaxes, bullet casings and Gestapo daggers… and not to soil your fun there is a particular ‘foe' that dresses in a particular way and stands out from the rest… Not that traditional I'm afraid.

Zombie Threat: ****

If you happen to stumble upon this Outpost, then you might as well update your life insurance sand kiss your family goodbye… This is hardcore to the max… These bad boys almost put the Return of the Living Dead zombies to shame…

Gore Content: ***

Head squashing, eye popping, knee shattering fun, there is nothing so unpleasant as to make you want to lose your lunch all over your finest pair of slacks, but still enough here like the frantic stabbing and butchering scene that will keep you on your toes….

Overall Quality: ****

What this film lacks in traditional zombies, it more than makes up for in atmosphere, this film will make you claustrophobic, sweaty, jumpy and uncomfortable… Everything that we look for in a horror movie... Enjoy…

Special Award: The biggest career shift from the man who plays 'Tyres' in SPACED, goes to Michael Smiley in Outpost.