Movie Review: Outpost

Outpost is a horror movie from the independent production company Black Camel Pictures, which is apparently a Scottish couple who mortgaged their home to finance it. Given the low budget (reportedly less than $500,000, which is ultra-low budget these days), I was very, very impressed with what I saw.

If you’ve seen Dog Soldiers, you’ve got the basic premise. If you haven’t, it’s soldiers vs. monsters. It’s a different monster than Dog Soldiers, and there’s a Nazi connection—which is always good for story-telling—but the general storyline is the same. Leading the cast is Ray Stevenson. That, curiosity, and the plot’s similarity to Dog Soldiers got me onboard.

Fair warning: I am not a horror movie fan. I actually very rarely watch horror movies. Given that, some of my opinions and impressions might be far off from someone more versed in horror movies.

In general, it’s fun. The acting isn’t bad—not Oscar calibre, certainly, but absolutely passable. Stevenson does a good job, but then I’m biased. I think he was channelling a little bit of Pullo and a little bit of Vorenus—and if you don’t get the Rome mini-series reference, you simply fail . . . go watch Rome then come back.

I wasn’t terribly surprised by the plot, nor its culmination. I have to admit that the tense moments left me tense, that there were scenes that gave me chills, and that I simply had to watch the movie to its conclusion. For me, this movie was entertaining. It’s worth the price of a rental. Heck, if I found it in a sale bin, I’d buy it, because I think it has re-watch value.

There were certainly problems with it—they didn’t get the military characters right, and there were at least a couple of “idiot moments”—but it did its job. Frankly, it gave me more than I expected.

And let me tell you, there is plenty of fodder for GMs out there. I’m already formulating my take on it. Gen Con 2008, I ran “Qalashar Dogs,” which was my riff on Dog Soldiers. I’m thinking “Outpost Dogs” isn’t far behind.

Who’s in?

In summary: this is an entertaining horror movie in the vein of Dog Soldiers. It delivered a solid horror experience through tension with only a few gory moments. I would recommend this movie and give it 3.5 sprays-n-prays out of 5.

You can find out more about Outpost here.