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THE BUNKER
Produced by Daniel Figuero
Directed by Rob Green
Written by Clive Dawson
Edited by Richard Milward
Director of Photography - John PardueCpl. Baumann - Jason Flemyng
LCpl. Schenke - Andrew Tiernan
Sgt. Heydrich - Christopher Fairbank
Lt. Krupp - Simon Kunz
Pvt. Neumann - Andrew Lee Potts
Pvt. Mirus - John CarlisleIt is 1944. A platoon of German soldiers have been taking a beating and find shelter in a complex, underground bunker system. The Allies are hot on their heels and as night falls things start to get weird. Under the actual bunker is a maze of tunnels where the German soldiers are forced to take refuge. In the darkness of the tunnels the soldiers minds begin playing tricks on them. Are they being hunted by the Allies or is there something evil in the uncharted labyrinth of darkness?
THE BUNKER is a refreshing change of pace for the horror film. Using the actual horror of war as a background for what is essentially a psychological horror is a great idea. Most war/horror films have some great monster like THE KEEP or waterlogged zombies like SHOCKWAVES. THE BUNKER relies on the human mind and the depths of horror that it is capable of all by itself.
One of the things I appreciate the most about the film is the lack of the fake German accent. The film makers chose to use German soldiers to tell their story. From the beginning we are fully aware that they are German soldiers. Do we really need the HOGAN'S HEROES throwback for the entire film? No, we don't. Thankfully, the people behind the film realized that this could be irritating and chose not to go with real German dialogue and subtitles. The actors speak normally and it adds a touch of the bizarre to have a platoon of German soldiers speaking with English accents.
While the cover is misleading, it would have been fantastic to see skull faced German zombies attacking our trapped platoon, it adds a little unexpected horror to what is essentially a well crafted cat and mouse film. I found myself feeling a bit claustrophobic and sweating a few times throughout the film. I thought it was unnecessary to have the one soldier get severely burned and then go on a zombie like attack. I imagine that the degree of burns that he suffered rendered him immune to the pain and he was probably in shock and couldn't feel it. But, it still came off a little cheesy and unnecessary to the entire film.
The finished DVD looks worth getting. Not only is there the obligatory behind the scenes stuff, but we get two short films by director Green. With such a solid film it would be interesting to see his directorial skills in the short film format. If you're a fan of the war/horror sub genre then THE BUNKER would make a worthy addition to your collection.
Bio Info for Douglas WaltzIn the spare time afforded him between a full time job for the local phone company, Douglas is happily married with five, that's right five, children. He is a staff writer for the Print magazine Cult Cuts and does work for the webzine (www.cultcuts.net). He also publishes his own small press zine called X-Ploitation. In addition to that he's working on an annual publication of short stories from various writers called On The Night Highways. And if that wasn't enough he's about to shoot his first short film, Phone Sex, sometime this summer.