26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
NOTHING SPECIAL, BUT INTERESTING FOR HORROR FANS, November 18, 2005
This review is from: The Bunker (DVD)
"The Bunker" is rather interesting low budget horror flick which doesn't claim to be a break-through. It has a resemblance with such films as "Deathwatch", Korean "R-Point" and recent "Dead Birds". But here everything happens during WW2 to a bunch of German soldiers falling back through a Belgian forest trying to escape from advancing American troops. They come across a well-fortified bunker and seek shelter thinking they'll be safe there. But as it turnes out it'd be safer in American rangers' hands.
The story-line is rather standard with the necessary set of usual scares and chilling scenes. I guess you won't find anything new for yourself here. But it's a good, solid movie, and I think you won't be disappointed if you like this kind of flicks.
The only thing that annoyed me is that the characters spoke English. I know the film is British/American but people should speak their own language. They are German soldiers, they had to speak German! Producers had to take German actors and make subtitles. But maybe it's just me and you'll disagree :)
Another minus (however not regarding the movie itself) is the box-cover. It's simply stupid. I bought an edition in Germany and it has a fabulous cover (just check amazon.de or watch the image I added). Why did someone decide to ruin the region 1 box?
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Night of the Living Deutsch! or---, October 16, 2004
This review is from: The Bunker (DVD)
...All Unquiet Dead on the Western Front.
Front and center, men! Those of you locking and loading and planning to go into this mission with the expectation of killing undead Krauts---well think again! This is pure psychological warfare, do you get me? Alright! Those of you who want Nazi Zombies and the Living Dead crawling through gas-choked tunnels, step back from the line! Don't be ashamed, men!
Whew. Now that they're gone, let's talk about "Bunker", a taut, tightly shot, low-budget little slice of sheer wierd war-story grue set on the Belgian-German border in 1944. The once-reslient German front is crumbling in the face of the Allied onslaught, and a squad of elite German infantry take refuge in an anti-tank bunker, abandoned but for two German privates, one young and terrified, the other the old and half-crazed Private Mirus (played by John Carlisle, who gives the film half its heft with his grisly demeanor and gravelly delivery). The tattered squad is besieged---at first by the imagined American platoon outside the bunker, but increasingly by their own guilt and the voices, echoes, and phantoms within the rotting, creaking bunker itself.
I think it's important to point out that "Bunker" is not a goopy, gory zombie-fest---if you're looking for that, look elsewhere. This is an intricate, involved, often quiet but intensely gratifying horrific pyschological tale of dread and horror and the particular hell that soldiers in the field of battle go through. The Bunker itself has its own history, built on the site of a mass grave of those slaughtered during the Black Death. The bunker is for the moment secure, but the German soldiers know they're surrounded---perhaps the tunnels beneath the structure might have ammunition, or a way out?
I have to confess, I loved the "Bunker" because I have always been hooked on weird war stories---particularly ghoulish tales of World War II. "Bunker" takes that vibe, sinks its fangs into it, and never lets up, so I was hooked from the moment Oberleutnant Heydrich (played rippingly by Chris Fairbank, a veteran actor who was in "Aliens 3") forced his way into the bunker. And that's not the only military-regulation acting in this pup-tent: Jason Flemying (the coachman from "From Hell" and Hyde from "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) excels in his role as Corporal Bauman, fearful of the advancing Enemy, outflanked by the Enemy within; John Carlisle is a one-man show of cheek-writhing terror..
Half the deliciousness in "Bunker" is the fear and loathing concentrated on the tunnels below the bunker: director Rob Green goes heavy on tension and amps up the atmosphere when the squad goes below-ground. For a low-budget flick, the film is amazing well shot, and cinematographer John Pardue treats viewers to a series of claustrophobic tights shots, smooth editing, and delicious, dream-like flashbacks, all culminating in a harrowing finale. This is one of the most professionally, gorgeously shot low-budget films I have ever seen, and the savvy with which Pardue and Green guide the film adds immeasurably to its intensity and terror.
"Bunker" isn't a zombie film; far from it. The movie succeeds in its gripping, creepy, entirely spooky portrayal of the horrors of war, in the mind, in the flesh, and in the heart; those who savor the quiet terrors of David Twohy's "Below" will relish the understated horrors of "Bunker". War is Hell---indeed.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great creative low-budget movie, December 12, 2005
This review is from: The Bunker (DVD)
Why the negative reviews? Two reasons.
First, the cover makes it look like a zombie movie, but it's not, so people are majorly upset when it's not what they expected. Blame that on some brainless executive who took over when the brilliant filmmakers were desperate to get their unique movie distributed. But don't pass it up if you like suspense - there are indeed people getting killed by who-knows-who/what.
Second, it's low budget as heck. That means inaccurate uniforms and markings (though most people wouldn't know) and whatever british actors were good and close by. Americans make movies all the time with people speaking with American accents (yes there is such a thing) playing characters of other countries. Being british actors doing the same, it sticks out like a fire hydrant to American audiences. It may be a bad thing to do with a movie, but this one isn't nearly as bad as it seems.
What this movie does have is good acting (from most anyway) and a variety of unique characters. Each one represents some possible type of person that could have been in the German army during the war. They range from smart to crazy, aggressive to pacifist. It is not expected that a random handful of people would have such an even variety (only one of the characters would be close to an average person), but that's part of what makes this movie interesting - you see the interaction of so many character types.
You also get to see things from the main character's point of view. Not literally all in first person, but through good directing. A couple of scenes are cleverly arranged to have more than one interpretation when seen alone, making a character's incorrect interpretation seem more plausible, even though the audience knows what is going on. The movie starts out uncertain, and becomes more clear at the end with a what I think is a stunningly brilliant shot that really sums up the theme of the movie if you know what is going on.
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