|
|
 |
|
Review
by
Brian Lindsey
|
 |
|
6
|
|
 |
|
6 |
|
10
= Highest Rating |
|
|
Anyone
picking up this DVD based on the skull-faced Nazi zombies depicted
by the cover art is in for a severe disappointment... If you're
expecting Night of the Living Dead meets
Hell is for Heroes then forget
it. The film, a low budget but handsomely mounted British production,
is strictly a psychological horror tale with a military
setting as if Val Lewton had made a World War II thriller.
There are no zombies, Nazi or otherwise, in The
Bunker. It's just not that kind of horror film. Instead
it offers a palpable, claustrophobic atmosphere of doom, as
discipline and common sense are subsumed by irrational fear
and mental disintegration. Supernatural elements are alluded
to but it's left entirely up to the viewer to decide if unearthly
forces are truly at work, because there's a rational
explanation for everything that happens. This approach will
be seen as a cheat by some (the "shit or get off the pot!"
crowd), especially those attracted by the lurid cover art. Those
folks should keep in mind that most filmmakers have zero control
over how their work is packaged for home video, particularly
in foreign markets. (I'd be interested in seeing what the artwork
for the Region 2 DVD is like.)
October 1944, on the Belgian-German border:
Elite German panzergrenadiers are moving up to the front when
ambushed by American troops. A squad of harried survivors retreats
into the forest where they come upon a massive steel bunker
part of the incomplete "Westwall" defenses at the edge of
a clearing. Seeking shelter inside the fortification, they discover
that it's woefully undermanned by all of two soldiers: Pvt.
Mirus (John Carlisle), an elderly, dissolute veteran of WW1,
and Pvt. Neumann (Andrew Lee Potts), a naοve greenhorn still
in his teens. The battle-hardened grenadiers are less than impressed
with their hosts Germany's scraping the absolute bottom of
the manpower barrel at this stage of the war but at least
for now they're safe. Ranking officer Lt. Krupp (Simon Kunz)
contacts higher authorities via field phone and is ordered to
hold in place until relieved. Sgt. Heydrich (Christopher Fairbank)
and corporals Baumann (Jason Flemyng) and Ebert (Jack Davenport)
argue for withdrawal, pointing out that they've no support on
their flanks; the bunker's heavy machinegun lacks sufficient
ammo for prolonged defense. Baumann is also worried about the
mental stability of Cpl. Schenke (Andrew Tiernan), a diehard
Nazi who keeps himself going by popping Benzedrine tablets like
candy. He realizes that Schenke's hair-trigger temper and lack
of self-control could pose as great a danger to them as the
American army. As night falls and the fear of being surrounded
by the enemy rises, Mirus tells the men that the bunker was
constructed on the site of a medieval massacre in which hundreds
of plague victims were butchered en masse, their corpses dumped
in a deep charnel pit. Ever since then the locals have believed
the area to be haunted. That's why, Mirus says, the storage
tunnels beneath the bunker were never fully completed... Just
too spooky down there.
Communications
are severed when the field phone goes dead. Nevertheless, the
by-the-book leutnant resolves to carry out his last order
to the letter: he and his men will hold the bunker until told
otherwise. Realist
Baumann sees this as folly but carries out his assignments like
a good German soldier, clashing with the fanatical, drugged-up
Schenke, who detests him as a grousing defeatist. Then a wounded
grenadier disappears, believed to have gone into the tunnels.
Krupp orders Baumann and Ebert to check out the subterrene level,
to look for the missing man and make sure the enemy can't infiltrate
the bunker from below...
The above synopsis barely covers half the film, as it's best
to leave subsequent events to the interpretation of the viewer.
Is the bunker really haunted by the spirits of the dead? Has
some malefic, paranormal force marked these men for destruction?
Or are the soldiers
tired, incredibly stressed out, trapped in a claustrophobic
situation
merely losing their grip on reality? Either way, by daybreak
they'll discover that guilt is the most haunting specter of
all.
Even if one isn't inclined to accept The
Bunker's subjective
approach to horror, the film is unquestionably elevated by solid
direction, tight editing, moody cinematography and fine ensemble
acting. (Flemyng, Carlisle and Tiernan
the latter bearing a strong resemblance to American actor Vincent
D'Onofrio
are the real standouts.) Low-key special effects are impressive
given the low budget. Every outdoor shot of the bunker was achieved
using a half-scale mockup seamlessly integrated with the interior
sets via editing. The titular concrete and steel fortification
exists only on film.
I noticed that at The Bunker's
IMDB page, a number of folks blast the
film for its depiction of German soldiers with British
accents. Ich verstehe nicht dieses.... Why should it
be a problem? All the characters in the film are German. (American
troops are only fleetingly glimpsed in one scene, emerging from
a distant treeline.) Since only German characters are
speaking and interacting with one another, it really doesn't
matter what language they're using. It's true that a couple
of Brit slang words stick out like sore thumbs
"bloody" instead of "damned" (or something
stronger), and "Yanks" (instead of the German "Ami")
when referring to the enemy
but this is a minor quibble. It would've been ludicrous had
the actors spoken their lines in German-accented English. ("Ve
vill hold zis bunker until relieved!")
|
|
|
| Aside
from the misleading cover art this is a fairly decent package.
The widescreen transfer is rather grainy but otherwise acceptable;
the stereo sound mix is quite good. Extras include a director's
commentary (worthwhile but poorly recorded),
a stills gallery, two deleted scenes (which needn't have been
cut to begin with) and an interesting 23-minute "making of"
featurette that compliments the film nicely. (Beware, it is laden
with major spoilers!) A slate of trailers features promos for
The Bunker and four other MTI releases,
all of which look pretty crappy in comparison.
10/23/04 |
HOME
| REVIEWS
| TOP
|
