Wow, it’s been a spell. Anywho I’ve jumped back in with what appeared to be a low-budget horror flick from 2001 called “The Bunker”. This is the third film I’ve seen that has to deal with German soldiers and sealed up bunkers during WWII, and at this point I’m starting to think they lost the war due to paranormal activities. Sadly none of these films really hit “outstanding” on any scale so I’m not sure why they keep getting made, but for what it’s worth “The Bunker” was decent enough and something I may in fact watch sometime in the future. How’s that for a ringing endorsement?
As far as haunted bunker stories go, there isn’t much variation. Generally some Nazi’s stumble upon some sort of building that they need to hide in and there’s always the one older guy who’s seen some sh&* in his time who warns everyone about “the tunnel” or “the basement”, but either through necessity or stupid curiosity everyone winds up below and starts dying. “The Bunker” is no different than this, except that the story is just a tad more interesting than some creature killing everyone off. Without giving away the ending (albeit a cop-out of an ending), the movie has flashbacks every now and then, just a few seconds long, finally leading up to the big reveal of what’s actually haunting these dudes. It’s pretty easy to guess before the ending actually occurs but meh. Unlike its siblings, “The Bunker” focuses more on the paranoia the soldiers experience while being trapped and how it starts to affect each of them in turn. It’s similar to one of my favorite horror movies of all time, “Session 9″…except not as well executed.
I wouldn’t have chosen to nap there, but that’s just me.
I’ll be honest, for a low-budget thriller like this one it was actually done decently well. The first internship I ever had was for a straight-to-DVD movie called “Halloween Night” which was downright terrible. This film didn’t rely on gore or overused explosions to freak out the audience, but rather the acting and well timed shadows. I honestly thought it was a film made in the late 80’s/early 90’s when it first started because the music and title screen was very reminiscent of John Carpenter’s early work (look at me being all connoisseur-esque). The cast is also pretty impressive, filled with actors from the UK that you’ve seen before, such as Jack Davenport, Jason Flemyng, and Eddie Marsan. Much like the Tom Cruise film “Valkyrie” they didn’t hide their accents at all, even while portraying German soldiers but if that honestly bothers you then you have bigger things to worry about. With a good cast of veteran supporting actors, they all did a good job making it seem like they are actually terrified of what the tunnels in the bunker have in store for them. Probably the best part is that very few of them are actually scared of “things” down below, but rather the American army they believe themselves to be surrounded by. Interesting to watch a WWII movie where the Americans are in a sense the bad guys.
So there you have it, easy enough storyline to follow, pretty decent acting, and no scares big enough to make you jump but rather make you glad you aren’t in their position. Out of the other bunker films I mentioned earlier, this is definitely not the best nor the worst of them.
DIRECTOR’S CUT: Not too long and creepy enough to give you slight chills, but that also might be due to the air conditioner being on too high.
FLICKCHART RATING: 957/2188
The Scene Collector 