Outpost 2: Black Sun Review


Movie: Outpost 2: Black Sun
By: Chev Chellios
Date: August 31, 2012

Nazi's, zombies what more do you wish for..?

Outpost 2, with a premise that sounds pretty cool, a predecessor that stood his own in the horror genre and zombie/Nazis, where can you go wrong. Talking about the new wave horror movies nowadays, we got a lot of Nazi/zombie outings, with that said, we can even create a subgenre like Nazi-exploitation. But is Outpost 2 Black sun a worthy entry, well we get there soon enough.

The beginning:

Way back in 2008, the British made Outpost, a zombie movie which played out in war torn eastern Europe, starring are a group of mercenaries on a mission to find something important, in a hidden bunker somewhere. Starring Ray Stevenson and a few others it was surprise hit. With a pretty decent story, good production values and solid acting it screamed for a sequel, and so here we are Outpost 2 Black sun, and in 2013 Outpost 3 Rise of the Spetsnaz will see the light of day.

Outpost 2: Black Sun

As a viewer don't jump to the conclusion well if there will be a part 3, the sequel has to be good, this sometimes is a false assumption, and we all know "assumption is the mother of all fuck ups" so keep reading. With a budget not nearly reaching a million dollars director Steve Barker pulled of a decent horror flick. The production company put Steve Barker in the directors chair for the second outing, which I think is a good choice he did an excellent job on the first one. And with a budget reaching the 3 million dollar mark, he got the opportunity to surpass his directorial feature debut. The focus in the original Outpost lies within the mood and atmosphere rather then the action and gore. With that being said they executed it well and it is a recommendation too all. In its sequel they changed their focus too, action and gore elements.

Outpost 2: Black Sun

Outpost 2 plays out like a road movie, always underway, starring in the female lead is Catherine Steadman who plays the heroine Lena, she is a Nazi hunter with a past. Together with her shady friend Wallace, played by Richard Coyle they venture into the war thorn land, to settle old scores and discover new secrets, but in the end (like always) they both get more then they bargained for.

Outpost 2: Black Sun

I also have to praise the director to give the movie a more alive baddie, by the name Klaussner it gave the story more depth, also the SS troopers leader has more screen time which is a improvement to the prior film. I think the 3 million budget has been spent well, with a better and more fleshed out story, they tried to make the world bigger then it was. With great production values, I have to admit the stages and locations are all perfectly done, from clothing to movie props its done with love. They also used a lot of outside locations too film, but it lacked the creepiness the bunker location from the previous movie had, so are the frights I missed those creepy scenes. Instead we get more action, the SS troopers are more violent then ever, they are also faster, like the infected in 28 days later (this is the only comparison I will make with that movie). But it was very light on gore, and I don't like that especially with b movies, in the first the SS troopers are waiting for the dark and then kill the good guys by surprise, here they want to take you down as fast as possible and this happens a lot. On the other hand the gun battles and explosions have been handled well, and those moments will keep you on track.

Outpost 2: Black Sun

To give a final verdict, because the story was decent, the passing of the movie could have been better, with pretty solid acting, sometimes vicious Nazi vs. humans action pieces, the change from the creepy original Outpost to more action wise Outpost part 2, and with a very light Gore factor I was not totally satisfied. But I am not totally convinced if it is a good entry in the Nazi/zombie subgenre. I thought the original was not a better movie, but It had more soul to it. That's why I rate it 2,5 stars out of five.


2.5/5




BLURAY REVIEW

Image quality

In terms of AV quality, the transfer is decent with minor evidence of edge enhancement, some grain remaining and a pretty detailed appearance throughout. The palette is muted with a greyish blue hue in the darker night-time and a baked aspect to the sequences underground. Colours are never excessively boosted and black levels can be generally trusted.


Sound

The sound is offered through a master audio mix which is accurate in terms of the mixing of effects across the channels, strong when ensuring coverage for the music and pretty front-on for dialogue. The result is confident in terms of immersing the viewer but not fully three dimensional with dialogue limited to the centre channel.


Extras

The extras on this disc aren't really extras for the movie just a making of "Iron Sky" which will be released later this by Splendid Films. I give them one star for including it.


Overall

While this Bluray disc is okay in the end it is nothing special. The sound is just not mixed in well which really is a shame. Picture wise everything is clear and with some intensional grain of the makers. In the end a not so impressive release for a not so impressive movie


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Movie

Outpost 2: Black Sun

Title

Outpost 2: Black Sun

Director

Steve Barker

Country

UK

Year

2012

Cast

Richard Coyle, Clive Russell and Michael Byrne