The Bunker

TIFF [2001]

(United Kingdom, 2001, 92 minutes)
Directed by Rob Green
Written by Clive Dawson
Cast: Jason Flemyng, Charley Boorman, Jack Davenport, Andrew Lee Potts, Christopher Fairbank

Movie Review

Promised as a return to the subtle psychological frissons of the classic Val Lewton/Jacques Tournier thrillers, "The Bunker" is better described as a low-budget remake of Michael Mann's WW2 horror tale "The Keep" as conceived by latter-day John Carpenter.

But as Carpenter himself proved with this past summer's underperformer (to put it mildly) "Ghosts Of Mars", tales of trapped heroes versus disembodied entities can begin and end with a bang but succumb to second-act slump if there's not enough backstory and scary "set pieces" to keep things moving along. First-time director Rob Green can be forgiven for letting the action sag occasionally during his debut's brief 92 minutes, because when it works, "The Bunker" ranks with "Pitch Black" and "Ravenous" as one of the best claustrophobic, non-ironic horror films of the past few years. So perish any thoughts of a feared follow-up to Charles Band's "Zone Troopers".

In 1944, the Allies are bombing the front lines and are winning. A ragtag troop of German soldiers flee the forest and locate shelter in seemingly impenetrable concrete bunker as American soldiers approach. Finding a few survivors of a previous troop inside, the psychically scarred and injured men plot an escape strategy that won't compromise an already low supply of ammo. The only possible course of action: flee out of the forest through the subterranean tunnels, which were built by workers enslaved by the Nazis. Against the warnings of a superstitious elder (isn't there always one?), the soldiers flee into the labyrinth when the Americans arrive, each man's fears and wounds are compounded by an unseen evil force that uses his own conscious and subconscious fears to attack him.

Talk Back

The official TIFF program book compared "The Bunker" to an EC Comic, but it reminded me more of an issue of DC Comics' "Weird War Tales" from the 1970s. One, it lacks the outrageous gore of Gaines' notorious four colour sickies, two, the plot doesn't concern itself with any sort of specific supernatural comeuppance. There's the expected "Private Ryan" influence on the exterior combat scenes, while the extended chases through the tunnels are reminiscent of the Italian horror films of Lucio Fulci or Michel Soavi. The cast of young British actors playing the German ensemble (none of them attempting to disguise their accents, by the way) are largely interchangeable, save for the currently ubiquitous Jason Flemyng of "Snatch" and "The Red Violin".

I still feel that Rob Green could've went for a few more "big moments", and offered a clearer explanation of the supernatural menace--plus, someone should've reminded him that the superstitious old codger is a hackneyed device that was moth-worn when it was "Crazy Ralph" in 1980's "Friday The 13th". For that reason I can't regard the film in the same company as contemporary classics "Night Of The Living Dead", "Halloween", or "Hellraiser" (and we're all looking for the next one...). But "The Bunker" is a good honest, SERIOUS horror show, and hopefully, an indicator of more to come from the land that gave us Hammer Studios. Isn't it about time the British Horror Film is revived in a big way, once the British Gangster Film genre finally exhausts itself...?

- Robert L

Talk Back