The Bunker

In this well made 2004 release, Director Rob Green's "The Bunker" is so much more a substantial piece of filmmaking than the menacing Nazi uniformed skeletons adorning the cover of its DVD promotional sleeve would lead one to believe. Don't be fooled---this is no under-cooked tale of WWII undead or cheesy zombies-at-war exploitation. (not that exploitation can't be damn good entertainment.) I was pleasantly surprised by the top-notch psycho drama I watched unfold on my big screen.

Set in 1944 at the German/Belgian border, the story begins with German soldiers frantically working to board up a section of unfinished tunnel. When the lighting starts to flicker and they sense movement in the darkness lying just on the other side of the patchwork, they grab up their weapons and then run like the devil himself is coming.

Cut to a few months later. Three German soldiers are running for their lives toward a massive anti-tank bunker. They're allowed in by the two reserve members holding down the fort, a crusty old WW1 veteran and a young, inexperienced recruit. It's only minutes later when they are joined by more of their devastated platoon, chased and fired upon by unseen American forces. One of the unit is picked off within strides of safety.

Once inside, the nuances of the storyline unfold as the unit's seven survivors are ordered to hold their position and defend the bunker until further orders. Being trapped inside the bunker with dwindling ammunition and no hope for reinforcements, the young soldier mentions the tunnels beneath as a possible escape route. The old geezer steps in and tells what sounds like an old wives tale meant to scare bad children and the soldiers shrug it off, not impressed by details of burned witches and a long ago rumored pit of butchered and buried alive sick and infected victims of the Black Death. And as usual, they should have taken the story more seriously.

Early on the tunnels are made off limits by the Lieutenant, who is struggling to maintain command of his deteriorating troops. In the middle of the night the geezer, Mirus, is followed down into the tunnels by wounded, mentally teetering Kreuzmann. From there the story really grinds into gear. Eventually all the soldiers are trapped down in the dangerous, mind-bending tunnels with possible enemy American soldiers, vengeful spirits, mounting paranoia and dangerously divided loyalties. Guilt, exhaustion, fear and survival instinct begin to undermine the men and their loyalty to their new mission and each other, and the eerie tunnels beneath the bunker begin to take a deadly toil.

"The Bunker" is not an action packed horror thriller by any means, but it's also not slow and plodding. It is an engrossing, dark psychological drama of battle weary men made into rats to run a possibly haunted maze with dwindling hope of survival. The atmosphere is suitably gloomy, stark, and claustrophobic. The abandoned and never completed tunnels are full of squeaking rats, settling dust and debris, and generated lighting flickering out at just the wrong moments. Once the communication line to central command goes out and the real possibility that American soldiers have somehow infiltrated the tunnels and are terrorizing their German counterpoints, the fun really begins. At one point in the proceedings a haunting tune from a harmonica drifts into the bunker from the surrounding forest and a soldier wonders out loud, "Don't they ever sleep? "

Overmatched and mentally at the breaking point, the German soldiers are not equipped to fight the enemy lying in wait outside, nor the mysterious mounting danger within the bunker. It's a desperate situation all the way around and that feeling of dread is what gives "The Bunker" its very necessary, believable edge.

The climax of the film is well worth the wait. And at certain points the real and the imagined combine flawlessly for some unnerving touches down the stretch.

Starting with Rob Green's direction, the film is thoroughly and professionally polished production. Director of Photography and camera operator John Pardue does an excellent job shooting a madhouse/ghost story and makes the most of his shoots and sets a visual tone of impending doom. Both Green and Pardue do an excellent job of slowly transforming the bunker from fortress to tomb. Writer Clive Dawson keeps the clichés to a bare minimum and does a nice job of supplying a steady paced story and avoiding basic, low budget, horror film soldier speak. Richard Milward does a nice editing job, especially in a movie world falling into the short attention span school of quick cut equals quick shock splicing and dicing. The sound and music throughout are enormous assets. The Prague Symphony Chamber Orchestra expertly supplies an unnerving instrumental backdrop.

Along with having a solid script from Dawson, the ensemble of actors is more than up to the task, carrying the film with excellent portrayals of gritty, believable, sympathetic characters from a group (German soldiers) most American audiences rarely cheer for. (Remember Das Boot?) The most recognizable of the group is Jason Flemyng, best known to genre fans from films such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Below, From Hell, Deep Rising, and George Romero's Bruiser. The others portraying Hitler's finest certainly deserve to take a bow: Charley Boorman, Jack Davenport, Andrew Lee Potts, Christopher Fairbanks, John Carlisle, Simon Kunz, and Eddie Marsan. Last but certainly not least, a special mention to actor Andrew Tiernan, who no doubt had a lot of fun portraying the gung ho, pill popping, unhinged, German ultra fighting patriot Schenke. His character made for a fun balance with the basically good but nervously enigmatic and survival conscious Baumann, handled by Flemyng.

Again, DON'T BE FOOLED by the cover of The Bunker. It is not really an out and out horror film as much as a dark, atmospheric psychological drama with horrific moments, offering significant entertainment value. You get the chance, grab the popcorn or the Doritos and hunker down for a night in... Awwww, you know.