REVIEW: Outpost III: Rise Of The Spetsnaz (2013)

Runtime: 82 Mins
Rating: R

‘Tis the spooky season so it is time to look at a nice genre mix – horror, WW2, action and zombies.  The first movie in this series, the old Nazi zombie yarn, was barely passable – if you were in the mood.  The second in the series, well the less said the better.  So, here is the third, a movie that is easily categorized and reviewed as whether or not it’ll be an effective time killer.  It may be for some, if you’re very bored and can appreciate the intention. For example, there’s a scene where Germans are running around the woods with a zombie on a stick/leash. It’s one of those batshit ‘runner’ zombies too, so seeing them try to control it and use it as a mini bioweapon is funny.  Good idea, why not use a zombie as an attack dog?  Bio weaponry… always my favorite ‘zombie outbreak’ explanation.  Less open to explanation though is why both the Russians and Germans seemingly have copious amounts of anabolic steroids, but anyway…

The story is about a Soviet sabotage and recon unit who run into a Nazi camp deep in the woods of the Eastern Front where scientists are trying their very own ‘Universal Soldier’ programme, bringing the dead back to life.  Fucking stiffs, laying around not pulling their weight!  Anyway, it’s a better action movie than it is a horror movie.  But all action movies must slow down at some point.  In that regard, even though this movie is not to be taken seriously, the middle descends into a quicksand of cheap tedium as it tries (badly) to cover some chin-stroking stuff/talk of eugenics. Did you know that the Soviets actually attempted to create a super soldier by breeding an ape with a woman, to grow ape-men soldiers with superior strength and speed?  The movie actually mentions this (factual) piece of history.  I’m not making this up!  Google it.  Considering the behaviour of the Red Army throughout the 20th Century, I’m not so sure they weren’t successful.

On the upside, there are good gunfights and action scenes, with good (not great) production values for such a small project.  For example aside from very passable visuals, it’s nice to say that there are no fake CGI gun reports, just good old fashioned thundering blanks. These days with DTV there is a growing trend of horrible CGI muzzle blasts and fake sounds, where the actors simulate their own recoil, as seen in Lundgren’s God awful Battle of the Damned.  Fuck that.  It’s nice to see actors wrestle with the automatic guns when they let rip, even though there is no real recoil with blanks. That kind of thing that can’t be faked, a weapon firing on auto with blanks will still rattle most actors.  Although, in the end, the whole thing is like a rail-shooter.  Looking for zombie horror?  It’s not really here.

It’s 3am.  You’re drunk.  This movie is for you.  Otherwise, there is no real point in hunting it down.  If the opening action sequence appears on YouTube, you’ve seen the best part of it.

REVIEW SCORE: 6/10