Starring: Bryan Larkin, Iván Kamarás, Michael McKell, Velibor Topic, Laurence Possa, Ben Lambert, Alec Utgoff, Vince Docherty, Gareth Morrison, and Leo Horsfield
Directed by: Kieran Parker
Written by: Rae Brunton
Running time: 84 minutes
Rated: Not rated (contains language, graphic violence)
Reviewed by Michael Juvinall
Read my Exclusive interview with director Kieran Parker here!
We’re back with the third installment of the Outpost saga and I for one hope to see this franchise continue on with more films because there are so many different directions the filmmakers can take the series from here. Rise of the Spetsnaz takes a jump back in time from the previous two films. While the first two films in the series are contemporary in their settings, Outpost 3 is a prequel of sorts, set near the end of World War II.
We open the film in 1945 during the end of World War II, and we’re introduced to a group of Russian soldiers known as the Spetsnaz – an elite Special Forces group of the Russian army. The group is in wait to ambush a Nazi transport somewhere in Eastern Europe. The ambush goes bad with most of the group killed, the surviving Spetsnaz are on the run from the Nazi’s and their zombie soldiers through the wilderness. The remaining few Russians, led by their commander, Dolokhov (Bryan Larkin-Battleground) are captured by the Nazi SS and taken to an underground German bunker where we discover the evil origins of these creatures and horrific experiments are underway to create the perfect soldier out of the dead. The prisoners must survive a living hell of torturous experimentation and Russia’s most elite soldiers square off against the Nazi zombies in a fight for supremacy.
The Outpost films exemplify the best the Nazi zombie sub-genre has to offer and Rise of the Spetsnaz is no exception. The film is an exciting action/horror set piece from start to finish that delves deeper into the origins of the Nazi zombie super soldiers that we’ve come to know and love from the first two films. This is an elaborate world that director Kieran Parker created for the previous films and gets to explore in even greater detail here. His blend of historical fact and horror fiction is extremely interesting and thought provoking. Anyone who’s researched World War II and the Nazi’s know that the Germans, under Hitler’s command actually were conducting Dr. Frankenstein-like experiments to create the perfect soldier.
I love the fact that director Parker and his production team have created such a detailed film. Everything from the military vehicles to both the Russian and German uniforms and the weapons are very authentic and are what would’ve been used during that time in history.
The filmmakers have gathered an impressive group of actors for this film. The roles are outstanding for a low budget film with the most impressive performances going to Bryan Larkin as the Russian commander and Michael McKell as Strasser, the Nazi Colonel.
And what would an Outpost film be without the prerequisite Nazi zombies? Well, they’re here en masse and are very effective. The zombie makeup design and gore effects are very well done and highly accomplished. Parker and his crew have created some truly terrifying Nazi undead with the coolest being James “The Colossus” Thompson portraying The Berserker zombie. He is such a massive, hulk of a man that creates a new undead killing machine for the ages.
The film clocks in at only 84 minutes, which leaves no time for unnecessary lulls in the storyline. Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz is an action-packed and horrifying thrill ride from start to finish. My only complaint is I wish the filmmakers would’ve delved a bit deeper into the different experiments the Nazi’s were working on and show more of the zombie creatures that were behind locked doors, but this is a minor problem. Rise of the Spetsnaz is a highly enjoyable and entertaining film that is a horror/action hybrid that will give fans of the zombie subgenre and 60’s & 70’s war films more than their money’s worth. Definitely give this one a rent.
4 out of 5 Pentagrams!
Watch the trailer for Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz here,
