It's not often that sequels come along and surpass their predecessor, indeed, most are made to capitalise financially on the original, however with Outpost: Black Sun, love, care and attention has been lavished on the story, characters and direction, that it completely surpasses the original and moves the story brilliantly onwards.
Steve Barker and Rae Brunton have shown, that when given a larger budget, they can pull off a film that belies it's homely independent origins, indeed, the end result is worthy of a much higher budgeted blockbuster - had they been given a similar sized budget as that of movies like Iron Sky, then they would be staring at a global success. It's a shame, that movies like this, are destined for a straight to video release, because, they are more than able to hold their own in the box office with a wide release. Barker especially demonstrates his ability to maximise fully the limited budget and constraints to produce a film that has exceptionally high production values and sets that are simply breathtaking. When you take into account the filming locations, it's especially more impressive as instead of seeing a suburb of Glasgow, Barker places you brilliantly into the landscape of Europe. Production values like this, and talent such as this, are extremely rare in this genre.
The movie itself is a progression from the first Outpost, as Brunton and Barker take us forward in time slightly with the Nazis storming across the countryside, the zombies again showing their power and ability to destroy everything in their path, be that men, women or indeed, children.
The back story fits brilliantly - Barker and Brunton both managing to not fall into the trap of writing a sequel that doesn't sit with the original..my best test of this, is to watch both back to back - and in this case, the story flows through from one film to the next. They develop their characters with great skill and all actors perform perfectly in their roles. The casting of each part is perfect - but the stand out role for me, is Ali Craig in the role of Hall - his one liners at times are sheer comedic gold.
Once the end of the movie comes, Barker sets us up perfectly for the third installment, Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz, which is currently filming this time with Kieran Parker in the director's chair, and I for one, cannot wait to see the last part of this wonderfully brilliant independent horror trilogy.
Don't let this slip you by - if you've seen the first Outpost, you won't be disappointed.
9/10
Steve Barker and Rae Brunton have shown, that when given a larger budget, they can pull off a film that belies it's homely independent origins, indeed, the end result is worthy of a much higher budgeted blockbuster - had they been given a similar sized budget as that of movies like Iron Sky, then they would be staring at a global success. It's a shame, that movies like this, are destined for a straight to video release, because, they are more than able to hold their own in the box office with a wide release. Barker especially demonstrates his ability to maximise fully the limited budget and constraints to produce a film that has exceptionally high production values and sets that are simply breathtaking. When you take into account the filming locations, it's especially more impressive as instead of seeing a suburb of Glasgow, Barker places you brilliantly into the landscape of Europe. Production values like this, and talent such as this, are extremely rare in this genre.
The movie itself is a progression from the first Outpost, as Brunton and Barker take us forward in time slightly with the Nazis storming across the countryside, the zombies again showing their power and ability to destroy everything in their path, be that men, women or indeed, children.
The back story fits brilliantly - Barker and Brunton both managing to not fall into the trap of writing a sequel that doesn't sit with the original..my best test of this, is to watch both back to back - and in this case, the story flows through from one film to the next. They develop their characters with great skill and all actors perform perfectly in their roles. The casting of each part is perfect - but the stand out role for me, is Ali Craig in the role of Hall - his one liners at times are sheer comedic gold.
Once the end of the movie comes, Barker sets us up perfectly for the third installment, Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz, which is currently filming this time with Kieran Parker in the director's chair, and I for one, cannot wait to see the last part of this wonderfully brilliant independent horror trilogy.
Don't let this slip you by - if you've seen the first Outpost, you won't be disappointed.
9/10