Outpost will be available to own or rent in the UK & Ireland from September 11 via AppleTV, Amazon, Sky Store, Virgin Media Store, Google Play and RakutenTV.
Synopsis
Kate seeks to heal past trauma by moving to Idaho, and taking a job as a fire lookout volunteer. But alone in the mountains, unable to leave her outpost, she is overwhelmed by isolation and paranoia. To protect the tower, she must discover the truth, confront those responsible and face her own demons.
Review
Isolated, paranoid psychological horror is probably the best type of horror you can get, the stuff that chills you to your core and stays in your mind for days after you’ve seen it and going into Outpost that’s what I thought I was going to get, however events unfolded throughout the film that kind of left me questioning the content matter totally.
The film starts off with promise as we see a battered and bruised Kate (Beth Dover) after her final bought of domestic violence led to her to volunteer as a fire lookout in the remote spot thinking that the break away from it all would make her troubles disappear however the isolation and paranoia slowly begin to take control, the flashbacks get worse and reality begins to distort. At this point I felt that it would have been better to learn a bit more about the abuse that Kate went through as I felt you would be able to better understand her situation and felt that would’ve given more depth to the state of Kate’s mental health and why it rapidly deteriorates as the film goes on.
As the eerie events unfold you can see Kate becoming less and less in control and becomes a prisoner in her own mind at first you see the different characters introduced which makes you second guess who is to blame for what we are seeing making you think that Kate may well not be going crazy after all. I felt that it’s here that the film begins to lose itself a bit as most of what happens isn’t really explained well and you descend into confusion as you try to get your head around the plot, for example as Kate turns almost feral there’s little explanation into the situation and most of the action happens because it has to and not because it naturally would do.
I sat through the film just waiting for a blood thirsty rampage that unfortunately never really materializes, there are bloody scenes but it just feels a bit damp and not as good as it could do.
I personally felt the actors did well, Beth Dover came across well as the lead with the supporting actors coming together to support the story, but it was the overall telling of the story I felt was a bit lost. The ending held so much promise but I personally felt it fell short of what I would expect, I would almost say it was a bit tame for a horror film. I like Joe Lo Truglio as an actor but felt his directorial debut fell short, I wouldn’t say it was mainly down to him as the film is pretty well shot it may be more down to my personal expectations.
Verdict
A pleasant enough watch but ultimately the execution fell short of expectations. Those hoping for a psychological horror will be disappointed but the film is saved by its talented cast.
⭐⭐
