The Bunker (2001)

Psychological awesomeness

Although Very different from any WWII film. The bunker does a good job of blending history nis horror.

After hearing of an Allied Assualt headed thier way a band of German soldiers take refouge in an abondon bunker. Soon after they begin to suffer from hallucinations and paranoya. But when they start disappering the Fear gets real. It turns out this is the bunker is the site of the Brutal Murder of Several Allied War Prisoners that none other than the main characters shot. Now they are haunted by the memory of those wronged souls and it may be the end of the line for these men.

Instead of horror the film focuses maily on the paranoya and hallucinations of the soldiers to build up tension until the end where the souls take solid form. I was suprised by the film as i had rented it and expected a crappy thrill. I was corrected. May 31, 2008

Decent but different from what I expected

After reading the synopsis and quite a few reviews I thought The Bunker sounded like a refreshingly different horror flick. I haven't seen a war horror film yet to date and was excited to see what it had to offer. Unfortunately it didn't have too much.

The film is centered around a bunker that is inhabited by an elderly man and a young soldier. As they stand guard inside they hear a knock on the door to find a few soldiers looking for refuge from an enemy attack. Once inside they bigin to learn of underground area that they are warned to steer clear from. The elderly man explains that strange events have taken place down there. From this pointg the film did have a creepy vibe due to the atmosphere which I really enjoyed. The only downside was the story moved a bit slower then I was expecting and never really picked up. I think I was expecting more of a zombie type flick then a psychological thriller. Even at a psychological thriller it didn't have much impact. Overall I would say that this was definately not worth the purchase. It wasn't a complete waste but was definately less then what I expected. April 9, 2008

Great WW2 Horror Movie

This is a great WW2 horror flic. Great story line. If you like WW2 movies and horror movies you will like this. You will watch it again and again. Makes you think what the men went though in these bunkers. Top notch from start to finish. Great movie for the price. January 23, 2008

Plenty of creepy potential, but the film just fizzles in the last half hour

Have you ever put a puzzle together, only to discover that a couple of pieces are missing in the end? It's a bummer, right? You can still see the puzzle image with a good understanding of exactly what it is depicting, but it's still incomplete, and you're left feeling frustrated. That's basically the way I feel about The Bunker. I know what the film is trying to express, and I even understand the story, but I can't get past the missing pieces that would have made the story much more effective. Maybe I shouldn't have started watching it at 3 AM, but I just didn't feel that The Bunker made complete sense toward the end, as it never really threshes out some of its characters and ideas.

The pieces seemed to be in place for a pretty creepy film. It's 1944, and you've got a ragtag group of German army survivors holed up in an anti-tank bunker, with - presumably - American forces all around them and a mysterious, unfinished tunnel system below. Into this mix you also have some disaffection among the troops and some important questions as to what really happened out in the field just before these guys retreated into the bunker. Trapped between an enemy without and an enemy within, the viewer is basically poised to find out just what or who will get to these desperate soldiers first. The fact that two of these soldiers are an old man with a habit of getting things mixed up and a young teenager eager to prove himself just makes things more interesting. As for those tunnels beneath the bunker, all we know is that they were never finished and that there's something decidedly not good about them. The old man tells the story of how a large number of bubonic plague victims were rounded up, slaughtered, and buried there on what then became cursed ground.

Naturally, someone disobeys orders and heads down there, and it's not long before the others are down there seeing what they can find. Soon enough, things start to get really weird. The men hear strange voices, get separated, and begin to lose it - especially one really gung ho soldier. Some of them think the Americans are already in the tunnels and are trying to screw with their minds, while others fear they are being punished by the dead for their sins - for reasons that are gradually revealed in a series of flashbacks to the events immediately preceding their retreat into the bunker. Of course, the dark souls of those once slaughtered there also can't be ignored completely.

With so much going for it, though, the film just sort of fizzles in the final half hour, leaving the viewer with something that barely manages to rise above the level of a bunch of guys wandering through some creepy tunnels. With all of the hard work that went into the film, especially in terms of generating the creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere, you expect a much bigger payoff that you actually get.

This was not a big-budget film, and it is sort of strange for a bunch of German soldiers to speak English with the queen's accent (but much stranger to see a seemingly random mix of English and German signs displayed at different times), but these issues could have been overcome by a really effective storyline. Unfortunately, though, The Bunker just doesn't deliver the goods in the end. It's a good try, though, and is certainly worth watching by anyone with an interest in psychological horror. December 31, 2006

Very enjoyable

I throughly enjoyed watching this movie. It give a little twist on horror films being produced today. It was set back in Germany about a haunted bunker during war time. Very scarey and the atmospheric effects were great for a B horror flick. But, I am a B horror fan that loves a good twist once in a while. I highly recommend this film to all horror fans!!! December 28, 2006

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