Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are taking a look at a movie from 2023 called Outpost. You may be wondering why I am bothering to review films that are a couple of years old and, to be honest, that’s a fair question. It seems like a bit of a waste of time, doesn’t it?
The truth is, I am struggling to get to new releases at the moment and so I figured I should hit the streaming services. This movie has just been added to Shudder so why not take a look? How bad can it be? The truth is, pretty bad… It can be pretty bad. Outpost is a little bit of a mess.
In fact, it’s such a mess that we put together an Outpost Ending Explained article in case you need answers. Keep in mind, only check out that article if you have already watched the film. Otherwise, stick right here. Let’s take a look.
Isolation Horror But Not
I am quite a big fan of isolation horror. And when I say Isolation Horror, I am not really referring to a specific sub-genre. I’m, simply, referring to movies that feature protagonists stuck in the middle of nowhere, away from civilisation, or isolated from their peers. Take The Interior, for example. So when I read the synopsis of Outpost, I was pretty intrigued. Afterall, the story follows a woman who decides to take on a solitary job manning a remote fire watch station to help her overcome the trauma of recent domestic violence. How much more isolated can you get?
And, yes, things do start out with the promise of lots of lonely encounters with scary things in the middle of nowhere. But it all begins to unravel pretty quickly. Our protagonist, Kate (Beth Dover), speaks to more people, and has more human contact, in one week than a lot of people do in months. Whether its the manager of the local fire watch, Earl (Ato Essandoh), quirky neighbour Reggie (Dylan Baker), Ranger Dan (Dallas Roberts), or any of the other denizens of this remote town. Kate never really feels all that alone.
No Scares
That very specific element of tension, and atmosphere, that comes from isolation is completely missing. I mean, sure, we can assume that Kate spends a lot of time on her own. But director Joe Lo Truglio never goes to any special effort to emphasise that point. So when the obvious effects of this solitude begin to impact Kate, it never feels all that authentic or significant.
The impact is dulled even further when you consider the fact that the viewer has already been bombarded with Kate’s hallucinations and flashbacks for the past half an hour. Emphasising the fact that she was already in a pretty bad place, mentally, before taking this job. It’s easy to feel quite numb to what Outpost has to offer.
And when I say Kate was in a bad place; I mean that the only suitable location for her would be in an environment that can offer her specific mental health treatment. Not stuck up a mountain, somewhere. A fact which severely undermines the character’s motivations and the plot, as a whole. Horror is really not the most accommodating of genres when it comes to careful, considered, depictions of PTSD and Outpost is no different.
Kate is extremely paranoid and frequently hallucinates. A fact which the movie chooses to portray with cutaways to situations that may or may not actually be taking place. This happens over and over again. Getting to the point where it severely disrupts the flow of the movie and the storytelling. These scenes add little and begin to get frustrating very quickly as you never quite know what is real and what isn’t.
Ultra Predictable
It doesn’t help that Outpost is ruthlessly predictable. Thanks to its unsympathetic portrayal of a person suffering from trauma. You will, likely, see where the plot is going very early on. It’s not even that the events are heavily projected. The movie, as a whole, is just not that inventive and it follows a very familiar path to other similar films. The predictability further dulls what is, already, a rather low energy story with few surprises.
The whiplash comes on strong in the final twenty minutes, or so. The once slow, deliberate, pacing is suddenly pushed to one side. Quickly replaced with, what is essentially, a 70’s Grindhouse style action movie. Complete with quick zoom ins to character’s faces and over the top chase scenes. It’s very strange and feels extremely out of place given the drama focus that preceded it. On top of that, the movie just ends in the most abrupt, inconsequential, manner ever. It’s extremely jarring.
On the plus side, acting is pretty solid. Ato Essandoh is excellent as Earl. Beth Dover is decent, as Kate. I enjoyed Becky Ann Baker as Kate’s hiker friend Bertha and Dylan Baker, while a bit awkward as Reggie, is quite good, as well. The location is undeniably great. The fire watch station is a brilliant setting with its entirely glass walls and has the potential for a ton of scares.
There are plenty of nice shots of the scenery and Outpost is a good looking film, as a whole. The location was, however, never used to its potential. There are few night-time scenes, Kate never feels truly alone, and the natural aspect was never at the centre stage of the character’s troubles or fears. This is human drama through and through.
Should You Watch Outpost?
I don’t doubt that some will enjoy Outpost for what it is. But I can’t help feeling a little short changed. I was expecting an isolation horror where loneliness and the elements are the main antagonist. Instead, what I got was a predictable, dull, run-of-the-mill, human drama horror that makes a mockery of trauma sufferers and does absolutely nothing new. The potential here is completely wasted and the last 20 minutes are truly out of place. I can’t recommend Outpost unless you are looking for a fairly mediocre, drama heavy, horror.
