The Bunker (2001) - WW2 Horror Reviewed

German Troops Flee Advancing Allies - Only to Face Something Worse

May 17, 2009 Ian Terry

A dependable cast of Brit actors wear German uniforms in this claustrophobic take on the haunted house movie that begs the question: is this the Curse of the Keep?

The Bunker begins in the closing stages of WW2. The once-proud might of the German Infantry is now bullied and battered, forced into retreat from an (unseen) superior American force. As the film opens, we follow the remnants of a platoon as they scramble for the relative safety of a forest outpost.

Once inside and under cover, the troops discover two sole occupants: an old soldier, veteran of the previous war, and a young grunt, barely old enough to shave. Supplies are low, morale even lower; at least, if nothing else, the bunker offers shelter, a place to rest and tend to the wounded.

Then night falls. Something terrible stirs in the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the outpost. As they sleep, the assembled squad are haunted by personal recollections; vague glimpses of potential atrocities. Has this dark past caught up with them?

Uncomfortable Comparisons

It's an enticing idea, if not wholly original - Michael Mann covered very similar territory in the 1983 movie The Keep. That was an obscure, little-seen film, so perhaps the production team behind The Bunker hadn't seen it. If they had, they might've avoided some of the issues that hamper that movie. As it stands, The Bunker falls flat at most of the same hurdles.

A solid cast of familiar British faces (including Jason Flemyng, Jack Davenport and Eddie Marsan) struggle with a script that doesn't expand their characters beyond basic archetypes. An initial war of wills and subsequent rank-pulling between two principals flag who we should root for, who to distrust. Within twenty minutes, the writing's on the wall for all but a couple of the cast. So, when the inevitable foray beneath the bunker happens, we've not been asked to invest any particular care in these people.

Running around in the shadows, they become interchangeable; when they inevitably fall victim to daggers from the shadows, we can't be sure who the victim is, let alone who (or what?) stalks them. Are the tunnel walls haunted? Have the US troops somehow penetrated the bunker defences? Is there a traitor in their midst, murdering them one by one? These should be enticing questions, but the film barely ushers this kind of analysis.

Not So Creepy

What we are left with is a haunted house movie, but one where we can never be sure of the dangers. Moments cry out for a tangible threat; we never glimpse the real-world combatants who chased them into the bunker, but we never see a physical danger inside, either - the bunker itself is played as the monster, dramatised in the tried and tested manner: creaky wooden beams, squeaking, rusty doors, an electrical supply that has the uncanny ability to flicker at dramatic moments (or turn out completely if it serves the plot).

In the end, flashbacks dovetail and fill in the blanks about what happened prior to the opening reel. These closing moments suggest a more interesting story but offer no explanation for the ghostly events that take up half of the movie. This is mostly a drawn-out dip into insanity as the strung-out soldiers turn on each other, running around the same three tunnel sets; what is supposed to be a complex network begins to look suspiciously like the inside of a garden shed.

Summing Up

There's an interesting idea behind The Bunker, just as there was when Michael Mann explored the same territory in '83. Neither film had anything really satisfying to say. In the absence of that, The Bunker should at least entertain on the level of scares and thrills. It doesn't.

Directors like Guillermo del Toro have shown it is possible to create tense, creepy movies with war as a backdrop. Pan's Labyrinth or The Devil's Backbone came later, but either are shining examples of how to do it right.

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The Bunker