SOFREP Movie Review: BUNKER (2023) A Low-Budget Dive into Psychological Warfare Falls Short – SOFREP News Team
BUNKER is a bold attempt to capture the psychological warfare of trench life within the confines of a subterranean cell.
The film’s claustrophobic setting and the slow-burn tension are elements familiar to anyone who has studied the strategic and operational impacts of confined spaces on combat effectiveness. How it f-ed up a soldier’s mental state in one way or another. The US military has training grounds where we test selected soldiers to see how well they operate in confined spaces. It’s like being a rate in an underground maze, not fun at all.
Here’s what we think about BUNKER.
This actor looks way too clean to be living in a World War I bunker. I’m not buying it.
Plot Summary
BUNKER is a horror flick set in the chaos of World War I. A group of American and British soldiers get caught in a nasty ambush and have to hide out in a creepy underground bunker. But here’s the twist: they bring a German prisoner of war (POW) along for the ride. As they dig deeper into the earth, they realize they’re not alone. Some seriously freaky stuff starts happening, coming to a realization that it’s not just the war messing with their minds now.
A Spotlight on the Mental Battles of War
The director’s choice to focus on the characters’ psychological deterioration is a commendable departure from more conventional war film narratives.
BUNKER, set towards the dusk of World War I, successfully conveys the sense of isolation, paranoia, and the erosion of sanity that often plagues soldiers in prolonged, confined environments.
pacing, while appropriate for building suspense, could have been more dynamic to reflect the unpredictable nature of warfare.
Not to mention how the inclusion of a supernatural element, while adding a horror element, diverts focus from the core themes of human endurance and the psychological complexities of combat.
BUNKER is a bold attempt to capture the psychological warfare of trench life within the confines of a subterranean cell.
The film’s claustrophobic setting and the slow-burn tension are elements familiar to anyone who has studied the strategic and operational impacts of confined spaces on combat effectiveness. How it f-ed up a soldier’s mental state in one way or another. The US military has training grounds where we test selected soldiers to see how well they operate in confined spaces. It’s like being a rate in an underground maze, not fun at all.
Here’s what we think about BUNKER.
This actor looks way too clean to be living in a World War I bunker. I’m not buying it.
Plot Summary
BUNKER is a horror flick set in the chaos of World War I. A group of American and British soldiers get caught in a nasty ambush and have to hide out in a creepy underground bunker. But here’s the twist: they bring a German prisoner of war (POW) along for the ride. As they dig deeper into the earth, they realize they’re not alone. Some seriously freaky stuff starts happening, coming to a realization that it’s not just the war messing with their minds now.
A Spotlight on the Mental Battles of War
The director’s choice to focus on the characters’ psychological deterioration is a commendable departure from more conventional war film narratives.
BUNKER, set towards the dusk of World War I, successfully conveys the sense of isolation, paranoia, and the erosion of sanity that often plagues soldiers in prolonged, confined environments.
pacing, while appropriate for building suspense, could have been more dynamic to reflect the unpredictable nature of warfare.
Not to mention how the inclusion of a supernatural element, while adding a horror element, diverts focus from the core themes of human endurance and the psychological complexities of combat.
For a film aiming to examine the psyche of war, the character development falls short, too. Honestly, the movie is creepy but not very engaging.
The soldiers remain stereotypes rather than fully realized individuals, limiting the audience’s ability to empathize with their struggles. They are shells that need to be filled with human qualities.
A more nuanced exploration of their backgrounds, motivations, and interpersonal dynamics would have enriched the film.
And did I mention the clumsy dialogue sprinkled here and there? It has its potential, but it can be pretty mind-numbing by the mid-section of the film and especially dreadful in the last 10-15 minutes of the film. But it’s just my personal opinion. One reviewer said, “This is like watching a bad M. Night Shyamalan movie.”
The running time of the film is quite a stretch, I believe – running about a hundred and forty-seven minutes – making its painfully predictable conclusion even more painful.
While Bunker offers a unique perspective on the horrors of war, it ultimately falls short of its potential.
It’s a film that could have benefited from a more rigorous examination of the tactical and psychological realities of combat. But, I feel, that was not it’s intent. It’s a low-budget “thriller” from start to finish that just happens to be set during World War I, because, well, I guess that’s a believable setting to have bunkers.
Still Worth a Watch… If You’re Looking for Something Easy to Digest and Have Low Expectations
Despite its flaws, the film still has moments that make it worth watching. It effectively highlights the enduring human spirit in the face of adversity, driving home the grim but true cliché: War is hell.
BUNKER was directed by Adrian Langley and written by Michael Huntsman. It stars Eddie Ramos, Luke Baines, Sean Cullen, Roger Clark, Julian Feder, Kevin Tanski, Patrick Moltane, Kayla Radomski, and Quinn Moran, among many others.
Check out the trailer below.
This war psychological thriller was released in limited theaters on February 24, 2023, and you can watch it for yourself via streaming services: Amazon Prime or Apple TV.
Rotten Tomatoes gives it 11% on the Tomatometer. At SOFREP, we give it one and a half hand grenades out of five.
—
Disclaimer: SOFREP utilizes AI for image generation and article research. Occasionally, it’s like handing a chimpanzee the keys to your liquor cabinet. It’s not always perfect and if a mistake is made, we own up to it full stop. In a world where information comes at us in tidal waves, it is an important tool that helps us sift through the brass for live rounds.
