Ever since "Aliens" debuted in the eighties, I've been a rabid fan of the once subgenre: Military Horror. A once thoroughly unexplored branch of the general horror genre, films such as "Dog Soldiers" "R-Point" and "The Bunker"--to name a few, have excitedly fleshed out the intersection of military service and funereal goings on.
A veteran myself, I can only laude the writer who understands the suitability of military life as border to the unexplainable and its fertility for forays into the unknown. That said, "The Guard Post" is a two hour tour de force foray into the realms of psychological and brutal corporeal terror.
Presentation is amazing--a grey, iron hard military outpost manned by a handful of heavily armed soldiers daily humping live ammo just a few hundred meters from their enemy counterparts across a no man's land of concertina and landmines. The setting is great: the soldiers of GP 506 were living under immense tension long before their lives diverged into the unknown. Add to that brutal South Korean military taditions, accidental fire on enemy postions, and the stage is set for even a unit of elite paratroopers to come unglued at the drop of a spent shell casing.
Some of the imagery alone is brutal enough to get you out of your seat, while psychological tension is ratcheted without mercy, building inevitably toward the next "incident". If you love a story that begins with an armed unit in solid control of a ghastly situation, with well armed men sweeping dark corridors where evidence presents of goulish goings on, and continues on toward the at first slow loss of control over said situation, you will thoroughly love this film. Additionally, the subtitles, and foreign sentence structures of an unknown (to most) culture serve to add further tension and alienation during the experience.
While long for a horror film, I was continually watching the play time bar, willing it to slow down. This one is a great find, a gem among scores of so so to downright unwatchable films of the genre, and after viewing this one, I want more!
A veteran myself, I can only laude the writer who understands the suitability of military life as border to the unexplainable and its fertility for forays into the unknown. That said, "The Guard Post" is a two hour tour de force foray into the realms of psychological and brutal corporeal terror.
Presentation is amazing--a grey, iron hard military outpost manned by a handful of heavily armed soldiers daily humping live ammo just a few hundred meters from their enemy counterparts across a no man's land of concertina and landmines. The setting is great: the soldiers of GP 506 were living under immense tension long before their lives diverged into the unknown. Add to that brutal South Korean military taditions, accidental fire on enemy postions, and the stage is set for even a unit of elite paratroopers to come unglued at the drop of a spent shell casing.
Some of the imagery alone is brutal enough to get you out of your seat, while psychological tension is ratcheted without mercy, building inevitably toward the next "incident". If you love a story that begins with an armed unit in solid control of a ghastly situation, with well armed men sweeping dark corridors where evidence presents of goulish goings on, and continues on toward the at first slow loss of control over said situation, you will thoroughly love this film. Additionally, the subtitles, and foreign sentence structures of an unknown (to most) culture serve to add further tension and alienation during the experience.
While long for a horror film, I was continually watching the play time bar, willing it to slow down. This one is a great find, a gem among scores of so so to downright unwatchable films of the genre, and after viewing this one, I want more!