Outpost (2022) User Reviews

There is a dead man up on the toilet and somebody ate his MFn foot

[Howling_at_the_Moon_Reviews · 5/10 · 18 August 2023]

This was an interesting one no doubt. Granted, not without its flaws, but still generally entertaining while also being a pertinent narrative on mental health, the effects of abuse and how it can manifest itself in a multifaceted way.

They had some cool ways of representing her ptsd and hallucinations that pleasantly caught my attention, even though they did start to become a tad repetitive. The pacing was a bit up and down. Sometimes it was on tack and other times it dragged. As a whole the run time felt longer than it was, which i don't think is a particularly great sign.

The story at its core was a solid and semi original concept with an execution that wasn't unsuccessful by any means, but felt like it got a bit messy and predictable and needed some focus/streamlining. Acting all around was fine, passable... definitely felt indie. Lead woman had some nice moments.

Third act was when it really picked up. It got a little silly at times but I appreciated the excitement. It was like this film had an underlying layer of camp to it. I know the main actress is often times cast in comedic roles so maybe that has something to do with it? Either way, I didn't hate it but I do wish it felt a little bit more purposeful or not there at all. Ending left a little to be desired, very open... but for whatever reason I wasn't too mad at it.

At the end of the day this was an intriguing and entertaining indie experience that had some fun twists and turns, some scares and some humor (whether intentional or not haha). The concept was definitely there and along with it came the engagement. These are the kind of indie productions you can tell have heart and effort behind it and they are the ones that should be given a chance. Would recommend.

A movie with a hell of a scenic view and dead people

[HerBrain-i8 · 6/10 · 30 May 2023]

Ok, so full disclosure. I found out that Becky Ann Baker is in this movie. When I saw her in the 1999 mini-series of Stephen King's Storm of The Century, I had a little fan crush on her. Since then, I've seen her in Law and Order and as well as The Good Wife. This movie also has her real-life husband, Dylan Baker who was also in The Good Wife among other things. I also liked Beth Dover as Linda in Orange is the New Black. With those three in this movie, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Kate (Beth Dover) suffers a traumatic and violent attack. This is shown later in flashbacks. It is never explained why this happened or given any context; it just did. Kate decides that she must get away from it all as she tells her girlfriend Nikkie (Ta'Rea Campbell): "I see his face everywhere." She talks Nikkie into calling her brother Earl (Ato Essandoh) who is an Idaho Dept. Of Land Management Forest station supervisor. Kate and Nikkie go to Idaho and meet Nikkie's brother. Kate begs Earl to give her a chance to be a forest service fire spotter volunteer. Earl has a cold sneaking fear that she can't handle it but relents.

Earl takes Kate to her 25' x 25' mountain top fire spotters tower where she will be on duty for 3 months. There is no running water no bathroom (well an ole style out-house on the ground) and nothing around her except an awesome mountain top vista. Earl leaves Kate in charge shaking his head and telling himself this is not going to work. On her first evening in the tower, Kate takes in the view, stretch's out her arms, and heaves a big sigh. Perfect she says. Yeah, RIGHT.

For the first weeks Kate tries to do her best, she tries to keep to the routine laid down with a finger wag by Earl and does OK. Then, well, she starts to hear and see things.

Kate meets her neighbor on the other side of the hill an old widow guy named Reggie (Dylan Baker) who tells her he used to be a fire spotter too. He tells her "You get used to the quiet" (then points to his head) "But it's still noisy".

Kate sees some hikers passing through, makes some more mistakes and Earl tells the station that she has got to come down from up there. Meanwhile Kate meets a hiker Bertha (Becky Ann Baker.) Bertha asks Kate if she can use her out-house and the two get to talking.

OK from this point the movie is a SLOW burning spiral of tension, heavy atmosphere, dread, a slide into madness followed by dead animals with maggots, dead people with bullet holes and axes sticking out of them and things not how they seem.

The movie does a decent job of creating the tension and dread but tends to lose its way about two-thirds through. Granted there is only so much you can do to hold up that atmosphere without revealing all the plot twists and turns. You can tell where everything is going if you watch closely enough and pay attention but only takes so long. It's not complicated.

Everyone did a good job with their parts. Beth Dover was believable and looked comfortable with the material. Dylan Baker was right for the "Old Guy down the hill" who you didn't quite know what to make of. And Becky Ann (Yay) was good too with just the right amount of "creepy". What I really didn't like was the obvious way that all of the characters were introduced as to make them look like that had just killed someone's dog. They had almost a comic shifty eye about them. Mostly when they were around Kate. They all seemed to look at her sideways. It was a little over the top for me.

The ending. It gets VERY violent and VERY bloody ......rapidly. The pieces start to fit and it doesn't take long. That being said the movie kind of, well, shows you the madness and horror, (and it is) and just leaves things in the air. I won't spoil anything but it ends like it began with no wrap-up. Or explanation to what happened "after" it happens.

I will give this a 6 out of 10 not bad but i have seen better.

Not what I was expecting.

[destiny_west · 6/10 · 14 December 2023]

Outpost was not what I was expecting, I had put off watching it for a while but was certainly pleased that I finally sat down to view it. The story is about a woman who has been abused mostly all her life, in adulthood she has a restraining order against her ex partner who is abusive and he breaks the order and attacks her. She survives physically, but mentally she is not coping at all. Seeking a way out, she takes a volunteer job at a fire tower organized through her best friend's brother. What ensues then is the slow decay of her character mentally, as she battles with the seclusion and her trauma memories.

It has a nice twist that rounds off the movie perfectly. I don't want to give any spoilers in that regard. I enjoyed watching it. Give it a go.

Read my comment first before watching!

[haroot_azarian · 21 October 2023]

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!!!!!

This is one of the most pathetic indie films I have yet seen! It is not very complicated and frankly some of the reviews are very off putting.

There is no twist, no mystery, no deep meaning, no unanswered questions.

Basically this is about a woman who apparently was both a physcial and sexual abuse victim. She was sexually abused by a pervert uncle when she was young. And she was physcially abused by a boyfriend.

So she decides she needs a break and get away from it all, and through her friend she manages to land a job as fire lookout in a tower in the middle of nowhere.

Deeply traumatised first she starts hallucinating things and perhaps the loneliness gets to her and she starts seeing and talking to a dead woman.

Next, she loses it completely and goes on a killing and cannibalism rampage.

The ending is not too unclear either. Her friend and her friend's brother the fireman manage to padlock her on top of the tower and they go off.

Psycho is left trapped on top of the tower and it is obvious that backup will arrive and she will either end up getting killed in a hail of bullets or be subdued and carted off to the funny farm. The End.

WHY ALL THE BUGS??

[victorb-155-716313 · 1/10 · 13 November 2023]

Filled with completely unnecessary lingering close-up shots of maggots and insects wriggling around on corpses and food. It absolutely ruined the movie for me. Which is very unfortunate because I was really drawn into the premise of the film.

The characters seemed interesting. The setting felt different and unique.

But the damn BUGS just RUINED it.

If there was an edit that removed all those disgusting and unnecessary scenes, that would be awesome.

Seriously it's very misleading and should come with a trigger warning or something.

Now if you'll excuse me, I feel like I have to go throw up now.

A patchy first effort at best

[glenaobrien · 4/10 · 19 January 2024]

Outpost is one of those films where the trailer is better than the film. It looks like a promising thriller but never really gets off the ground. A domestic violence victim takes a job as a fire watcher in an observation tower in a remote forest location in Idaho. She is (rightly) suspicious of the few men she encounters and her PTSD is blurring the line between reality and nightmare. It looks like the setup for a brave isolated standoff against an assailant but instead it tries to introduce supernatural elements that don't really gel, and, worst of all, revictimises the character by making her the villain of the piece. Writer and director, Joe Lo Truglio (Charles Boyle in Brooklyn Nine-Nine) doesn't manage successfully to tie together the narrative threads of this patchy first effort.

Is isolation a benefit to the traumatized?

[zitajohann · 7/10 · 12 November 2023]

Found this on Prime and hope it gets onto something like Shudder. Definitely better than the 4.6 on imbd, tho Im biased because I love these kinds of psychological horror flicks. Movies like The shining and The thing deal with similar themes of isolation but don't expect anything as bombastic as those, this reminded more of 90s films like Jacobs Ladder. Has a Great outdoor setting and some nice dialogue about nature. I liked the lead and felt her struggle. Ive never seen this actress in anything else so cant say if this kind of role is something new to her. I also really liked the odd supporting characters. As far as 90 min horror/thrillers go this is a fun way to spend an evening. Unfortunately I think the 90min format doesnt work for most viewers today even though I find it to be superior. Get in tell your story efficiently and get out.

Tree porn.

[quothage · 5/10 · 26 October 2023]

I gave this film a chance purely because it was written and directed by Joe Lo Trulio, who I like from Brooklyn 99. On the hole, I suspect that if were not, it would not exist. That is to say, if the average person wrote this, it probably would still be in a word document on someones laptop.

As Kate (the lead character) suffers from flashbacks and hallucinations from a harrowing past, we come to understand her plight. But we're asked to believe that she would seek solitude in a fire watch tower located somewhere in the middle of a mountain range in Idaho by means of escape. I dont think its a spoiler to say that they dont. The synopsis of the movie would have you believe that something darker is going to manifest, but really.. it does not.

The location itself was probably the best bit. It made for some great tree and mountain porn. On the one hand some of the photography (or videography) was fantastic, with some great shots and points of view (mostly of mother nature), it was dragged down by periods of hand held shakey cam with really poor directive choices (mostly of people and action sequences). They gave me an actual physical headache.

While the concepts of abuse, made for a good basis for a story the use of the ideas to drive the narrative just didn't feel cohesive. So for the most part I wasnt sure what I was watching and came very close to quitting before the end. And so, despite the disconnect, the last part of the film was okay (nearing good) and ultimately worth the watch if you can make it past the beginning.

It's a GOOD movie, but you need to go into it blind!

[zombiefan89 · 7/10 · 17 October 2023]

First off, you need to go into this movie completely blind! No trailers! No reviews! Go watch it first!

It's a breath of fresh air for Horror fans! It has a very different plot than most horror movies!

I can't talk about this movie much without spoiling it. Just go watch it!

The acting is good. The characters are fairly well written. Go watch it!

Now on to spoilers.

Plot: The lead character goes nuts and starts killing people after spending several weeks in isolation.

Kate is heavily traumatized from being abused by her uncle and ex-boyfriend.

This results in her losing her grip on reality. Example, she thinks she's killing and eating rabbits, but she's actually killing and eating people.

Sadly, the ending is kind of weak. I would honestly have preferred if Kate was either killed or successfully killed the rest of the characters, with maybe one escaping.

Why don't we get a trauma-affected protagonists' universe on Shudder? [+43%]

[arungeorge13 · 4/10 · 15 December 2023]

This is the second film titled Outpost I'm watching today, and it's safe to say I found this one less enjoyable. 2022 was indeed the year of trauma response protagonists, and here's one more to add to that list. The film's one-liner had enough potential to lure the horror buff in me to watch this, and it did keep my interest levels up during the entirety of the first act. There are things we know (or do not know) about the protagonist, and the frequent intercuts of her abusive ex definitely put some points across. Yet, Kate (an earnest Beth Dover) comes across as a protagonist we can never completely get behind, and her reactions to the new surroundings (and people) scaring her only leave you further confounded. It soon reaches a point where you can trust nothing she sees, hears, or imbibes.

Now, the first act did remind me of this great PC game I played back in 2016 called Firewatch, and the locales, including the watchtower and its isolated (sometimes gory) environs hold your attention, at least initially. But then, the film decides not to go the "natural hazard" route and instead, dives deeper into the twisted mind of its protagonist. As such, we get an unhinged and somewhat punchy final act with a twist that explains certain developments, though the film doesn't feel complete. It just flips the switch, offers the complete grindhouse package, and randomly concludes when the boat still hasn't sailed ashore.

Don't rush. It's a slow burn.

[sarahbuhlman · 10/10 · 30 October 2023]

No pun intended. But seriously. If you want a gore fest and lots of over the top drama, look elsewhere. If you want to watch something about trauma, horror, psychological messed up that we can be, discovery, curiosity, the human psyche, and loss, then you got it. Just go for it. Don't expect some over the top horror experience. But if you are looking for something that is a slower burn, to leave you curious as you watch, good actors, and beautiful cinematography then you got it. This movie isn't a regular horror flick, but hits in the feelings of psychological curiosity and messed-up-ness. Just watch it.

Interesting but flawed psychological thriller.

[dweston-38669 · 27 October 2023]

Beth Dover gives a brave performance as the troubled, abused Kate who goes for a rest by working as a ' fire scout' living in a tower in the wilds of Idaho- its a decent set up to a woman slowly going mad.

What let's it down is the script doesn't give Kate much development to make her want to go on a killing spree in the final act ; I could understand that after years of abuse by her Uncle and her boyfriend she would snap but here it's rather unconvincing- not helped that the audience can tell that the character ' Bertha' is clearly not real.

Every time something unnerving happens I could tell Kate was dreaming, this went on too many times.

It's a interesting set up that needed a couple of script rewrites.

A tense trip in the wilds of the mind.

[doverdale · 8/10 · 23 June 2023]

While watching this psychological thriller, one never knows what is reality and what is hallucination, who is truly present and who is just the ether of imagination. Tension in isolation. Mistrust of unknown people too close for comfort. Who are these people, why are these people, we really never know.

The setting is well thought out as the location is dense forest away from civilization. The acting is gritty, appropriately confusing, and well done. The story allows us to use our imaginations.

Joe Lo Truglio shows us he has a big future ahead both as a writer and as a director. Can't wait to see what he does next.

cRaZy, CrAzY, cRaZy. CrAzY, cRaZy

[dinsmoretrevor · 10/10 · 20 April 2024]

I really liked this picture. It was filmed at a beautiful location, the cast was awesome...solid through and through. They all LOOKED great on film and obviously very experienced. I was fascinated by the device that she used to get the actual locations of fires when and if they arose. The lady, Kate...played by Beth Dover...was a really good main character. The first few people that she had interaction with all seemed normal and fairly sane. LOL Until we meet Bertha...played by Becky Ann Baker. I KNEW from like the second time that we meet her, that something was rotten in Denmark. This is where things start to get fishy as well. This picture turns into a deep thesis in mental illness!! As always, I don't want to give away any of the juicy details...suffice to say that Kate got released from the mental hospital waaaayyyy too early!! Go and buy this one as you will need to watch it plenty more than once!! I gave it a ten of ten for all the crazy wrong turns at the end. You'll LOVE it!! As always, Thanks and ENJOY!!!