Theatrical Poster
The director of R-Point brings us his latest Army-based horror with The Guard Post. The story of a group of marines sent into the titular post after they fail to report back to HQ. Upon arrival they find a bloodbath, bloody corpses scattered all over with one Axe-wielding marine left in a frenzy – he’s soon dispatched and the crew have until 6AM to find out what the hell happened before all of this is brushed under the rug by management.
It isn’t long before they stumble upon another survivor, who will only talk once he’s away from the building, too bad that a landslide has blocked the exit and he’s forced to remain behind. Weird things soon start to occur and the marines are getting themselves perished one by one; he finally gives us his account of what happened to him and his fellow men and it sounds a hell of a lot like what is happening to this current crop of soldiers.
The Guard Post isn’t as classy as R-Point and lacks the cross-over appeal that movie had, what we have here is a straight up horror film: bloody, dark and tense; it’s a film for the horror crowd. It’s way too long for its own good though and the middle section drags on for too long with numerous flashbacks to the crew who manned the post previous. The start and the finale are both excellent examples of Kong Su-Chang’s talents as a director, if he was able to match this talent while scribbling his stories this could have been as special as R-Point.
As is, it’s a good example of the Korean industry trying to move away from the J-horror influences that have plagued it’s genre fare since day one. It’s an accomplished failure that hints to a better movie in the future once Kong learns to tighten up his scripts and work out his pacing.
Solid acting and the overall production are of the usual high-standard you’d except from the Korean industry, yet it’s let down by a week script. Genre fans will find a lot to admire in the film; from the blood and gore to the dark, rain soaked visuals that drive up the tension. Others will find their minds wondering as the film slumps and seemingly comes to a stop as we are bombarded with peripheral characters that mean nothing to us. It won’t be rated as highly as R-Point, but it will certainly entertain you enough to want to see Kang’s next project.
As a quick side note, none of the extras on this disc featured English subtitles.
