THE GUARD POST

(A.k.a. GP 506)

A Military Police team storm Guard Post 506 - a concrete bunker originally erected during the Cold War but still used as an armed vantage point by the Korean Army.

Making their way through the labyrinthine corridors, they stumble upon the inhabitants of the post … all of whom have been hacked to pieces. Standing over them, axe in hand and covered in blood, is the grinning Ma. When he refuses to drop the weapon, shots ring out.

Enter Noh, a senior officer given the task of investigating the bloodbath. In a great piece of simple exposition, his superior casually tells him that he's only got one night to crack the mystery. The reason for this is that the bunker was being supervised by Yoo - the Army Chief's son. The worry is that, come the following morning, the Chief will order a cover-up.

So off Noh goes into the rainy night with his trusty torch to survey the bunker with the help of Lt Bang and his men. They give Noh the good news: they've located a survivor. The bad news: the survivor is in a coma.

Events become more perplexing when Noh does a headcount of the bodies and realises they are missing one.

The puzzle starts to unravel when Noh finds a soldier's diary and begins to read from it. In flashback form, we see the readings from the diary as they describe the events that led to the gory massacre. It transpires that it all began with the gruesome discovery of Ma feasting on a freshly slain guard dog - and got more warped from there.

Unfortunately some pages from the diary have been torn out, which leaves Noh with crucial blanks. It is initially fortuitous then, when another survivor turns up - none other than Yoo himself. But he is a reluctant witness, attempting to eat the remaining diary pages and refusing to divulge what happened, telling Noh the truth is so unbelievable that he'll have to figure it out for himself.

The plot thickens further still when a DV camera is found with footage introducing a fresh suspect, more flashbacks reveal themselves and tensions mount concerning Yoo's contentious incarceration …

Stylishly lensed and edited, THE GUARD POST is sumptuous to look at with it's considered washed out colour schemes and polished cinematography that keeps it visually stimulating at all times. Atmosphere is thick with eeriness thanks to fine use of light and shade, and the simple but effective art design of the bunker itself.

Performances are solid throughout.

Occasionally grisly but for the most part restrained, THE GUARD POST works efficiently as a good mystery that grips early and keeps the viewer hooked. It's indisputably better than most recent Korean genre efforts.

The film looks glorious in a pin-sharp and expertly contrasted anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer. Colours are naturally saturated while detail is defined and strong throughout.

The original Korean soundtrack is available in 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. Both of these proffer solid and evenly balanced playback. Optional English subtitles are provided.

An atmospheric animated main menu leads into static scene-selection pages allowing access to the main feature via 24 chapters.

Over an hour's worth of bonus features begin with the interesting 31-minute behind-the-scenes documentary "The Briefing Room".

Offering a wealth of genuinely engaging on-set footage, this reveals the shoot to be an incredibly relaxed one, oozing good vines as the crew coolly and professionally pitch together to make their film work.

A 13-minute featurette focussing on the film's set design follows. This is a poorly edited affair that offers very little dialogue but more worthy backstage footage.

An interesting 10-minute look at the film's FX work comes next, followed closely by a further 10 minutes of storyboard-to-film comparisons.

Finally we get three trailers for the film, plus trailers for APARTMENT 1303, DRAGON TIGER GATE, CHOCOLATE, FATAL CONTACT and MONKEY MAGIC.

With its emphasis on intrigue, THE GUARD POST keeps you guessing in a way R-POINT couldn't muster. Recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis