Movie Review: OUTPOST

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: May 23rd, 2023 / 01:07 AM

OUTPOST movie poster | ©2023 Gravitas Features

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Beth Dover, Ato Essandoh, Dylan Baker, Becky Ann Baker, Dallas Roberts, Ta’rea Campbell, Tim Neff
Writer: Joe Lo Truglio
Director: Joe Lo Truglio
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
Release Date: May 19, 2023

At the start of OUTPOST, we hear but do not see a horrendous attack on Kate Riley (Beth Dover), perpetrated by her ex-boyfriend Mike (Tim Neff). Kate tries to go back to work although she’s badly cut and bruised. However, she suffers debilitating hallucinations and has to leave.

Anxious around groups of people and fearful in the city, Kate prevails on her best friend Nickie (Ta’rea Campbell) to put in a good word with Nickie’s brother Earl (Ato Essandoh).

Earl is with the Idaho Lands Department, in a small town where they need a volunteer fire-spotter. The fire-spotter spends July through September watching the wilderness for signs of smoke from a remote mountaintop outpost.

Kate thinks this sounds ideal. She can get back to nature and spend time alone while her psyche heals. She has taken the necessary courses to qualify for the position, so Earl hires her.

Small problems arise early. Earl’s subordinate Ranger Dan (Dallas Roberts) is a bit over-friendly. Kate’s nearest neighbor at the outpost, widower Reggie (Dylan Baker), is eccentric, perhaps harmless, perhaps not. And a couple of random hikers are careless with their campfire.

A bigger problem is that Kate’s hallucinations don’t stop. She is aware that they are hallucinations, but only after they end, and she doesn’t dare ask for help because it will mean losing her fire-spotter job at the outpost, which becomes increasingly important to her.

Director/writer Joe Lo Truglio and lead performer Dover both keep us guessing as to what’s real and what’s Kate’s paranoia. We feel for Kate in her anguish, and empathize with her desire to prove herself. The supporting cast is excellent.

For approximately the first two acts, we’re intrigued as to where this is all heading. There’s a delicate balance between solitude as solace and as self-imposed punishment, even in the beautiful surroundings, and OUTPOST makes a case for both sides.

Then we get a little ahead of where the story is taking us, at about the same time that OUTPOST turns into full-on horror. It’s done well, and we wind up more invested than we might expect in the action. However, it seems a little traditional compared to the build-up. There are also unresolved questions, even though they are made into enigmas with clues and have binary yes/no answers.

OUTPOST includes information on a helpline for survivors of assault and depression, which is an empirically good thing. Its precise mixture of ambiguity and horror conventions hold our attention, but it also seems to be trying to say something, and the message gets muddled in its delivery.

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