Horror Movie Review: Bunker 717 (2022)

Isn’t horror wonderful? I mean what other form of entertainment gives us multiple visual stories about undead Nazi’s in long-forgotten bunkers? Yes, somehow the story of Bunker 717 (aka Deep Fear) is not an original one, not by a long shot, but that doesn’t mean its unenjoyable.

Directed by Grégory Beghin and written by Nicolas Tackian, the film is set in the early 90s and takes place in Paris. Or perhaps that should be under Paris.

Henry (Victor Meutelet) is off to do his compulsory military service in a few weeks, and is friends Sonia (Sofia Lesaffre) and Max (Kassim Meesters) decide its time to have one last wild weekend before he goes. Drink, drugs, a trip under the city to the Paris Catacombs where a group of youngsters are partying hard.

This group, led by Ramy (Joseph Olivennes) love to explore the hidden and lost parts of the catacombs and have recently made a breakthrough into a previously unexplored area. Tonight, with Henry, Sofia and Max in tow, it’s time to see what’s on the other side of the tunnel they’ve dug.

Bunker 717 goes the claustrophobic route here and does a great job of making the deep and dark parts of Paris’ underground a terrifying place. Yet, while the location is what gives it atmosphere, it’s the exploration of other ideas that make it a compelling watch. Ideas surrounding racism and given physical life via a vile group of skinheads. These scenes are extremely tense and done so well that you forget you’re watching a supernatural horror film.

Although that could also be because the film keeps its threat hidden for most of its runtime, choosing instead to focus on the aftermath. An aftermath which is often extremely bloody.

Of course, as entertaining as all of this is, the slow pacing of the film can’t be ignored. Bunker 717 ramps up the tension, but rather than unleash that when it needs to, instead it takes a step back, and with that drags the film down. There’s a point, shortly after an encounter with a group of skinheads in the bunker where the film really needed to introduce its supernatural threat fully, and it doesn’t. That’s frustrating, especially as what we finally get is just… alright. It’s an undead Nazi commander with an undead dog, and the how and why of his continued existence is not really explored, at least in a satisfying way.

That’s not the only unsatisfying thing about Bunker 717 though.

The film is trope heavy and very predictable, including an ending that really should have been smarter. Characters are picked off at random, and story threads that could have made their plights more important, are dropped abruptly. This is what makes Bunker 717 ordinary, even if the acting is good and there was a fair attempt to make this standard story something so much more.

Have you had your fill of bunker Nazis yet? If not, you could do a whole lot worse.