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While I’m admit it’s rare, there are times I find myself asking “Just who was this picture made for?”
See, the point of storytelling has been – and should always be – to craft a meaningful yarn built to embrace the widest audience possible. Certainly, there’s always room to stray a bit of that path – if the film is meant to be more educational in nature – and there should still always be just enough space for folks both in front of and beyond the camera to inject the effort with a little something extra, a little chutzpah, an air of freshness. Ultimately, if a team has assembled a work of art that’s essentially intended just for their little group, then it runs the risk of being ignored or completely misunderstood outside on one’s personal or professional circle. This doesn’t mean releasing it to the public-at-large is a bad idea; but those involved should be prepared for the disappointment if the critical consensus winds down to a confusing sense of “Well, what was that all about?”
Now, I’m not saying – definitively – that this is the kind of picture Bunker Heights (2026) is. Written by, directed by, and starring Drew Fortier, I’ll conclude that most definitely it was a loose vanity project – you can’t have that measure of involvement and not have some personal investment in there – and the film surprisingly meanders along at a reasonable pace (there’s some bloat) to what might be best described as … well … acceptable entertainment. Though it suggests in spots that it might be trying to say something about a specific time and/or place, the story still gets a bit bogged down in nothingness to the point wherein I just didn’t quite care for how it all tied up and/or what it all meant.
Mind you: I think it was made for a certain audience. I just don’t think that audience was you or me.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …”
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A savage collision of crime, comedy, and creature horror unfolds when corruption, violence, and something monstrous emerging beneath the city streets plunge Bunker Heights into chaos.”
Growing up in a small town has advantages.
For instance, a classmate of mine had a huge desire to go into filmmaking; and his parents at one point gifted him what I believe was an 8MM camera. Instead of just documenting little-to-nothing and experimenting with the thing, he chose to gather some friends together every now and then and actually produce a zero budget epic, something loosely strung around a few story points that his makeshift cast would then pick up and run with. These weren’t any heavy hitters by any estimation; and yet we could still get together as a group some weekday eve and laugh at these finished ‘motion pictures’ entirely because that’s why and how they were made. It was all good fun.
2026’s Bunker Heights from Drew Fortier feels like it could’ve been the same thing but on a much grander scale. Arguably, there’s much more story than our humble group would ever have attempted – small town politics, broadcast news shenanigans, some secret government monster-making facility, and a tired police veteran who has grown tired of trying to fit the pieces together with a sense of justice – but the overall milieu remains the same. Throwing the monster business into the mix is, most likely, the only element here that has a significant chance at hooking an audience wider than those involved; and yet in the end there’s so little of that goodness that those who do find this are probably still going to be disappointed.
As for the story: an unfortunate labor strike of the police force has the already overworked Derek Tucker (played by Fortier) quickly moving up the ladder (whether he likes it or not, much less being qualified or not) when some gruesome murders look to involve a murderer something more than human. Hotshot reporter Julia Stevenson (Hannah Fierman) will stop at nothing to get the inside scoop if for no other reason than it’ll be her ticket out of the dead end Bunker Heights has turned out to be. Eventually, circumstances require the two to work together; and alongside the somewhat wacky Doctor Young (Paul T. Taylor) they’ll make a stand against an emerging threat of undead mutants who are hungry for human flesh in just the way undead mutants always are.
Now, if you can’t tell, then let me assure you that this is all intended to be more than a little tongue-in-cheek. While a few of the players muster a bit of seriousness, their candor likely is only being used to build to a punchline that’s forthcoming; and – if you’re patient – then you’ll reach each of the modestly telegraphed jokes as they unfold in perfunctory fashion. Because this is an obviously micro-budgeted affair, it’s important to just sit back, munch some popcorn, and go with the flow: it isn’t so plain that you feel like you’re a hostage being forced to watch the comedy and drama unfold, but there’s still an ample bit of bloat that could’ve been trimmed to make Bunker Heights a leaner machine than what’s chucked in between the opening and closing credits.
However, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that I’d somehow stumbled into one of those informal screenings of my youth. Because I wasn’t there to participate in the glorious process of throwing it together, I didn’t quite get all of the punchlines, nor did I understand why all of these misbegotten souls could be jammed into a single space at a single time. Sure, I’ll give credit where credit is due and say that Fortier understood the assignment well enough to delineate every narrative beat in his script. But when the film closes on a moment which appears to have been an outtake, it destroyed the experience so criminally that I felt more like an unwelcome voyeur than I did a welcome member of the audience.
Bunker Heights (2026) was produced by Bellini Industries. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at MVD Entertainment Group. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that this independent production still boasts some very, very, very solid sights and sounds: a few sequences could’ve used better sound support – some garbled words, some obvious dips in volume – but none of that is all that distracting. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? This two-disc set contains two cuts of the film along with a ‘making-of’ documentary that definitely proves that this was a group effort, one wherein a good time was likely had by all involved.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
There are times when it becomes difficult to have something significant to say about a picture; and, sadly, that’s the bottom line with Bunker Heights (2026). On the surface, it certainly appears to be a labor of love from those who both dreamed it up and brought it to life; and yet it’s hard to dismiss that nagging question at the back of the brain that kept asking, “Was any of this necessary, though?” Performances are adequate, and the practical effects – what little there are – are convincing enough in an old school style of presentation. But when you choose to end your motion picture with what seems to be an outtake – with what’s best suggested to be an inside joke that we, the audience, aren’t privy to – then it kinda/sorta leaves an impression that this was all done for us and not for you, meaning no one cared whether we showed up or not. A strange brew, indeed.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at MVD Entertainment Group provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Bunker Heights (2026) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ