The Bunker Game Review

3 stars, when LARPing goes bad.

The Bunker Game is a 2022 horror film with a screenplay by Francesca Forristal and Davide Orsini (The Binding, The Shift). It is a Shudder exclusive directed by Roberto Zazzara in his feature directorial debut.

It is available to stream exclusively on Shudder from 17th March 2022.

“Very little of the world we once knew remains, but that is good. It gives us the chance to start anew.”

The Bunker Game follows a group of Live Action Role Players as they act out a very strange choice of scenario in an abandoned World War II bunker. In this particular game, they are the last remnants of humanity hiding in the aftermath of a nuclear war. In this reality, Germany won the war and interestingly, all these seemingly otherwise intelligent individuals are willingly portraying Nazi’s carrying out a secret eugenics programme in the 1950’s designed to create the 4th Reich. Sounds like a fun weekend away.

Laura (Gaia Weiss – Vikings, Shepherd) has donned a blonde wig to play her part and her untrustworthy boyfriend Greg (Lorenzo Richelmy – The Girl in the Fog, Ride) is the Gamemaster, in charge of the proceedings. She has just discovered that she is pregnant and Greg seems keener than she is to keep the child, but they’re saving that conversation for when they get home to New York.

It’s the last night of the game and they are finishing off with a big party in character. Their revels are disturbed when the lights suddenly cut out and a part of the ceiling begins to fall down. In the interests of safety, the players are told to leave early, while the staff remain behind to oversee the clean up operations. This includes Laura and her cousin Harry (Mark Ryder – The Argument) who she invited along to try it out and who insists on staying with her.

She and the other staff Marcus (Makita Samba – Angelo), Andrej (Tudor Istodor – The Fixer), Robin (Felice Jankell – Black Circle) and Yasmine (Amina Smaïl – Bitter Sugar) soon discover that Greg is nowhere to be found. As strange accidents begin to happen, the main gate out is somehow locked and paranoia starts to set in. Is there really something sinister going on or this all just Greg’s big finale to the game?

“You’re a fine specimen of fertility citizen.”

The Bunker Game is an interesting film, with a good premise. It suffers a bit from vagueness in places, but there are some really good and effective filming techniques employed to create tension. There are several twists and turns and it certainly isn’t predictable.

The story is a little strange and this Role Playing group are very modern and inclusive, they have a black man in a wheel chair and a non binary person, check. Essential to the storyline obviously and very appropriate to portray Nazi’s. Plot holes for P.C. purposes aside, this is a good watch and well worth a look.

“If anything is making you uncomfortable, you can always leave, mate.”

The Bunker Game is available to stream now exclusively on Shudder.