Dog Soldiers just goes to show that you dont need a massive budget and bombastic special effects to make a purely enjoyable movie (does'nt it Micheal Bay?) This is honestly the best werewolf movie out there, second maybe only to Underworld, but to tell you the truth I enjoyed this just as much, maybe more.
The werewolf effects are entirely anamatronic and done with suits and pupeteers, but as with alien, it adds that effect of them not being CG. They are really there, in the frame with the actors trying to eat them alive. The werewolves are tall, scruffy and lanky, they kinda look a little shaky, but the camera isnt ever focused on them for very long, making fast paced and frightening action sequences.
Dog Soldiers also features top notch british humor, with dozens and dozens of fantastic funny one liners and comments peppering the carnage. But what is so great about them is that as enjoyable as they are, and as much as you get to like the characters, it never ever takes away from the grizzly atmosphere of being stalked and hunted by bloodthirsty lycanthropes.
Be warned, this is a gory one. Not outlandish sick-for-the-sake-of-being-sick gore, but well done and effective violence. Another thing it does well is actually makes you give a shit about the characters. Giving them genuine personality instead of just obviouse attempts at giving them quirks designed to make you feel pity makesit that much better.
This is truly a great werewolf movie, and I reccommend it to fans of british humor, army humor, monster movie lovers, werewolf movie lovers, gore heads movie enthusiasts and everyone inbetween. Except, you know, for kids and wussy people.
Justins Best Bit: Sean Pertwee as Sarge delivers most of the best lines. "We are now, up against, live, hostile targets. So, should little red riding hood show up with a bazooka and a bad attitude I expect you to tune the bitch." Also, the sequence of Spoon vs werewolf is absolutely awesome. How many guys take on a werewolf bare knuckled and beat the living snot out of it? Spoon is one of my all time favorite heroes for that. Champion.
Being a huge fan of The Descent, I couldn't resist the opportunity to check out Neil Marshall's debut when it aired on the SciFi Channel. Sufficed to say, it was a helluva lot like the sort of horror movies that are a staple of the channel's Saturday-afternoon lineup, only with one major difference: Quality. Quality acting, and quality craftsmanship of something that could've been turned to shit in the hands of someone like Uwe Boll.
The characters were developed in an introductory scene, similarly done in The Descent. Getting the development out of the way left room for plenty of action when the werewolves attacked and high tension waiting in-between those attacks. By "action", I don't mean any of the bombastic Hollywood sort. I mean the "Man in Camo vs Man in Wolf-Suit" kind of action.
The whole film has that kind of "making a movie in your backyard with your friends" sort of feel that the best of Kevin Smith's comedies usually have. It's just a horror movie this time around, and a damn fun one at that.
my brother bought this film for me when i was really ill, (along with the original amityville horror) and we sat and watched dog soldiers and we couldnt believe how good it was, it was low budget and the werewolves looked a bit iffy, but you dont see them that much, so it's mostly up to your imagination. i dont really watch werewolf films because i think theyre usually so far fetched. but this one was worth the time.
Neill Marshall comes from nowhere and shows Hollywood (Wes Craven, I'm talking to you) how to do a werewolf movie. Bunch of squaddies on a training exercise run into a group of werewolves. Simple idea, brilliantly executed.
My boyfriend owned a copy. And had me watch it one night. I thought it looked stupid. But once it really got started, It was really good. alittle on the gorey side. But really good.
Cooper: "Go on then Bruce, what scares you? Bruce: The self-destructive nature of the human condition. Spoon: You're just taking the piss now. Cooper: What about you, Spoon? Spoon: Castration. Cooper: There's no argument there. Joe? Joe: Only one thing guaranteed to put the shits up me: a penalty shoot-out. Cooper: Figures. Terry? Terry: Watching a penalty shoot-out... with Joe. Bruce: What about you, Coop? Cooper: Spiders. And women. And... spider-women."
When Dog Soldiers was released in the UK, six years ago, it came out with so little fanfare that the majority of true, natural born horror fans almost missed it; which would have been a terrible shame indeed, considering the pure unadulterated quality this film contains. Instead, thanks to this film and the Blair Witch Project, my calm and reasoned psyche is now forever scarred in such a way that even thinking of staying in forests at night makes my skin physically crawl off my body in search of the nearest metropolitan area, possibly as some form of independent survival instinct. That's how good Dog Soldiers is.
As I understand it, when you're in the military of any nation, the top brass like to send the squadies out into completely uninhabited areas to play at being soldiers. I believe this is called 'training', or some other military terminology, like 'bunker' or 'second front'. In Dog Soldiers, Sgt. Harry Wells (Sean Pertwee) and his squad of 5 are dropped in the middle of Scotland's woodland on such an expedition, much to the displeasure of every member of the squad, who all had better things to do with their weekend than walk through acres of Scottish timber in the freezing cold.
If only that were the least of their problems... you see, it turns out that there's a reason that part of Scotland is pretty sparsely inhabited, and it has nothing to do with the area's lack of cable access or good satellite reception. Instead, it comes in the form of a number of big, hairy, angry and dangerous inhabitants. Werewolves. Spads of them, in fact. After a couple of less than successful encounters with their furry pursuers, and a more useful encounter with a helpful researcher named Megan (Emma Cleasby), the battered soldiers make it to the only house in the area, there to muster their defences till help arrives.
What also bears mentioning is the presence of a second British unit in the area, some special forces whose encounter with the werewolves is a spectacular failure, and whose only survivor, Cpt. Ryan (Liam Cunningham) is about as trustworthy as one of those 'I wish to deposit 8 Hundred Billion Dollars in your bank account' e-mails. For his own safety, Cpt. Ryan is forced to shelter with Wells' squad and the stage is set for the majority of the film. House. Men with guns. Lots of Werewolves. By the time we'd reached this point a scant 30 minutes into the film, I knew I'd found a new favourite.
Dog Soldiers, a title that is either brilliant or incredibly stupid (I haven't decided which), is director Neil Marshall's (The Descent) first feature film, a horror/action film that happens to be a frisbee full of fun. It's derivative (take your pick: Aliens, Predator, Night of the Living Dead, American Werewolf in London, heck, even Braveheart), but at least it's a wide range of rip-offs - smart, non-insulting rip-offs. And a major plus in its pocket is that Dog Soldiers belongs to the "we stay and fight" school of horror, instead of the "we flee and shriek like Catholic schoolgirls" school right down the road.
As you might have noticed, it's hardly an original premise - it's Aliens, or Assault on Precinct 13, or even Zulu. However, the performance of the various squad members (including Kevin "Lucius Vorenus" McKidd as Pvt. Cooper), as their desperation increases and their ammo runs low keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. And unlike the films it obviously draws references from, sandwiched nicely in between the intense terror and desperation moments are thinly spread layers of black, typically British comedy, like a perfectly made sandwich, if the bread was the terror... and, well, you know what I mean.
Whether it's the back and forth banter of the soldiers as they bicker about meaningless trivialities, or some truly inventive battlefield surgery (I'll never look at superglue the same way again), the bits of this film that didn't have me gripping my seat arms had me rolling in the aisles instead. However, the ushers quickly came in and asked me to stop, so I settled for just chuckling to myself. It's not all wine and roses though. The plot, as I've said, is fairly derivative, and the twists, such as they are, aren't particularly inventive or hard to predict. However, if you've gone to watch this film for plot twists or originality, you're probably missing the point. As a no-frills, unpretentious "survival horror" film, Dog Soldiers provides a nice twist on a popular genre, with a bunch of good acting and some non-CGI-pure-make-up werewolves as well.
Be warned, however, that the effects aren't for the weak of heart or stomach. It can get a little gory at times, and there's internal organs all over the place in some scenes. Also, as you would expect from squadies in this situation, the language is pretty coarse from the get go - some grounded in British slang, some all-purpose swearwords, but all pretty offensive if you don't like that sort of thing.
However, I'd be remiss in mentioning the one other thing in this film's favour before ending this review. Dog Soldiers, as well as being bloody good on its own merits, has earned a special place in my heart for establishing a new cinematic record: 'The Longest Set-up For A One Line Joke (Which Is Really Funny) In Cinema History'. Showing the kind of mutant dedication EarthlyAlien can sometimes display (as well as a lot of time of his hands), I've meticulously timed this joke - there's precisely 96 minutes between the set-up and the punchline. Whoa.
The best Werewolf flick since Ginger Snaps and a fine début by a director who - mark my words - will give a lot to the Horror genre.
Cooper: "Any questions? Joe: Just the one, Coop. Exactly what is it we're fighting against? Cooper: Megan, do you wanna run it past the boys? Megan: Lycanthrope. Joe: You what? Cooper: That's werewolves to you and me. Joe: You're taking the piss. Spoon: What? It makes perfect sense to me."
Night Of The Living Dead with werewolves instead of zombies (and set in Scotland not the USA). This film contains plenty of horror, action and humour (and loads of profane language).
Gritty, Low Budget, Fake Werewolves, What more could any horror loving fan ask for?
Everything a horror should be along with a good degree of comedy. Suprsingly a very good cast is assembled for this movie too which keeps things slightly in the realm of reality.
Another good werewolf movie. More of a creature feature than Ginger Snaps. No CGI is always good. Sure, it had werewolves AND automatic weapons but it was actually a little too gory for me to really enjoy it.
It's official when the apocalypses comes I'm gonna hang out with a UK military troupe. Between this and 28 Days Later they just seem to have lots of fun in the face of certain death.
Dog Soldiers is about a squad of soldiers trapped in a farm house with a pack of hungry ware wolves trying there best to break in.
Lots of blood and some comedy makes this movie great. My favorite funny part. a man nicknamed Spoon dies, and a fellow soldier then says "there is no Spoon." At least I'm assuming they were going for a joke there.
Was really suprised by this - didn't think i would like it but the characters are likeable and you do get sucked into the storyline even tho its abit mental
One of the best movies i have ever seen, I wanted to see it when i discovered it on dvd a few yrs bk, but didnt get round to buying it, and so, when i discovered a spare copy while doing my work experience i had to have it, so i used my perks to get it. It is my fave movie and I can't wait for the sequel, Fresh Blood (which is meant as a prequel, as it is set before it) I LOE THIS MOVIE...
It was a decent movie standing alone, I liked the monster costumes. However the dialogue was weak in a lot of parts and some of the movie was too similar to many others such as predator, night of the living dead and 28 days later.
This is the film Neil Marshal did before last years excellent The Descent and I must say, I was totally blown away by it! Here as he did in The Descent, Marshal gathers a bunch of people together, gives them alittle back story then lets the mayhem begin and lets the blood flow!! From the opening killing to the last fade out! The dialog by Neil Marshal himself, is tight and controlled and right out of Aliens. Alot of military jargon that won't make alot of sense but fits perfectly here within the context of the plot and sounds good. I like how they explain why this band of soldiers are here, it seems like something the military would come up with to get the better soldier. And the acting is fairly good for a low budget horror fest! Kevin Mckidd (HBO's excellent Rome) does a fine job as the bad ass and Sean Pertwee (from one of my all time favorites Soldier with Kurt Russell) as the sarge is excellent here but its Liam Cunningham as Capt. Ryan who is the real standout as the leader of the failed Special Ops squad. He goes from leader to crying for help back to menacing and pulls it off well. You just can;t wait till he gets his due! And the werewolves actually look halfway decent. There never gonna match The Howling, which is to bad but thats ok, there better then some of the rescent tries and the fact they show them fairly well is refreshing. If there is any critizism of them its that the muzzles never move or show emotion, there more like masks and they never show a transformation? Which is almost a givin in most werewolf movies and would of liked to see what they come up with! Also, the cinematography looks like its right out of a T.V. movie! I can only imagine how good it would of looked with a better budget? But the upside is they don't let up on the gore! From a man being eviscerated and sticking his intestines back in to having heads bitten off! If you like The Descent or Aliens for that matter, you might wanna give this one a try? I don't think you'll be disappointed!
[to attacking werewolf] Spoon: I hope I give you the shits, you fucking wimp. [to werewolf] Spoon: Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.
the moive, when i first saw and read about it, wasnt too bad...till i bought and watch it. the plot was very good to me and the acting was aswell, but man the movie had to have been on a very tight budget becuase the werewolves were so furbar, but i may be a lil biased due to i am a werewolf fan ^///^
all in all, great idea for a movie but could have been redone with a better budget on the werewolf costumes and mannequins.
This recent horror flick didn't quite click with me. And I'm not sure why since I'm a Neil Marshall fan. It had great gore, a fun plot, and some really fun scenes. But for some reason I was bored.
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