I was looking forward to watch DOG SOLDIERS ever since I read a very favorable article about it in a British horror film magazine. When I spotted the DVD here on amazon, I immediately ordered it.
DOG SOLDIERS revolves around a squad of British soldiers on a training mission in the Scottish highlands. Soon strange things start happening. They encounter a badly wounded Special Operations officer, whom they take with them. Attacked by werewolves, the squad suffers the first casualties but manages to make a narrow escape with the help of a young woman. After reaching a remote farm, things turn from bad to worse when their car is destroyed by their devilish furry foes. Besieged, with no radio or phone connection, despairetly trying not to panick and running out of ammo, a fierce fight ensues with the almost invincible werewolves…
WOW! WOW! And again WOW! To my point of view DOG SOLDIERS is one of the greatest horror films of all time, exceptionally well written, fastpaced with a strong storyline and likeable characters, who are not the mere monsterfodder as usual. You actually care for the sympathetic guys ( with the exception of the special operations officer ). It is a real pleasure to watch a fright flick without the usual cast of annoying teens. I also found it refreshing that DOG SOLDIERS lacks the silly humour considered indespensable by so many directors. The plot is very inventive and makes good use of the locations. DOG SOLDIERS is relatively violent and gory ( the disembowellment of the sergeant made me wince) but it is not splatter for splatter’s sake. And a horror movie without CGI is a real viewing pleasure in itself.
Some remarks on the DVD:
You can choose between a widescreen and a fullframe presentation. As for extras, you have an audiocommentary, a featurette and two trailers, the international and the domestic one. The international one is widescreen, quite good, but gives away too much of the film, while the domestic one is presented fullscreen and doesn’t do the film justice.
Every few years a horror film comes along that simply wows genre fans. Maybe it has something to do with awesome gore effects, or a better than average plot, or great performances by previously unknown actors; it might even resemble something like “Dog Soldiers,” a recent film that contains all of the above mentioned attributes along with a nifty reworking of one of horror’s old touchstones: the werewolf story. Whatever it is that makes a horror film stand out, we need more movies that look like this one. “Dog Soldiers” seemed to come out of nowhere, like manna from heaven feeding weary horror fans slogging through the deserts of slasher film retreads and the recent trend of mediocre remakes. The fact that this gripping take on the werewolf legend comes from the British Isles makes it even more remarkable. The misty climes of the Scottish highlands are the perfect setting for such a bleak movie. Remember how successful “An American Werewolf in London” was when it took place in the same bleak atmosphere? You get that type of oppressiveness in “Dog Soldiers” as well.
No one really believes in werewolves anymore. The whole business about people changing into bloodthirsty wolves when a full moon comes out just doesn’t seem as scary in a world of serial killers and terrorism. And shooting a beast through the heart with a silver bullet or stabbing them with a silver blade? C’mon! Something as easy as that wouldn’t even turn Jason Voorhees’s head for a second! Yep, in today’s world you will need something much more involved than a couple of hairy brutes roaming around in the woods once a month. Fortunately, you get much more with “Dog Soldiers.” How about an entire family of werewolves, a squad of heavily armed soldiers on a training exercise in the wilds of Scotland, and a deserted house in the middle of nowhere? How about a guy brave enough to take on an eight-foot tall werewolf with his bare hands? How about enough gunfire to make “Scarface” look like a Disney film? If you think lycanthropes and assault weapons go together like milk and cookies, you will adore this film.
The plot is seductively simple: a squad of army regulars, including a tough as nails soldier who recently flunked out of SAS training because he wouldn’t shoot a dog, runs into more than they can handle during a routine exercise out in the hills. They uncover a group of SAS troops torn to pieces in the wild, and find only one survivor of the group cowering nearby (who just happens to be the guy who flunked our sturdy hero out of the SAS). This colonel rants and raves about how there are more of “them” then we thought, and how there’s no way to stop them, and other seemingly mad statements. One thing’s for certain: anything that can turn a group of SAS commandos into hamburger would send me running home to mother. The regular army guys recognize this danger, too, and decide to scoot right out of the hills and back to civilization.
Regrettably, whatever attacked the SAS guys suddenly reappears to wreak havoc on our group of heroes. While fleeing through the woods from these shadowy figures, the men stumble upon a vehicle driving along a country lane. As it turns out, the car contains a beautiful young lass who knows all about what’s going on in the woods. It’s werewolves out hunting for the night, she says, and as if to emphasis this point the lycanthropes attack the car. The group manages to get to a nearby house and barricade themselves inside, but the vehicle goes up in flames and now there is no way out until morning. The rest of the film consists of one lengthy combat scene after another, as the soldiers use machine guns, blades, and their bare hands to hold off the group of enraged wolves. Another thing: for some reason best left unsaid here, the werewolves seem to resent the soldiers holing up in this particular house. These guys just cannot get a break.
With the exception of one scene well into the movie that strains the bounds of believability, everything works in “Dog Soldiers.” The characters are interesting and well developed, especially the Sergeant leading the platoon and the rejected SAS soldier. Even the evil SAS colonel who knows much more than he is letting on adds a fun dimension to the film. Throw in literally gallons of blood and gore, gallows humor dialogue, and pacing that fairly grabs you around the neck and you have a horror classic for the ages with this gem. I should also mention that “Dog Soldiers,” at one point in the movie, actually made me jump so high out of my chair that I nearly hit the ceiling. You probably won’t see this shock coming, and I won’t spoil it for you, but if you don’t react in some way when it happens, you’re probably comatose. I salute a movie that can inspire such a jolt in my jaded system. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if “Dog Soldiers” gets a sequel in the near future, if not for any big box office numbers then for heavy rental numbers and enthusiastic praise from many horror fans. I could watch this film again and again without ever getting tired of it, and I think you will like it too if you give it a chance.
