Dog Soldiers - My Own Impressions

[Despair]

Well, I first heard about this film, a few months ago, while reading a new issue of Fangoria. There it was, an article about this British made soldiers vs werewolves in the highlands of Scotland. No CGI, No laughs, just plain old make up FX, animatronics, body suits and lots of gore. That news really brought the smile to my face, since I loe werewolf films. The Howling, American Werewolf in London, Silver Bullet are all great examples of cool werewolf horros, and we are long overdue for some good entries into the genre.

So, After finishing up the article, I decided to look for more info about this film. I went to the films page, and there they had alot of neat info on the cast and story, lots of pics, and some cool trailers to download. After watching those, my enthusiasm about this film grew even more. I found out that the film will be coming to US this Fall courtesy of Artisan, but what was even better, that SciFi channel picked it up for the world premiere, and it would be shown this June.

I was excited and posted the info on TNL boards, told our local wolf expert Werewolf , and went through my Cable Guide looking for premiere date. And there it was, but as with many other things in my life, I MISSED IT !!!! I was really upset of the fact, especially after reading some impressions of it on TNL courtesy of BioMechanic, and then I found out that by the fan demand SciFi will have few more showings next month. Come July, I was all ready to record it, but my curse stuck me again, I frikin miss took the time of the showing, and instead of 6 pm I turned it on around 8 pm. Well, I was able to catch the last 5 minutes of the film, and it was very cool, but it made me self angry even more. So I sweared that I WONT miss the last time it was on the schedule. Days passed, and I was ready, tape was in the VCR, speed was selected, and my finger was itching to press REC button But dont fear, this story does have a happy ending right in the classic Hollywood tradition - The time of showing came, and I got the movie.

So, I managed to find some time in my busy everyday schedule and watched this film. So without further unnecessary coments, we wil get right to the point

The film starts in the classic way of many horror films before it. In the wilderness, a young couple is spending their vacation haveing fun and enjoying life and each other. But their happiness doesnt last long, as their tent gets attacked by the unseen creatures. They both meet the grisly end, and the movie proceedes to the main point of the story. A group of soldiers on their training excercise, just a war game against better trained special ops unit. But once they start their mission, they encounter the remains of the army camp with lots of blood and gots, and no bodies. And then the night comes, and with it come WEREWOLFS. Who will survive and who will perish. Watch it to find out

The film was very fun. Even though the story borrows the motif of small band of people against the unknown force, it implemented really well. There are many suspensful moments, woods are genuinly creepy, and so are the creatures, hidden in the fog and dark of the night. The sets were nice, especially for the low budget of the film, and actors did a good job with their characters, and most of the characters were likable and it was sad to see them die.

But the biggest attraction of the film are the creatures. I love when director is not afraid to show more of the beasts, and here werewolfs take a front stage. No fake looking CGI here, all the props, suits look great, and many times in the film, you can see the werewolf in its natural glory. These creatures are deadly and vicious. And they just dont want to die Lots of cool fx, decapitations, stabbings, bitings and regular blood related mayhem. I couldnt believe my eye on how much gore, the Scifi channel left out, it was bloody as hell The language was edited though, but it wasnt my prime concern. I'm sure, it will all be back on the DVD version, that comes out this October, and probably more.

There were a lot of action in the film, lots of gun fire, explosions, shotgun blasts and even human vs werewolf hand to hand match. All of it done in the pretty cool way, and very fun to watch. The music score was nice, involving, somewhat heroic in parts, and not distracting from the movie creepy mood.

At the end, I really enjoyed it. It was like a blast of energy, its been a while since I watch such entertaining and deliciously bloody film, especially one about werewolves

So, If you are a horror fan, or looking for some cool horror/action in style of Aliens, keep your eyes open for this film. Come October, dont forget to either rent, or buy the dvd of and have fun watching it.

[Korian]

Thanks for the impressions Despair. Why would they show a watered down version on cable that might eat into Movie profits? Well it seems cool I had no idea it was on Sci-Fi.

I'll see it in the theatres but might hold off from watching the tv version.

[EvilMog]

I liked that the werewolfs werent cg at all. It looks far more realistic than any cg. I'm actually getting sick of seeing cg. It ALWASY looks fake. It can be cool, but always has that fakie look.

[Despair]

Actually, I was REALLY surprised to see how much blood and gore was kept in the film. It had like twice of much blood RE film had, and we are talking about edited TV version, not the full cut of the film !!!

[Werewolf]

Glad you liked it, I enjoyed it myself since it was one of the better werewolf films I have seen... would have been better if the werewolves weren't the bad guys though Still pretty cool though