Once upon a time (2002), Hollywood thought that scary movies were a good thing. British cinema wanted to keep up, and so they too started filming what they thought was scary. Cue Dog Soldiers.
Dog Soldiers is a werewolf film, where some soldiers head to some randomly scary part of Scotland to do some military exercises. Sadly, werewolves are found to be in the area, and the squad, along with a random zoologist, have to survive the night before becoming either very furry or food…
Generally speaking, it’s quite a mediocre horror film. The acting of Sean Pertwee, Emma Cleasby and Liam Cunningham happens to be pretty good. The rest of it just seems to let them down.
For a start, we have a random zoologist that just “happens” to be in the area, whom turns into a semi-”Damsel In Distress” surrounded by her would-be protectors. This is cliché, and it doesn’t work in this setting.
Secondly, we have a scene where a soldier plays a game of Tug of War with a dog. Using the solder’s own intestines.
Yes, his own intestines.
Did we really need this? Whom thought this was a good idea!?
Thirdly, we seem to have stumbled upon the worst ever transformation into a werewolf ever. One guy feels unwell, hides under a table, claws the top of the table with his unchanged hand, the hand goes back under the table, then the table gets thrown out of the way by a suddenly standing and fully changed werewolf.
In the recent climate of special effects and technical wizardry, why exactly did this happen? I’m sure I’ve seen better and more visual versions on TV and older films…
Taking these three things along with others into account, watching Dog Soldiers with the family turns from a scary night into an unintentional comedy masterpiece.
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