31 Days of Horror: Dog Soldiers

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 1, 2009

Dog Soldiers (2002)

Synopsis: A group of British soldiers on a routine training mission in the Scottish wilderness bite off (or get bitten off) more than they can chew when the enemy is no longer a Limey firing blanks, but a seven foot tall werewolf kicking in your door and tearing your face off.

Killer Scene: This is one of my favorite werewolf movies of all time, I’d say easily in my top four without hesitation, so there is a lot of werewolf goodness to choose from.  For pure balls out fun and violence, my favorite and most memorable scene is one in which the scrappy “Spoon” Witherspoon finds himself without his rifle, so resorts to using common kitchen items to fight off his hairy foe.  When the frying pan fails, Spoon makes a pretty good show of boxing the werewolf. Yes, he beats it around with his fists.  Though I doubt I’m spoiling it when I say that doesn’t end too well.  But I’ll be damned if it’s not awesome.

KillSheet

Violence: When you’re dealing with a powerful beast that can rip your body to shreds, odds are you’re going to get your body ripped to shreds.  The movie pours out a fair amount of blood and racks up an okay body count, but we’re not breaking records.  Look for lots of shooting, limb tearing, and claw ripping.

Sex: There’s a cute woman in the movie, but no sex to speak of.  One couple is mere moments away from doing the deed, when a werewolf decides its time for dinner.

Scares: Dog Soldiers has some tense moments inside the house, but never really aims to scare you.  It’s more of an action-horror movie, though if you’re intending to go spend some time in a foggy wood, then you might feel a bit creeped out.  As far as werewolf movies go though, this is probably one of the scarier ones, though that’s just because the competition is weak in this department.

Final Thoughts: I love Dog Soldiers and I’m not quite certain why I didn’t get to it last year.  Most werewolf movies suck; this film most definitely does not.  If has two of my three favorite things:  werewolves and guns.  My third favorite thing is female nudity, but hey, that’s life.  What really stands out in this movie are the werewolves themselves.  They were created 100% practically and look amazing.  They’re big, lean, and fast, not big and apish like most werewolves.  These baddies just look the part and kick some British ass.  If you’re looking for some serious action in your horror this October, pop in Dog Soldiers and howl away.

What do you think of Dog Soldiers?  What’s your favorite werewolf movie?

Read more articles by Robert Fure