Rating: Summary: One for the soldiers Review: As a combat veteran I generally don't like war movies - they all seem silly. Yet two of the most realistic combat scenes ever made are in horror films. Aliens - the fight in the fusion reactor really caught the fear, noise and confusion. And Dog Soldiers! This film rocks. I don't know who their military advisor was or if the actors were in the forces but hearing all that shooting and shouting in various Brit accents really came to me like old home week. I'm always willing to nitpick but this film was so spot on it was hard to nitpick at all. The lads all seemed authentic enough to me and without all that bogus nonsense that Hollywood seems to think soldiers engage in. Even if you don't like horror movies this film says more about the comradeship of soldiers than just about any thing out there. From the time the Sgt shouted "From this minute we're operational - gather up all the live ammo you can find and move move move" I was standing up cheering. There was a most compelling urgency in this film that for me, caught the very essence of operational soldiering. And the troops weren't a bunch of scared sissies like Hudson in Aliens. These boys figured "werewolves - whatever, lets kill 'em!' One of the lads even mentioned Roark's Drift and was not the slightest put off by the adventure. What he says to the critter he is fighting in the end is a classic. But Cooper and the Sgt made it for me. If they'd been any more like real soldiers I'd have thought it a training film. In fact, my only true complaint was that Cooper would hardly have been a private in most armies - that kind of talent is sought after. Any real soldier should see this. If you don't like it I'll eat my beret!
Rating: Summary: An action/horror classic Review: The best movies are the movies you don't expect to be good. I don't expect much from my horror movies, so when a really good one come along I have reason to cheer. Dog Soldiers is a really good horror movie, with generous doses of action and wry humor to boot. The film was clearly directed with Evil Dead fans in mind (one character's name is Bruce Campbell), and this Evil Dead fan feels that Dog Soldiers is fit to sit right next to Evil Dead on the DVD shelf.
Rating: Summary: the wolves come out to play Review: this one follows soldiers in the woods until they come across some hungry werewolves and then they are trapped in a house to survive on their own till the morning. good script with nicely done horror tone sets this one up for a good ride. solid acting with hardly any flaws...stay alive
Rating: Summary: This movie's got BITE with a capital B! Review: Always looking for a good horror film, I went into one of my favorite used DVD stores. Found a copy of The Howling (which is my all-time fave werewolf film) and the clerk asked me if I had ever seen Dog Soldiers. He told me he thought it was the pentultimate werewolf film. I asked him to let me know if it ever came in and the next time it did, he gave me a call. He promised that if I did NOT like the movie, he would give me money back (instead of trade). Was I ever surprised. What a wonderful horror flick that wasn't too gorey or with too heavy a story line. Some great acting by unknowns (to me anyway) and excellent special effects for a low budget enterprise. You've read the storyline in other reviews, so I won't bore you with my interpretation. Just as the clerk told me, if you don't like this film get your money back. It's solid. And I have to agree, the one scene I loved the most was a soldier going hand to hand combat with a werewolf. Some great action. Next to The Howling, this is probably the best werewolf movie ever made!
Rating: Summary: Good Werewolf film, worth viewing Review: Dog soldiers mixes two sub-genres that I've always enjoyed, the werewolf subgenre and the last stand subgenre. Dog Soldiers is actually a very good movie made on a low budget and a decent script, of course there are times where it could have done better but the pacing is good and the fx are acceptable, this is a good popcorn film that you need to watch with no high expectations. The plot is simple, soldiers are sent un-armed to perform a military exercise and they run into a pack of werewolves that forces them to make a stand on a country farm away from all civilization only to find that they were sent there because they were expendable.
Rating: Summary: This was not a good horror film Review: I am a big horror movie buff and I rented this movie seeing that it had alot of positive reviews....Excited I popped the movie in and was hugely disappointed. First off it's british which is okay I can deal with it but the movie turned out to be real talky ...I found alot of it was uneccesary...I can't really go into that much detail because this movie made me feel like I had A.D.D...My mind kept wandering off and it was hard to focus...It had some nasty scenes but really it was nothing new ...As a fan of horror films I would not recommend this it was really weak in my opinion... I did give it 2 stars for effort !!!
Rating: Summary: Werewolves Run Wild Review: If you list your home of record as the United States Of America, then you never went to a movie theater and sat through this movie. And, you know what? That's a shame. Because you got cheated out of a real treat. Because "Dog Soldiers" has only been released in the US as a direct-to-video package and it just happens to be ONE OF THE BEST WEREWOLF FLICKS EVER LENSED. Take yourself generous cupfulls of "Deliverance", "An American Werewolf In London", "The Evil Dead", "Predator"(as someone here has perceptively noted earlier), and "Alien/Aliens": mix all these ingredients together in a big cast iron cauldron under a full, round Scottish moon...and, well, hell, throw in some good Scottish haggis for good measure, let simmer, and...voila!...you've got this great rip-snorter (pardon the pun, couldn't let it pass) of a Spec-Ops Meet the Monsters flick. And that's just what it is. Squad of British soldiers are on maneuvers in the backlands of Scotland...doing an exercise with a Special Air Services (SAS) Commando unit. Problem is, the SAS unit gets wiped out by...something...and then that "something" starts tracking down the regular army group. They take refuge in an out-of-the-way farmhouse and soon discover they are under attack by werewolves. Even worse, the house they are holding up in is the werewolves HOME and the family wants BACK IN (and likely some raw soldier stew to boot). Its a fight to the finish between the soldiers and the lycanthropes.An SAS officer of the cold-blooded, semi-villainous type turns up as a plot device to explain what all is going on there to the besieged troopies, but he's not much help. He's already been bitten and "turning", so counting on him is a waste of time. And in this household even the family dog (or is he a weredog?) has an bad attitude.Wants to eat some of the entrails of one of his houseguests while the guest still has a use for them. BAD dog!! So a long night ensues and attrition takes its toll. And things don't look good for the army boys because you can't really trust seeming allies not to "Turn" on you...so to speak. Bummer. Okay, you say, its a werewolf movie.Why is it so good?It just is. Watch it and see. I don't plan to sit here and spew off a lot of pretentious I'm-an-oh-so-cool-and-"with-it"-reviewer drivel. No references to this director or that one, or what "statement" is being made. I'm just telling you, this is a darn good horror flick with really good writing, acting, photography, dialog,pacing, and make-up effects. The werewolves are bad-to-the-bone and they'll gnaw on yours if you aren't careful. And gee, they're such REGULAR FOLKS by daylight!!! So spend your money on this one, people. And do NOT be afraid to do so. Either rent it, or buy it. You won't go wrong either way. You will NOT be disappointed in "Dog Soldiers". I can PROMISE you that!
Rating: Summary: DOG SOLDIERS CAN RIP PREDATOR TO PIECES Review: I expected DOG SOLDIERS to be pitifull (its a low budget werewolf movie with a relativley unknown cast). However the movie intrested me and i rented, NOW I AM GOING TO BUY IT. Dog Soldiers is a tribute to movies like EVIL DEAD, PREDATOR and especialy ALIENS, Yes, Dog Soldiers is good enough to take on each and every one of those films, it would have a tough time with aliens though. A character named SPOON provides the movie with comic relief, SPOON is also the bravest of the soldiers, The main character is Cooper (Kevin McKidd from Trainspotting) Cooper is taking part in a regular military exercise with with the sergent (Sean Pertwee), Spoon, Joe, Terry and Bruce Campbell (the name of a character from evil dead). Cooper is on this mission because he failed the training to become a member of special ops. He deserved to make the team but Captain Ryan thought otherwise. As far as the storey goes Coopers squad find Ryan out in the mittle of no where, his whole team has been slaughtered by something, all to soon the troops soon find out what happened and try to escape, after losing a man and a few injurys they run into a local woman, Megan, she gives them shelter but guess who wants seconds? The soldiers are forced to hide out in a small house in the forest, with howling things doing everything possible to get in. The script is good, the acting is strong and everything else is good as well, even the none computerized werewolves look half decent. Dog Soldiers gets better as it goes on and the final scenes are a reward for watching, especialy when SPOON takes on a Werewolf with his fists and nothing else, i wont say much more because i dont want to spoil the movie. Another great scene is when Joe (a huge soccer fan). and Spoon must leave the house and venture out into the wilderness, i wont bore you with the details but their adventure leads to a horrifying scene where Joe comes across a werewolf eating one of his teammates (sorry, i cant say who). The Soldiers never leave us thinking they are idiots, once they realize that they are fighting werewolves they know that they can win if they put their heads together and dont underestamate their enemy. In the end DOG SOLDIERS is really an action movie inside a Horror film and because Dog Soldiers was highly acclaimed by veiwers and critics there are plans for both a sequal and prequal. BOY, I JUST CANT WAIT!
Rating: Summary: Soldiers Vs Werewolves Review: In the Highlands of Scotland, a military exercise is being conducted a war game pitting a platoon of soldiers led by Sergeant Wells (Sean Pertwee) against a platoon of special opps. The mission turns out to be far more than cut and dried because there is a legend passed down through the ages about these particular woods of people disappearing. Their bloody belongings are found but never any bodies. The soldiers soon discover why people disappear when werewolves attack them. They try to connect with the special opps team but discover that they've all been killed save for Capt. Ryan (Liam Cunningham). They run into Megan (Emma Cleasby) on the rode where they pile into her land rover to escape the beasts little do they know she is hiding a dark secret. This is a low budget film made for a British market. It never got US distribution and really should have. Hollywood was sleeping. They used no CGI to create the werewolves instead they are played by costumed dancers wearing mechanical heads operated by 24 servos. They are very realistic and frightening and caused me to jump a number of times. There were a few bad cuts at the beginning of the picture and a couple minor military inaccuracies but they aren't enough to detract from the picture as a whole. The dialogue is witty and believable and the acting is top notch, making these characters an audience immediately cares about. According to the director's commentary there is going to be a sequel! I hope that means Private Cooper (Kevin McKidd) will return in the lead role. He was fantastic!!! Buy this DVD you won't be disappointed!!!
Rating: Summary: did not get the credit it deserves Review: i think there are a lot of good movies hidden like this one,that never got advertised in the movies nor in the video store...i am a horror movie fan tired of the corny movies...but i started looking in the net for good reviewed movies like this one,i got it,saw it,and really liked it...i already got some more in my waiting list....
|