Dog Soldiers is a ridiculously fun movie filled with violence and foul-mouthed language that delivers exactly what it should.
The story of Dog Soldiers is a simple one… whilst on a training mission a group of soldiers are attacked by werewolves and must fight together in order to survive. Of-course they find help from unexpected places and there are few twists but the plot is extremely predictable and this isn’t a bad thing. With the audience knowing essentially what to expect from the film we are free to enjoy it for what it is… an excuse for gore.
The film is extremely episodic in its structure following a basic fight, talk, fight, talk, fight formula, which works surprisingly well. It is at its best during the ‘fight’ sequences when blood and guts go everywhere and characters find themselves in several gruesome situations. It is cringeworthy at points and that’s what makes it so fun to watch – you know the characters are going to die but are excited to see how they do so.
The talking segments of the films between the fights don’t quite reach the levels of the action but still make for entertaining viewing, the dialogue being filled with curse words, insults and football jokes. Some of these sequences go on for longer than perhaps they need to but they serve their purpose and allow the audience to catch their breath after the intense action.
The film main downfall comes from the design of its villains. The Werewolves in the film look like people in cheap Halloween costumes and this is extremely distracting. Throughout the first half of the film it isn’t such an issue as the filmmakers opt to barely show them, cutting away quickly every-time they’re on-screen. However as the film progresses we see more and more of the wolves and they look worse and worse thus becoming less and less threatening. It’s just really disappointing.
Overall then Dog Soldiers is a good gore-horror film that achieves what it sets out to, it’s just a shame that the werewolves look awful.
6/10
2016 FILM-A-DAY CHALLENGE 