Friday, July 31, 2015

DOG SOLDIERS: FANTASTIC TAKE ON THE WEREWOLF



So many movies involving classic monsters have been made over the years and many in the past few. For me not a lot of these have stood out. When it came to werewolves I’ve always been a fan. The original THE WOLF MAN with Lon Chaney Jr. used to terrify me as a child. I enjoyed AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON but thought THE HOWLING was a much better movie. So when I heard a movie involving werewolves and soldiers was coming out back in 2002 I was ready. Except that it never played here. But once it hit video I watched and fell in love with the movie. So when I heard that Shout/Scream Factory was going to release a special edition I was set to watch it and love it once more. I wasn’t disappointed.

The movie starts with a soldier named Cooper (Kevin McKidd) trying out for the elite squad only to fail his final tests. Several months later his regular platoon is sent to the Highlands of Scotland on a training exercise. No live ammo to be had and wandering through the woods, they come across the remains of the Special Ops group that Cooper failed to join, the sole survivor of the group being their leader Capt. Ryan (Liam Cunningham). As Cooper’s commander Sgt. Wells (Sean Pertwee) regroups his men and takes the weapons and ammo from the fallen soldiers, the group is set upon by the same attackers and do their best to escape.

Unwilling to admit to what they saw, some wounded, they make their way to a nearby road and run into a jeep driving by which they stop. Driven by a woman named Megan (Emma Cleasby), they commandeer the car, tell her to move and try to find some place safe for the moment. Megan tells them there is a farm nearby and they head there knowing they won’t make it to the nearest town that night.

As they set themselves up in the farmhouse to defend against whatever it was that attacked them they do triage on the injured members of the group included Sgt. Wells. Cooper takes over and in talking with Megan and in looking over the farmhouse, the group realizes that what attacked them, what they saw, was a pack of werewolves. Megan has been in the area looking for information about this pack as well as proof that they exist. The run in is all the proof theses soldiers need and now they’re in a battle for their lives. If they can make it through the night to morning then perhaps they can find a way to the nearest town. If not, they’ll be dinner.

While this may sound like a simple plot there are several subplots I won’t dare reveal because in just knowing what they are you’ll have time to figure out the possibilities they present. I will say that one person wounded by these werewolves suddenly begins to heal faster than one would expect. I’ll leave it to you as to why that would be.

Not only is this movie one of the most original treatments of werewolves I’ve ever seen, every pulse pounding moment on screen makes you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. Add to that some of the best looking werewolves to be seen on screen and you have a movie that is well worth not just watching but adding to your collection as well. And make note that these are not CGI created werewolves at all but practical effects werewolves, men in costumes with effects people on hand to help them along that make them all the more real looking. This in turn makes them some of the more frightening werewolves seen on screen in years.

Included in the extras is a making of featurette, a look behinds the models of the sets, a theatrical trailer, still galleries, audio commentary from director Neil Marshall and a short film Marshall made prior called COMBAT. If that wasn’t enough the transfer to blu-ray was supervised by Marshall himself so this becomes a stunning copy that fans and collectors will find a must have to their collection.

I can’t recommend this movie and this version enough. It is an amazing horror film that needs more recognition than it has received to date. Make sure you pick up a copy today.

Click here to order.

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