Review of Dog Soldiers (2002) by Melanie H — 19 Jun 2012
The feature debut of Neil Marshall, who has gone on to do acclaimed yet violent films such as The Descent (2005), Doomsday (2008) and Centurion (2010), this was a low-budget but highly effective horror film with some good imagination, and with some cheeky winks to other successful films praised by fanboys, it's a good start to a successful career, and it's a good twist on old legends.
It has a squad of six regular British Army soldiers dropped into a remote part of the Scottish Highlands on a routine training exercise, they consist of Private Cooper (Kevin McKidd), Sergeant Wells (Sean Pertwee), Corporal Campbell (Thomas Lockyer), Private Witherspoon (Darren Morfitt) and Private Kirkley (Chris Robson) who discover they are not alone in the wilderness and discover strange things happening, with wolf like creatures on the rampage,.
They come across wounded Captain Ryan (Liam Cunningham) from the SAS. They are found by zoologist Megan (Emma Cleasby), who finds them refuge in a remote house. But it's not long before the creatures find them, and it's then a race for survival.
It's very well made for such a low-budget film, with good camaraderie and tenacity from the cast, who play well off each other all adding tension and even humour in places. Marshall keeps the tension up, but he finds room for a lot of fun, it'll be interesting to see what he does for his next film.
This review of Dog Soldiers (2002) was written by Melanie H on 19 Jun 2012.
Dog Soldiers has generally received positive reviews.
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