Review of Dog Soldiers (2002) by Cyrus B — 14 Nov 2008

DOG SOLDIERS.

Dog Soldiers,was a film made in 2002, that really brought the British Horror-com genre to the forefront. Blending dry and dark humour, with classic horror film elements, it breathed life into a very stale genre. Generally a quite popular film, the balance between the scary and amusing is perfectly found, and has since spawned more films in this horror-com genre.

Six soldiers are out on exercises in the highlands of Scotland, dropped by chopper, they make their way through the wooded terrain, attempting to avoid the special forces unit they have been told they are against. However, when the full moon rises, they realise thereâ??s something worse that special forces out there.

This film rests heavily on the script, which is pretty much spot on,. The characters establish themselves nicely and we are exposed to the banter between them which seems very much real. The element of comedy is treaded beautifully, as within all aspects of life, the British people are known to laugh at something, and this shows that trait expertly. Dialogue is so integral to this film, as it takes place within one house, and some woods, so without the skill of the script, the film would fail, fortunately the dialogue is great.

Performances arenâ??t too amazing, but they arenâ??t bad either, relying a little on stereotypes, but not enough to irritate the viewer. The characters mesh together well, and you do feel the sense of camaraderie within the unit, which is something very hard to achieve. Whilst none of them are outstanding on their own, the cast comes together to obtain the overall quality.

Neil Marshall sits in the directors chair, having penned the whole thing, he is clearly intimate with the piece, and whilst thereâ??s not too much in the way of artistic merit here, we have sequences that makes us smile, and pump adrenaline around our systems. Using a nice variety of scare tactics and camera work to make the horror element work, not spectacular, and quite generic, but acceptable.

All in all, this movie is highly entertaining and well worth a watch, not as successful as Neil Marshallâ??s follow up film, â??The Descentâ??, itâ??s still a solid piece of contemporary British cinema, and an important inlet into the relatively new genre that is horror-com. Perhaps in years to come, people will look back at Dog Soldiers and revere itâ??s contribution to the development of genreâ??s within cinema, but for now, itâ??s just rather entertaining indeed.