Review of Dog Soldiers (2002) by Henrik N — 03 Oct 2008

Neil Marshall proved he knows how to make a great horror film with The Descent back in 2005, but this overlooked 2002 funfest only reinforces that opinion. Like The Descent, the blood and gore is overflowing though at the same time it is not pointless and gratuitous as it is in so many of the so called scary movies that get classified as horror now.

A group of Scottish soldiers air drop deep in the woods for an average, every day training exercise until a slaughtered cow is dropped right in front of them at their campsite one night. Later, they find a Special Forces camp covered in blood and entrails but no bodies in sight. They also find the leader, Captain Ryan who has a deep claw cut on his chest. He tells them, "We have to leave! They'll be back!" The team leader, played well by Sean Pertwee (the 'father' figure in Equilibrium), asks who is they and it's only minutes until they all find out who 'they' are - towering, hairy, bloodthirsty werewolves who will kill anyone and anything that crosses their path. The team retreats to a farmhouse, meeting a young woman who lives in the area along the way and they hold up inside, determined to either wait until dawn, they've killed all of the creatures or the creatures kill all of them.

Stunning revelations and twists occur in the farmhouse, as two shocking truths are revealed to the soldiers and the viewer, what's great is the fact that you don't see the second one coming at all.

The werewolves aren't CGI, they made actual costumes for this and it looks great. Also great is not getting a good look at them until the last 40 minutes or so of the film, until that point it's quick flashes and camera shots from the werewolves' point of view. Very Alienish. I hope Marshall makes more horror movies, while I liked Doomsday it would be better to see him stick to the genre he is best at.