Underrated Films - Dog Soldiers Review

Alright, we continue the season of spooky with a brand new Underrated Films review.

Dog Soldiers is a British action horror movie that was produced by Kismet Entertainment Group, The Noel Gay Motion Picture Company, Victor Film Company, and Carousel Picture Company with Pathé distributing. Neil Marshall both wrote and directed.

The story is, a squad of British soldiers are into a remote area of the Scottish Highlands to carry out a training exercise against a Special Air Service unit. After the training is over, the soldiers soon find the torn apart remains of the SAS unit. They quickly realize they're being hunted by a pack of werewolves. The soldiers only hope is to fight back and survive until the sun rises.

Why It's Underrated

It's a tale as old as time, a great film that just doesn't get enough attention. I haven't seen a TV showing for this film in years. The last time I remember that is back in I believe 2005 when I was channel surfing and I stumbled upon this film on SciFi (although now it's spelled SyFy). But I can't recall this movie ever getting more showings pass the 2000's on TV or a brand new DVD/Blu-Ray release.

My Thoughts

Now before I start praising this movie let's get something out of the way first. Dog Soldiers doesn't do anything really new in horror or more specifically the werewolf genre. However! The entertainment factor with this is off the charts. Whether it's the intense action, so moments that actually are scary, or those bits of dark comedy, the movie is never ever boring. So despite hitting some familiar beats you'll recognize from other films, there's never a dull moment.

With that slight criticism out of the way let's start the praising. One great thing is the casts' chemistry. These guys actually do feel like soldiers who've been with each other for a long time. Whether they're trash talking each other, talking about football, or telling stories of soldiers they knew but are sadly no longer alive, these guys feel like they have a brotherhood. So when one of them do die it actually does sting quite a lot. So thumbs up to the cast.

There's also the pacing. The movie clocks in at an hour and forty-five minutes but it never felt like that. That whole story beat where the soldiers find the ripped up remains of the SAS happens when you're like twenty-three minutes into the flick. That scene may not be the big main event but the fact we're at the moment where our heroes know something that isn't human killed those men shows that Neil Marshall wasn't wasting everybody's time.

My last praise goes to the special effects, especially on the werewolves. This was released in 2002 thus this movie is twenty-four years old (God that made me feel old typing that) but despite it's age the werewolf effects still hold up. It helps that Marshall chose practical creature effects like costumes and animatronics rather than something made with CGI. Had he gone that route than that really would've shown how low budget the film is, but I digress.

I strongly recommend you all watch Dog Soldiers for your Halloween season. It may hit some familiar territory, but it's a blast to watch.

My final rating is, Great.

That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Oct 15th, where I'll continue to go outside the United States to find some horror movies to review by giving my thoughts on The Host. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.