Dog Pound

This movie hit home for me because I was once locked up in a juvenile detention facility. The only thing I disagree with in this movie is the guards were not violent enough but the setting is the same if not worse on how you get treated by the people around you. For all the people who said this was a "Bad movie" "had no plot" you have never lived it so you would not have the first clue what this movie was attempting to convey with its ending and storyline. The psychology is nearly the same and it does not matter how you go in, your environment changes and with it you must change yourself. You may have heard the term "debt dog" but I doubt it. This movie hits as close as your going to probably get without someones story like mine.

Dog Pound had a huge effect on me unlike most films that have come out in the past couple months. You start to really feel for the characters and their issues also everything during the movie goes along smoothly. Every actor worked their role correctly and, in my opinion, perfectly. If people just truly gave a couple seconds to be down to earth with these juniors, just for once put yourself in their own positions, many of the problems in this film could of had a much better outcome. Great story, great action, and just overall a good watch. This is a must see for everyone who has the stomach and the mind set. These actions are actually happening today and needs to be solved.. but sadly I may not see it in my years.

A mean prison thriller that goes for the jugular throughout, the Canadian film DOG POUND is in actual fact a remake of the British borstal classic SCUM from 1979. While it's not as powerful or harrowing as that film, nevertheless it packs a punch in its harsh depiction of bullying and brutality within prison confines.

The prison in this film is a juvenile one and the movie is populated by new and unfamiliar faces, but don't let that put you off, because DOG POUND turns out to be a highly effective movie in its own right. The acting is up and down and probably the weakest part of the production, but that matters not when the direction is strong and the writing compelling.

DOG POUND is a slow paced film for the most part and yet it's alive with simmering tension as character relationships develop and things move towards some scenes of violence which are devastating in their depiction. Some of the sub-plots are distinctly underwhelming (with the fate of one particular character not a patch on his counterpart in SCUM) but others hit home with precision force, making this a film I really got into.

Alan Clarke made the violent and barbaric movie Scum 31 years ago and there have been various attempts with smiler movies since, all trying to become the daddy of juvenile delinquent dramas, from Sean Penn in Bad Boys to Larry Clarke's Kids. This avaricious animal is the most successful attempt thus far. This attempt, albeit billed as 'inspired' by scum, is inherently a remake with three miscreants sent to a juvenile facility in Montana, with no chance of any hope of reform, forced into a system of sheer brutality forcing Butch (Adam Butcher) to go on the rampage. And though Alan Clarke's original film still has the edge, this perhaps has more relevance for a new generation of cinema goers which cleverly used real ex prisoner instead of conventionally well know actors, helping in part to set a more real and gritty tone. Having said all that I did enjoy it.

Dog Pound is an excellent film. I'm not a huge "Drama" genre fan, but from the opening credits all the way to the end-credits, I was completely engaged. Acting, camera work, and production are superb. Not a lot of fluff, just raw, scene acting.

The biggest reason for writing this review is to say that I absolutely HATED the ending. Hated it. That should not dissuade anyone from watching, but yikes...what a terrible way to finish telling this story.

That is all.