Dog Soldiers

I recently enjoyed the UK 🇬🇧 gem Dog Soldiers (2002) on Prime. The storyline follows a British military unit sent to the Scottish countryside for training exercises where they've heard stories of strange events they think are meant to scare them. Upon arrival, the discovery of scattered soldiers' corpses confirms the unsettling rumors.

Directed and written by Neil Marshall (known for The Descent) and featuring Sean Pertwee (from Event Horizon), Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) and Emma Cleasby (Doomsday).

This British werewolf film stands out with its well-chosen settings that immerse you in the unfolding events. The cast is impeccably selected and deliver authentic dialogue making the circumstances feel believable. While the special effects and costumes might take some adjustment, they grow on you as the story unfolds. As every werewolf movie needs, the transformation sequence is excellent, and the action maintains its intensity until the last 30 minutes, which are a horror cinematic goldmine. The concluding werewolf sequences are elite, featuring exceptional gore, blood splatter, flying appendages, and more gore.

In summary, Dog Soldiers is an outstanding addition to the werewolf genre, earning a solid 8/10. I highly recommend it.

A group of squaddies are sent out into woods in the Scottish highlands to take part in a small practice operation against a group of special force soldiers. However when Sgt Wells' men locate the other unit they find that Captain Ryan is the only survivor and, appears to be mad, gibbering about "things". When the group are attacked by something else, they take Ryan and his array of weapons and flee. They find local girl Megan in a landrover and she takes them to the nearest shelter to attend to the wounded – an empty farmhouse. As Megan tells them of werewolves in the woods, and Ryan sits silent as to what his team were actually up to, the "things" start to gather and strike the house.

With comparatively no budget to speak of, it is no surprise that among the references, this film pays homage to the Evil Dead by calling one of its characters Corporal Bruce Campbell. Certainly with a group of people in farmhouse (cabin) in the woods fighting off an unstoppable supernatural evil is almost homage enough in itself although, for me, this didn't get anywhere near to the horror of that film. However it does still manage to produce quite an enjoyable film even if it isn't really scary in a true sense. The plot is simple and it is a good thing because the action bits are best, while the dialogue bits are less so. The film does pretty well to keep the tension up but I did think it could have been tighter and more suspenseful than it was at times. That said, the attacks are good and, as long as you aren't too demanding, it will do enough to keep you entertained. I must admit that the "Britishness" of it and the fact that it was such a low-budget affair may me more willing to forgive it such things – although some of the dialogue was so clunky and unconvincing that it was occasionally hard to get past – although I did get a big laugh out of the Matrix reference "there is no spoon".

The cast do pretty well, shouting and running around convincingly enough. I would have liked a bit liked a bit more humanity but in fairness the characters were pretty accurate for many squaddy types I know. Pertwee is fun and for probably the first and last time is the big name of the film. McKidd is OK but he has to carry a lot of the talking and it means his limits show up more than the others. Cleasby is pretty poor and she is lumbered with a poor character to boot. Cunningham was fairly obvious but I was constantly distracted by just how much he came across like George Galloway (minus the moustache of course). Lockyer, Robson, Simpson and others are pretty one dimensional but Morfitt had energy and manage to stand out with a bit of character. The direction is good and wisely keeps the camera fluid and the monsters hidden – although I personally though the costumes were good for the money they cost.

Overall this is an enjoyable film. It appears to homage other films as much as it borrows from them, but it does it well enough. It could have been tenser, more exciting and it certainly could have been scarier but it still works as an action/horror of sorts. Apparently a sequel is planned and I hope the bigger budget can improve it a bit but for now this is an enjoyable low-budget horror that is basic but fun and worth seeing.

If you are like me and are completly sick to death of the teen/college slasher horrors that hollywood seem to produce by the week then Dog Soldiers is then film for you. this film has everything for the true horror fan, a great story , good acting , lots of blood , tons of action and most importantly it's bloody scary. The film is about a group of soldiers on routine patrol in Scotland come across what seems to be a group of man eating beasts that turn out to be warewolf's and do their best to fight of the constant attack by the flesh eating beasts. What i like about the movie that while it has a good blend of horror and action it is also very amusing in parts to and unlike most hollywood horrors it it funny when the director means it to be! A classy way above average horror that you cant fail to enjoy. 8 out of 10.

This exciting movie is packed with noisy action, unbelievable stunts, tension, thrills, chills, and lots of blood and gore, including throating-slit ,beheading, impaling and slashing . A squad of English soldiers (Sean Pertwee , Kevin McKidd , among others) on training in the lonesome Scottish wilderness ,during manoeuvres in the dark , deep forests of Scotland region , find a wounded Special Forces captain (Liam Cunningham )and the carnage remains of his band . As they encounter zoologist named Megan (Emma Cleasby), it results out that werewolves are active in the country. After getting away the find shelter in a country house but the group encounters a pack of carnivorous, crawling creatures are waiting for them . They find themselves caught , hunted, and waiting for the long night to reach its ending . They have to prepare for some action , hope running thin and chances slipping away, as the there will be a full moon tonight with time running out .Some of them undergo a dental and hirsute transformation at the night and going on a murderous rampage every time the moon is full .

The motion picture displays action,suspense,terror with claustrophobic touches and is quite entertaining . This is a gripping, exciting , high-octane nightmare of the worse scenario with terrible werewolves stalking a soldiers team . The screenwriter provided a well-knit plot with mystery and horror, giving full rein to Neil Marshall natural talent for the terror and action genre . The theme of people being stranded in a hostile, perilous environment with attackers creatures is justly reminiscent of former films and subsequently to be made another story in similar style titled ¨The descent¨ . Stirring musical score fitting to action by Mark Thomas and appropriate cinematography Sam McCurdy . The motion picture is decently directed by Neil Marshall with splendid visual style but with no originally because he has copied previous films. Neal is expert in making brutally violent horror movies (Doomsday, The descent). Rating: Good, better than average, the film is classified PG-13 for lots of guts, gore and violence. This remarkable action film appeal to terror genre buffs .

There is a little sub genre of horror that involves people with guns vs. monsters. The most famous are of course Aliens, but there are few others (28 days later is another example).

Soldiers are the people of our society to whom we give the latest technology for killing, train them in this art to basically make monsters out of men and then their job is defend civilization against the monsters (where it is Osoma Bin Ladin or Werewolves, it doesn't matter).

Having said or that, this low budget, but well made horror flick has a squad of soldiers wandering around Scotland on a routine training mission, only to find out they are really there as bait for werewolves.

Lots of guns, guts (sausages) and gory glory. Heaps of pop culture references, fine acting, some scares, but lots of action. The werewolves are cool, the military action is authentic enough, and the analogy of the pack of werewolves and the squad of soldiers is a good one. It never had theatrical release in America, but did very well for itself in the UK.

Overall a good movie, with some flaws such as plot twists either being obvious (but then I tend to get most of them right away) or just silly and much of the time they are playing the movie for laughs when the audience is more into the tension and is there for the scare.

You won't see many horror films like this, so if you like soldier movies, horror movies, low budget movies or just want something a little different, see it.