Rottweiler

'Relatively speaking' means in comparison to all of the films he's directed. Yuzna is not a seminal horror film director but he does have a certain style and following, and is not merely a hack. For example, a few of his films can stand up with seminal horror directors such as Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, and George Romero, and ROTTWEILER is one that can.

It's not a straight-out, routinely linear-plotted opus, but rather asks the viewer to follow a storyline that jumps through past and present. There is a purpose for this, that mostly being to maintain an intrigue about how the events leading to the chase of the bionic rottweiler and the hunted man came to be, and how the rottweiler itself became a killing machine.

There are also plot points that need the viewer to exercise some mental abilities to follow, and in doing so reward the viewer with a more inclusive experience rather than that of being a 'couch potato' merely as a recipient of programmed emotional effects. These are the folks who complained that they couldn't understand what was going on.

As a point of example for this, it's shown in subtle ways that the bionic rottweiler tracks the hunted man by his scent and the scent of his blood. Anyone who gets this scent on them becomes a victim as well, or if they are between the dog and the man. Those who are not do not get attacked. But the viewers who are looking only for simple plot devices and completely explained maneuvers won't get these subtleties.

This is Yuzna's most interesting horror film to date and the most enjoyable for me, and as I feel it is his best so far, I've called it his masterpiece. Plus it does have the gore that we've come to expect from him.

In 2018, in Spain, the prisoner Dante (William Miller) escapes from a prison and is chased by a robot dog. He tries to reach the city of Puerto Angel, where he left his beloved girlfriend Ula (Irene Montalà). While running away, he recalls his recent past in Spain with Ula.

I like Brian Yuzna, but the violent, bizarre and disappointing "Rottweiler" has one of the most ridiculous screenplays I have ever seen. The unpleasant story, where the political and economical situation of this future and the characters are awfully developed, has many situations not explained. We just see the lead character running most of the time tracked by a stupid dog that kills everybody. Better off sleep, since watching this movie is a pure waste of time. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Rottweiler"

Spain's Fantastic Factory strikes again with this Brian Yuzna (Beyond Reanimator) directed hokum. Dante and Ula are playing infiltration (apparently a rich boy's game of sneaking into third world countries) and when it goes horribly wrong they are caught by the authorities and separated. When Dante makes a daring escape and then finds himself being hunted by the titular title character which is now more Terminator than dog. It eats everything. It destroys everything and it can't be stopped. How will poor Dante find his beloved Ula with the Doginator on his trail? Well where shall I begin? The script is pretty ratty even for low budget fare. Giant leaps in logic and plot inconsistencies are plenty in this tale. Unnecessary flashback sequences try to unlock or more correctly infer a twist in the ending but it fails to generate anything to sustain you that far. Things just don't jell in the end. The acting by the no name cast of Spanish actors is pretty straight as one would guess with a script that requires the lead to get attacked, shoot a shotgun, have sex with the local bimbette (while she holds a gun on him no less) and wander the desert starkers for 25 minutes you can't expect much and you end up rooting for the dog. The dog effects however are the only bright spot of the film as the kills can be pretty bloody and cool and the animatronic dog was actually pretty spiffy. Heck, the dog gives the only worthy performance here.

To call this one a dog would be way too obvious a joke, but it certainly is also an odd duck of a movie. It's set in a futuristic Spain (and filmed there as well), where a prison escapee, Dante (hunky William Miller) embarks on an increasingly weird odyssey to reconnect with the girl he left behind, all the while pursued by the title canine, an unstoppable cyborg with steel teeth. Much of the story is told in flashback, as we see the sequence of events that led to this point. One has to assume that the novel "El Perro" upon which this is based makes at least some things clearer, but it's hard to say just what the screenwriters and director Brian Yuzna are thinking, as this thing often alternates between utter cheese and incredible surrealism. It's extremely laughable; that chicken reaction shot has got to be, far and away, one of the brightest moments along the way, which speaks volumes for "Rottweiler"'s W.T.F. quality. It gets awfully repetitive, with tough guy Dante surviving one encounter with his four pawed nemesis after another, and gives Miller awfully crummy dialogue, even having him say clichéd garbage like telling the dog to fry in hell. The entire episode with the mother and daughter has to been to be believed, as the lady gets a look at Mr. Miller in the buff and forces herself on the guy. That does, though, lead one to note just how much beefcake is thrust in the viewer's face, with Miller obliged to do protracted scenes of nudity. Overall, the viewer may have a hard time wondering what to make of all this. It's not without some entertainment value, but, ultimately, it's just too hard to care about this story and the characters fail to spark much interest. The dog himself is pretty cool, though, and there's a sufficient amount of gore and nastiness to give the movie some spark. If one is going to watch it for the presence of legendary Spanish horror actor Paul Naschy, note that he's in just a few scenes, but he makes the most of his screen time, delivering a delicious performance as the villain, although he can't really save it. Prospective viewers should proceed at their own risk. Four out of 10.

In case you are slightly familiar with horror cinema, you must have heard of the name Brian Yuzna already. He started as the producer of some hugely successful horror flicks in the mid-80's ("Re-Animator", "From Beyond") but quickly went on to directing his own grotesque and spirited horror projects ("Society", "Return of the Living Dead part 3"). Personally, I'm a rather big fan of Yuzna. His movies are always very entertaining and stuffed with blood & gore, even though the stories are hardly ever impressive...or even 'good', for that matter. For his latest effort, "Rottweiler", the story is even completely and utterly retarded and then STILL this is a very amusing B-movie with loads of absurd aspects that genre fans will love! "Rottweiler" is set in Spain in a not-so-distant future (2018). In order to avoid further immigration, the misanthropic Kufard (small but terrific role for veteran Paul Naschy) arrests everybody who washes ashore Puerto Angel. One day, he also arrests the young American couple Dante and Ula. They were playing the rich-kids game of "infiltration", in which the players illegally have to cross country borders. That game is just asking for trouble, if you ask me... Some time later, Dante escapes from a prison-transport and heads back to Puerto Angel in order to save Ula, only he's chased by a partly robotic and bloodthirsty Rottweiler that rips every living thing to pieces. The movie is truly incoherent, with extended and unnecessary flashbacks, and often provokes unintentional chuckles. It's fast-paced, though, and contains loads of sleaze and bloody deaths. The Terminatoresque dog looks thrilling and the music as wells as the opening credits are very funky. The acting is atrocious, but that what happens if you recruits cheap Spanish actors and force them to play American characters. The lead guy looks a lot like Orlando Bloom but his acting skills are even worse. "Rottweiler" surely is a meaningless horror film, but it remains fun to watch.