The Breed

let me start by saying I am a big fan of the nature/animal gone berserk type films and I was very excited when news of a new Wes Craven produced killer dog flick was being made and would star tough cookie Michelle Rodriquez and cool and sexy Hill Harper from CSI: New York. What eventually was made by first time director Nick Mastandrea is sadly a disappointing entry into the genre. Where in the world was Wes?? This is not to say it didn't show some small moments of promise but it never quite rises to the occasion. The story revolves around a group of five childhood friends vacationing on an Island who come across a band of sinister German shepherds who have laid claim to the Isle after surviving what is explained as a "rabies" outbreak on a compound that sits on the other side of the Island which once housed a dog training facility. Most of the back story of the dogs isn't really explained and we're left with just a few specs of dialog from cast members Eric Lively and Oliver Hudson, who play siblings that grew up on the island, to to shed a dim light. The gang enjoy some sun and water until they are visited by a pup whose visit is more like an infiltration of the enemy camp and shares one of the better moments scenes with Hill Harper. Soon the dog-pack descends on our unsuspecting group who must now find a way off the Island before becoming dog-food. The best attack scene takes place in the house where our heroes have boarded themselves up but this isn't enough to save the film. The director was obviously asleep at the wheel and it shows when one of the characters ( I wont say which as not to spoil it) suffers an injury to the leg and later seems to forget they should be limping and they can be seen walking around like nothing ever happened. Where in the world was Wes??? Yes the setup is as old as wine but I still had hopes that the makers would inject some fresh blood into the story; it never happened. The film is hurt by uninspired camera work and the even more uninspired direction of Mastandrea. I hope somewhere, some place, someone will still make an old style killer dog flick with a decent plot, great camera work, and characters you can care about. Is that too much too ask? Oh yeah..this is Hollywood...oh well

When I went to the cinema I was supposed to see Almodovar's "Volver" and now I regret not to have done it. "The Breed" begins and ends like the typical horror film that we're used to see: some college friends go to a desert place where strange creatures haunt and kill them one by one. Here there are super-angry dogs but we will never get to know what really happened to them. Poor dogs... Someone imagines to see a psychic doctor or something similar, but there's nothing, probably an experiment gone badly. There is also a little drama but just like the whole film it is something we have already seen. In the end it's not a boring film but it's dejà-vu without any kind of explanation.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I actually quite enjoyed "The Breed" and I'm sure there's more people out there who won't admit it. It was fun right from the opening with the horrendously bad actors, "wood" and the awful direction. However, then five new kids come on the island and they're more competent actors and strangely likable as the film went on. I did actually feel sorry to see some of them die which is unusual in a film like this. The characters weren't flat, which was a lovely surprise. Of course it is extremely clichéd with the group going into a cabin with a creepy basement and so forth. This is the type of horror film "The Cabin in the Woods" was warning us of! The dogs are also quite funny as I do not find dogs scary in the slightest, especially when they're as cute as these ones! To see a bunch of cute panting dogs slowly gather and surround the young adults like "The Birds" was quite an unintentional hilarious sight. There was also a surprisingly good pace with the group always trying to make some innovative decisions. All in all I found it to be an entertaining and fun film. You shouldn't take it seriously and if you don't then you might actually find yourself enjoying it!

I watched this Movie with Not a lot of hope after reading some of the reviews here, Lets say I was pleasantly surprised. OK you can pick holes in any movie all day long if you try but this was a Good Solid hour and a Halfs Viewing. The Subject matter was a bit different for a Horror film, with no need for stupid poor CGI, the characters all acted like they had a Brain and the acting was pretty good. Is it worth the money to go to the Cinema and see. Well maybe, but as a Saturday night DVD you wont go far wrong. Its Good solid chewing gum for the eyes , I'm giving it 7 out of 10 Purely because It surprised me how much the characters thought there actions through, and the Entertainment value on the Small budget. Don't Hesitate to Rent it

A group of college-age adults lands on a deserted island where they take up residence at a cabin left to one of the gang. Over the next few days they will discover they are not alone, but sharing the island with dogs. Yes, dogs. Dogs that were trained to kill, but still just dogs.

This film was put together by executive producer Wes Craven and director Nick something... the director being a long-time Craven aide, and both having been quite responsible for the catastrophe that was "Cursed". You'd think after making a horrible film about werewolves, they would try to avoid dogs or similar creatures altogether, but you would be wrong. My growing hobby of player-hating on Wes Craven is only added to with this one. And it was written by the writers of "Who is Harry Crumb?", which may be good or bad depending on how that tickles you.

The cast isn't much better. You have two brothers (played by people unfamiliar to me, but they're alright), Taryn Manning (best known for her role in Britney Spears' "Crossroads", who is supposed to be "hot" but comes off as more whiny and annoying), Michelle Rodriguez (the actress who single-handedly killed off all the fans from TV's "Lost")... and the token black guy. Token black guy who tries to seduce blonde, white girl and does every other stereotypical thing imaginable (who writes this crap?).

This film suffers from disjointed opening scenes, where the time-line makes no sense. On one hand, you have the longest afternoon in history where the gang hangs out all day in a powerfully fun montage. Then you have them meeting a boater on day two who had been attacked by dogs presumably before their arrival. So, how did the boater survive at least two days in the woods? As we see in this film, two days is an eternity with these dogs.

I'm unclear about some things, most notably an incident with the character played by Michelle Rodriguez... why can she survive a serious injury and shrug it off as if it were nothing? She should become the one dragging the team down, but only seems to be more of a leader after the fact. And what happened to Manning's character? She seems to get some sort of lust power, almost wolf-like (again, see "Cursed") but it never amounts to anything and has no importance to the plot.

The biggest problem with this film is that it's about an island of dogs. Is there really anything scary about a dog sitting in a tree? Or a dog laying on the beach? Because most of the time, that's all the dogs do -- sit and look cute.

This film went straight to video. If there was something beneath "straight to video", that's where this film would have gone. Nothing really remarkable about this film, other than its sheer stupidity. Thanks Wes Craven for letting this sort of worthless thing make it to my eyes and permeate my brain. There's a special place in hell waiting for you.