Dead Dog

I bought this film because I am a fan of Jeremy Sisto & his work. Renamed "The Dog Killer" for release in Europe, they would have been better off to keep the original title, "Dead Dog," which at least preserves the irony of the conclusion. This is a movie that began as one thing & ended as another. Seeming tragic, dark & obsessive at the start, the plot kept taking slight detours until at the end, I was laughing in rueful satisfaction. I enjoyed the movie very much & found it refreshingly different from what it was advertised to be. This is not a heavy drama or horror film by any means but I am unsure of how to categorize it, which may be its best quality overall. Call it black comedy, call it satire, call it ironic - it's all of those things & more. But watch it - you'll enjoy it - and you'll be chuckling at the end.

I bought this movie, because the company released it on DVD in a totally different way than it should be. The title was changed in "The Dog Killer" and everything was made to look as if this were to be a psychological, dark and tense thriller about a couple whose dog is run over and the guy who did it was going to pay for it, kind of Fatal Attraction or something like that.

Instead, we have some kind of character study (maybe like some of Robert Altman's movies). The movie begins with Tom and Perri losing their driver by a hit-and-runner who is tricked by Tom in believing they have met some time ago. A drunken Henry, who killed the dog, is then thrown out of the car by Tom who then proceeds to...

The image stops with Henry lying on the ground and from a distance the car with Tom standing still. Then we cut away and the character study starts. It isn't a revenge thriller anymore, but we get to learn the different characters. Tom and Perri, Henry and his wife (who's quite unhappy with their marriage), Perri's co-worker (who has the hots for her, but is still in a relationship with Laine, a friend) and the cop who's out to investigate. The plot about the dog killer who's about to pay for his crimes takes a backseat and we learn about these people. It actually becomes almost redundant if Tom actually ran over Henry in the end or if it were someone else. It just isn't the main importance for the director.

An amusing movie which puts a lot of things in a short running time, this surely isn't bad, but it was just that I expected something totally different from what I've seen.

So let us conclude : this isn't a thriller, this is tragic comedy/drama about people whose life gets turned upside down after a traumatic event triggered it all (the dog getting killed of course).

Although the plot is somewhat unique, and the acting acceptable, what sinks "Dead Dog" is a total lack of someone to root for. The yuppie couple, yuppie lawyer, and the jerk who hit the dog are all totally unlikable. I suppose you could say that the only character that could elicit the least bit of sympathy would be the dead dog. Everything is driven by irrational behavior, and relationships are strained, as things spiral out of control. The attraction between the policeman and the recent widow adds nothing, because these are simply two more people who we don't give a damn about. I wanted to like it, but couldn't find anyone to like. - MERK