The Dogs

Rating: 8/10

I'm often disappointed in horror movies. They're either too predictable, too over-the-top, or just plain dumb. The Dogs (2025) was none of that. I enjoyed every minute of it.

It walks a really nice line-half horror, half psychological drama-with some supernatural elements that actually felt fresh. Not completely reinventing the wheel, but definitely not the same tired playbook.

All the performances were solid, but Donovan Colan and Asher Grayson really stood out. They brought heart and tension without overacting, and their scenes together had real weight. You care what happens to them, which is rare in this genre.

Smart, creepy, and surprisingly grounded. If horror usually lets you down too, give this one a chance. It's better than most, by a long shot. And wonder of wonders it actually has an ending, unlike so many horror movies now.

The Dogs is not just a great horror movie, but also a great drama and a great mystery! It's based on the 2015 novel by Allan Stratton. Valerie Buhagiar is the director, and the two main characters are Cameron (Donovan Colan) and his mother Katherine (Kathleen Munroe).

A single mother and her teenage son move to a farmhouse in the rural town of Wolf Hollow. She wants them to escape his abusive father, who is stalking them. The son sees and experiences some unusual activity at the farmhouse, and over the course of the movie, a mystery is uncovered as Cameron befriends a mysterious boy Jacky. We learn secrets about the past, while also wondering if the main character has a sixth sense or is having a mental breakdown, or both!

I'm extremely impressed with the acting, especially the mother and son! I remember one great part where the Mother says "Cam, you take that back. Take it back." in an emotional scene with her son. Donovan Colan won an acting award for the movie too! A very sad scene includes the line: "It's been lonely since mother and father left." So many great performances, including Asher Grayson as Jacky! :-)

There is some tension and drama between the mother and son. The mother wants to protect and care for her son, and he's trying to be understood by her and to uncover a mystery. The movie was a bit slower paced than I expected at the start since I was expecting a different style of movie. That's okay though, since it's still great and exceeded my expections. I like the great visuals and scenery and music! The ending had some sadness to it, and rewatching the film helps to understand it.

I highly recommend to watch The Dogs if you like horror, drama, mystery, or ghosts! There are various ways to stream it online, but try to see it in a theater while it's out! Don't forget to check out the trailer, it's perfect! Look for the book, and let's hope for a sequel to The Dogs! I rated it ten stars!! :-)

...and is as middle of the road, pedestrian and blindly vanilla as this was, it's a dog.

Silly me for for looking at the associated artwork of two demonic-looking dogs and expecting, or more like hoping, that maybe The Dogs would harken back to classic "dog horror" like 1977s The Pack or 1983s Cujo. Wishful thinking. No, this in no way approaches those fine movies, nor does it even approach 1982s White Dog.

For starters, the titular dogs don't get more than 2 minutes of screen time. For the other 95 long minutes we're subjected to the hackneyed story of a mom and son fleeing an abusive husband and father, the son trying to fit in at his new school and the mom's burgeoning new relationship. Sprinkled in is a trite ghost story and the neighbor/landlord who knows all about the history of the home. What it isn't is creepy and it certainly isn't scary. The vibe is similar to a Lifetime movie and the scare value makes the Goosebumps TV series of the mid-90s look like The Exorcist.