The Breed - La razza del male

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!

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.

Don't you just hate it when, in a movie, something seemingly trivial occurs or is introduced and you just know that it'll come into play later on?

I know I do, so when the characters in The Breed casually mention an old 'zip-ride' (or death slide, as we English call it), tinker with a car that hasn't been used in years, or break an old roundabout leaving a sharp wooden stake pointing upwards, I prayed that my cliché radar was on the fritz. But sure enough, each device played a major part later on in the film and I laughed at the film's predictability.

It's a shame really, since there are several scenes which are more than competent, actually managing to scare and excite—which is all you really want from a film about rabid, genetically enhanced dogs attacking a group of people stranded on a remote island! The five friends who come up against the vicious killer mutts are your standard assortment of attractive twenty-somethings of the type that seem to populate most popcorn horror flicks these days: a couple of bickering brothers—one reckless (Oliver Hudson) and one responsible (Eric Lively); a 'pretty' blonde (Taryn Manning—not my cup of tea but appealing to some, I guess); a wise-cracking smart-ass (Hill Harper); and a feisty babe (Michelle Rodriguez, playing her usual tough-but-tasty type). Of course, there are no prizes for guessing who is going to become dog food.

The most effective parts of The Breed are definitely the dog attacks, with the snarling, fanged beasts being suitably frightening and convincingly nasty. Surprisingly, however, given the current trend for graphic splatter, the film is rather 'dry', with only one or two moments to make you wince (highlight of the film: a poorly aimed arrow!) or turn away, and the gore-hounds amongst us will most likely be disappointed.

Still, kudos to director Nicholas Mastandrea for opting to use real dogs rather than CGI. And whilst I'm at it, I'll also thank him for getting Michelle Rodriguez into a bikini (although naked would've been better!).

A bunch of adults-playing-teenagers go to an isolated house, for a weekend of fun and everything else teens do in horror films. However, what was at first a fun weekend for the group ends up as a fight for their life as they are attacked.

As expected from the plot and/or from a Wes Craven picture, 'The Breed' is overflowing with the typical slasher clichés. Also present is Craven's typical 'tough female lead', this time played by Michelle Rodriguez (who really isn't good).

However, two things change in this usual horror-movie clichéd situation: the house is in a 'deserted' island instead of a forest (which changes the usual escape tactics); and the killer here isn't a Jason-style stalker, but rather intelligent (genetically enhanced) and rabid dogs.

To my surprise, the characters act unexpectedly smart for horror movie victims, actually thinking and coming up with decent/good plans to escape/fend off the dogs (though their dialogue skills are still heavily impaired). However, the usage of real, trained dogs instead of CGI is easily the film's highlight; the best scenes are done by them, with or without the humans.

It's a very dumb and idiotic film but also rather fun, and the dogs are definitely the movie's true stars. Not something to look for, but not a bad choice to watch if you haven't anything else to do.

A bunch of undergrads (played by 30 and 40somethings--no joke!) take their jet to an abandoned island for a vacation. Because undergrads do that? They get attacked by wild dogs that turn out to be genetically engineered killers. Scary! History has taught me to stay away from anything labeled "Wes Craven Presents," but I decided to check this out because how bad could a movie starring Michelle Rodriguez vs Killer Dogs be? Rodriguez isn't the best actress, but I always enjoy seeing her one-note tough-girl shtick in movies or TV (long live Ana Lucia!) And she does her own stunts in this! There's no CGI, which is commendable, though I'm not entirely sure how I feel about a large number of dogs being trained to attack for the sake of a dumb horror movie. And this is, indeed, a dumb horror movie. All the clichés are intact, the writing is awful, and there's even a dumb subplot about brotherly love. Or something. Taryn Manning is cast as the "hottie" of the group, though she looks washed-up and talks like she smokes six packs a day. There's an interesting subplot with her character that would have made the movie more interesting had it been expanded upon. This is enjoyable for what it is, but it's nothing special.