Dog Soldiers


release year: 2002
genre: horror/action
viewing setting: home DVD, 1/3/03

synopsis: A team of British soldiers is out playing wargames when they find themselves stalked by werewolves.

impressions: Pretty entertaining! An apt summation would be, as others have said, "Predator meets Night of the Living Dead, but with werewolves." There was plenty of gunfire (though it's not clear to me whether the gunfire was actually injuring the werewolves) and quite a bit of gore too. The werewolf effects were pretty good, and there were enough distinct characters to make things interesting.

principals:
   Sgt. Wells: the more experienced leader of the soldiers, witnesses an innovative new use for super-glue
   Cooper: de facto leader of the group after Wells is incapacitated, doesn't like Ryan
   Megan: zoologist who ends up trapped in the house with the soldiers, she slowly becomes more and more useful
   Ryan: special forces guy who previously kicked Cooper out of training, only survivor of a shady mission that met doom at the claws of the werewolves
   the other soldiers: four in number, they're rather difficult to tell apart; one likes football, another likes fist-fighting
   the campers: unfortunates who picked the wrong place to camp, they help introduce us to the werewolves
   the werewolves: big hairy beasts who roam this neck of the woods, they damn well mean business


things to watch for: The boxing match toward the very end was a hilarious man-wolf fight.

acting: Those who played the sergeant, Cooper, Ryan, and Megan did the best jobs. I have to say that the British speech patterns were sometimes tough to decipher - English subtitles would have helped.

final word: Worthy werewolf action.

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