Least you think all we talk about is politics here on Samizdata.net. I just got through watching a DVD of Dog Soldiers and it is proof positive that you do not need a famous cast of ‘Big Names’ or vast budget for special effects to make a rather good horror B-movie.
The script will not win any awards for originality but as anyone who knows British squaddies could tell you, the characters are well presented and credible: the slang and comportment are perfect. Also they react as one might expect when suddenly confronted with a seemingly unbelievable yet manifestly undeniable situation… which is to say they do not (initially) believe that they are being stalked by honest-to-goodness werewolves, but they do not deny the obvious either when they find themselves wading through gore and intestines.
Excellent stuff… if you are a connoisseur of B-movies, then your hard earned pounds/bucks/€uros could be far worse spent than renting or purchasing this dirty little gem of a movie. I have seen flicks ten times worse than this which cost one hundred times more to make.
Waahhhoooooooooooooooo!
They broadcast this on the sci-fi channel over here in the US not long ago. I watched the whole thing, which I usually don’t do. The science was a little fuzzy but let’s face it, ALL horror movie science is fuzzy, so I don’t care.
Quite so, Shana… it does not pay to over-think a werewolf movie!
Agreed, I dislike horror movies, however:
It’s one of the few horror movies where the characters don’t spend ALL their time making exactly the obviously WRONG decision under pressure.
And the monsters aren’t bad either, very tough, but not impossibly horrid or baroque.
Fred
I hate doing this, but “me too!” I loved this movie. 🙂
Don’t know if I should admit this, but another one I liked was “Starship Troopers.” I thought it was clever how they couched the whole thing as a military propaganda film. Besides that, gratuitous dismemberment of malevolent bugs kinda gives me a thrill.