DOG SOLDIERS (2002)

DOG SOLDIERS (2002)

Label: Scream Factory 

Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 105 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Neil Marshall
Cast: Liam Cunningham, Kevin McKidd, Thomas Lockyer, Emma Cleasby, Sean Pertwee, Neil Marshall

A squad of six regular British Army soldiers lead by Sgt. Harry G. Wells (Sean Pertwee, Gotham) are dropped by helicopter into the chilly Scottish Highlands for what is to be a standard military exercise, they are up against a Special Forces unit lead by Captain Ryan (Liam Cunningham, Centurion). Suddenly the training exercise turn to shit when the soldiers find the Special Forces unit have been eviscerated by an unknown enemy, the encampment is covered in blood and guts, with only the critically wounded Ryan having survived. While Ryan keeps repeating "there was only supposed to be one" the enemy make themselves known and the group retreat into the forest, in the ensuing panic one of the soldiers impales himself on a tree branch and Sgt. Harry is disemboweled by what turns out to werewolves. Patching the Sgt. up the remaining soldiers are found by a woman in a Jeep who transports them to a nearby woodland cottage where they regroup, and treat the injured. Meanwhile, the werewolves gather around the cottage and lay siege throughout the night. Neil Marshall made quite a werewolf film back in 2002, a darkly funny and gory mash-up combining a gritty war movie with the hairy-howls of a Howling-esque terror film, that at its prime feels a bit like Assault of Precinct 13 with werewolves thrown-in to the mix. 

The group of soldiers are spot-on fantastic, a great assortment of actors who imbue their characters with some minor depth as they each share war stories and fret about missing the big soccer match in between barbing each other about this and that, the dialogue is snappy and vibrant. An earlier scene with Private Cooper (Kevin McKidd) establishes both his own moral code and his antagonistic relationship with Capt. Ryan from the Special Forces. These are all decent blokes, except for maybe Ryan who is keeping vital information from the other soldiers, and whom strangely has recover from his injuries in record time, I wonder...

The pace is kinetic and the atmosphere is tense, the Scottish Highlands (Luxembourg actually) look damn great, loads mist-laden greenery with rocky outcroppings made even more ominous by the black and white wolf-vision employed by the filmmakers for the POV shots of our hairy-antagonists. The design of the werewolves is great, seven foot tall beasts with the head of a wolf, their bodies are somewhat hairless with a long mane descending down their back from their head, long-clawed fingers with seemingly overlong arms with quite a reach... the better to disembowel you with with my dear. I think the design gives a wink to the creatures from Joe Dante's The Howling, but they manage to hold their own without resorting to outright theft, plus we do not get an elaborate transformation scene, mostly achieved quite simply with just yellow contact lenses and a set of teeth, they duck down below a table or whatnot, a boom  they're transformed. I love that Marshall went practical for the appearance of the werewolves, thereby avoiding the shock and awfulness that was An American Werewolf in Paris, this has an great old school special effects vibe.

Audio/Video: Dog soldiers was previously issues on Blu-ray from First Look Studios in North America and the image was lacking to say the least, when Scream Factory announced a new Collector's Edition of the movie was in the works I was very pleased. After a bit of a delay what we ended up with was a new 2K scan HD transfer approved by director Neil Marshall. Unfortunately, not from the original negative -- which by all accounts seems to be lost -- but from two 35mm film prints. So the expectations of a new 2K scan must be tempered by the fact that we have no negative and there's only so much you can do with a 35mm print -- that is actually a Super 16mm negative blown-up to 35mm. 

Keeping that in mind the PQ is not ideal, by the director's own admission the film is contrasty, overly bright and cursed with black crush and an abundance of grain. I don't mind the film grain, I love it, but the brightness and contrast issues are unsightly, but overall I think the grittiness of the image is actually complimentary to the kinetic hand-held nature of the film. Perhaps down the road someone will uncover the seemingly lost original 16m negative for the movie as we will have a superior transfer, but until such a time we will have to make due with what source elements that were available, and this appears to have been the best of what was available, not ideal but that's the reality.

There are two audio options, English language DTS-HD 2.0 and a Surround 5.1 mix, both are adequate but neither are gonna blow-up your home theater system. Dialogue, the score and special effects audio are nicely balanced, the surround sound option is more active with some use of the rear surrounds during the more action-oriented sequences with some pleasing ambient sound and gunfire. There are optional English subtitles are provided. 

Bonus content on the disc include an hour-long making of documentary with input from Director Neil Marshall, Producers Christopher Figg And Keith Bell, Actors Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Leslie Simpson And Emma Cleasby, Special Effects Artist Bob Keen. There's also a new featurette with Production Designer Simon Bowles who brings out a scale model of the cottage and speaks about the design and logistics of the cottage sequences.There's also a new audio commentary from the director loaded with anecdotal info about the making of the film, the cast and crew, and the genesis of the project. Neil Marshall's short film 'Combat' from 1999 is included on the set, a fun war-themed version of the pub dating scene at the time, it's a fun addition



A few extras not carried over from previous DVD editions worth mentioning are an audio commentary by writer/director Neil Marshall, producer Keith Bell, cameraman Sam McCurdy and actors Kevin McKidd, Liam Cunningham and Sean Pertwee which can be found on the Region 2 DVD, plus a  commentary by producers David Allen and Brian O'Toole which can be found on both the R2 and R1 DVD. Also missing are a brief Making of Dog Soldiers featurette (found on the R1/R2 DVD) and a selection of deleted scenes and gag reel with optional audio commentary by writer/director Neil Marshall -- only found on the R2 DVD from Pathe. Depending on your love of extras you might want to hang onto those DVDs. Notably, the previous Blu-ray from First Look Studios was completely bereft of extras, so this release from Scream Factory is much appreciated, and the new making of doc more than makes up for the missing supplemental material. 

As one of Scream's Collector's Edition we have a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring original artwork -- which sort of reminded me of the baboon horror fest 'Shakma' -- and new artwork from illustrator Scream regular Nathan Thomas Milner, with a slipcase featuring the new artwork. This is a DVD/BD Combo with a DVD disc that mirrors the same feature and extras only in standard edition, the disc art is the same on both the DVD and Blu-ray, which I think is a missed opportunity to showcase the new artwork. As I recall most of Scream's combo releases typically have the same artwork, with the exceptions of Escape from New York and Motel Hell which two art options on the disc -- it's a small thing but I love it when they do it. 

Special Features
- NEW 2K Scan HD Transfer Supervised And Approved By Director Neil Marshall
- NEW Audio Commentary With Director Neil Marshall
- NEW The Making Of DOG SOLDIERS Featuring New Interviews With Director Neil Marshall, Producers Christopher Figg And Keith Bell, Actors Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Leslie Simpson And Emma Cleasby, Special Effects Artist Bob Keen, And More! (62 Mins) HD
- NEW A Cottage in the Woods: A Look At The Model Of The Sets Created By Production Designer Simon Bowles (13 Mins) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (5 Mins) HD
- Neil Marshall's Short Film: Combat (8 Mins) HD
- Two Still Galleries – Photos From The Film And Rare Photos From Production Designer Simon Bowles And Special Effects Artist Dave Bonneywell's Archives (69 Images) SD

Dog Soldiers is in my opinion one of the best werewolf movies of the past twenty-years, without a doubt. Other than the very recent Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf (2014) there are precious few werewolf movies worth a re watch these days, if there are, please tell me what they are. Scream Factory new edition is a solid purchase, loaded with cool extras and highly recommended.  4/5

LATE PHASES: NIGHT OF THE LONE WOLF (2014)

LATE PHASES: NIGHT OF THE LONE WOLF (2014) 

Label: Dark Sky Films
RegionCode: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 96 Minutes

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1, 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: HD Widescreen (2.39:1) 

Director: Adrian Garcia Bogliano 

Cast: Nick Damici. Ethan Embry, Lance Guest, Tina Louise, Tom Noonan, Erin Cummings, Al Spenza, Karen Lynn Gorney 

A decent werewolf film is about as east to come by as a decent Bigfoot movie and let me clear things up early on by saying that both are pretty damn rare birds these days. I can count the number of really good werewolf films over the past two decades on one hand, the ones that spring to mind quickly are Ginger Snaps (2000) and Dog Soldiers (2002). I had a lot of hope coming into this one, having been directed by Adrian Garcia Bogliano who directed Here Comes the Devil (2012), which I have enjoyed more and more with each subsequent viewing. This lycanthropic indie just happens to be his English language debut and casting Nick Damici from Stake Land (2010) certainly didn't hurt, the guy's a juggernaut of of an actor. 

As the story goes we have a blind 'Nam vet named Ambrose McKinley (Damici) who is being moved into the seemingly quiet suburban retirement community Crescent Bay located on the outskirts of town.Blind though he may be Ambrose comes off as tough-as-nails and a bit gruff, not the friendliest person on the block as a trio of aging stepford wives find out when they come calling to welcome him to the neighborhood. He does hit it off pretty well with his neighbor Delores (Karen Lynn Gorney) though, but that night poor Delores is torn apart by a furry and furious critter that enters her home, the beast also shreds Ambrose's loyal seeing eye dog which makes it personal. It's quite a good bit of excitement and starts the film off strong. 

When the cops arrives they find Ambrose holding his dead dog and his neighbor in shredded on her floor, but attribute the deaths to an animal attack and warn the vet to stay clear of the edge of the woods and to remain inside at night... even though he was attacked inside his house... movie cops.

Being the determined guy that Ambrose is he sets about sleuthing the murder of his neighbor and beloved dog and determines that t might just be a werewolf on the loose in the neighborhood, and with a month before the next full moon he has plenty of time to prepare himself and to maybe figure out who in the community might be the cursed beast.

With a fantastic start featuring some truly howling action and a great set-up we now have to wind down our expectations a bit because things do slow down and settle into a very slow burn, which I didn't mind. Ambrose sets about physically training himself and becoming more familiar with his new home, placing an array of weaponry in strategic places, preparing inevitable full moon showdown. 

He also wanders out into the community to get a better feel for the area and the people, aside from the wrinkly stepford wives (notably one of them is played by Tina Louise, Ginger from Gilligan's Island) we meet the local priest played by Tom Noonan (Monster Club) who starts to look more and more like our furry culprit, which gives the film an inevitable shade of Stephen King's Silver Bullet, there's even a man with a eye-patch around town.  Some of this down time allows us to feel out the strained relationship between Ambrose and his son played by Ethan Embry, whom he keeps at a distance, it makes for some pretty decent character driven story moments, these two actors are quite good together, intense and magnetic.

As good as Embry is you cannot look away from Damici who inhabits the character of the blind 'Nam vet who seems destined and determined to face off against the lycanthropic monstrosity threatening the inhabitants of Crescent Bay, the guy just never turns in a poor performance and he hold this together from start to finish. Damici takes the notion of a blind man battling a werewolf beyond absurdity and straight into reality. Major props to Noonan as the priest who gives the role more than what it probably asked for on paper. 

There's a lot of good onscreen here, the frenzied initial attack on Delores, the set-up of the inevitable face-off, and some great nuanced character development through and through... now for the bad. As a werewolf film the transformations must be judged by by the juggernauts of the sub genre,of course I speak of An American Werewolf in London (1981) and The Howling (1981), there's just no way around it. The transformations themselves actually look pretty great and owe a lot to An American Werewolf in London with the elongated fingers, bulging body parts, and jaws protruding from the face during the metamorphosis, but the end result and aesthetic owed more to The Howling and Dog Soldiers. When we see the werewolf in brief glimpses obscured by shadows it is effective, but eventually we get the full on body shot bathed in the headlight of a car and the effect is not so great, it looks like a man in a pair of furry overalls with a sweet animatronic head. It diminishes the move a little but but not enough for me to say that this is not a great little werewolf flick, it's not the next best thing but it is a damn decent character driven werewolf film with some cool transformation effects that if not a straight-up purchase is guaranteed to be an above average weekend rental. 

The Blu-ray from Dark Sky Films looks fantastic with strong color saturation and deep blacks which make for a fantastic HD viewing. Audio option include both English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and a more immersive 5.1 surround mix with optional English subtitles. Extras include a commentary from the director, a fifteen-minute making of video piece and half hour FX featurette documenting the creation of the werewolf effects used in the film. .

Special Features: 

- Audio Commentary with Director Adrian Garcia Bogliana

- Making of (15 Mins) 

- FX Featurette (30 Mins) 

- Trailer (2 Mins) 

Freddy Krueger Battles Kryptonian Supervillian Ursa in British Indie-Comedy 'Strippers Vs Werewolves'

Robert Englund joins the cast of the British indie comedy/horror film STRIPPERS VS WEREWOLVES. He joins Sarah Douglas who's best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in the SUPERMAN films. Sounds like a fun cast, any movie is bettered by the inclusion of Robert Englund in my book. The man is a great talent who is rightfully known for his ioconic portrayal of Freddy Krueger in the A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series but the man has been around  for quite awhile and racked up a number of classic genre films including Tobe Hooper's EATEN ALIVE (1977), DEAD AND BURIED (1981), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1989) plus the more recent JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER (2007). He's also directed a few fright flick his own self; 976-EVIL (1988) and KILLER PAD (2008), both fun b-movie fare. I'm definitely looking forward to STRIPPERS VS WEREWOLVES.


Clout Communications Press Release:

Nightmare on Elm Street icon Robert Englund makes British film debut in Strippers Vs Werewolves

Hollywood legend Robert (Freddy Kruger) Englund is starring in his first British feature film as Tapper, a sinister werewolf pack leader, in indie comedy ‘Strippers Vs Werewolves’, which begins filming on Monday May 16th in locations around London.


Jonathan Sothcott, who is producing the film with Simon Phillips, commented “Robert is the ultimate horror movie star – and we are honoured to have him on board and proud of ourselves for being the first British producers to secure him for a movie here. Robert has a dignity and gravitas as an actor that lifts any film he’s in. He’s the cherry on our cake.”


The 35 year movie veteran, who has played razor-fingered killer Freddy Kruger seven times in the blockbuster ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ series has also starred in ‘Wishmaster’, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘2001 Maniacs’ and the cult television series ‘V’.


Centred around VIXENS, a London strip-club, STRIPPERS VS WEREWOLVES stars Adele Silva, Barbara Nedeljakova, Ali Bastian, Coralie Rose, Billy Murray, Alan Ford, Sarah Douglas and Nick Nevern.


Producers are Jonathan Sothcott and Simon Phillips, who recently joined Black and Blue Films, having helmed Airborne (with Mark Hamill) and How To Stop Being A Loser. It is directed by Jonathan (13 Hrs) Glendenning