Blog Monster Movie Monday: Dog Soldiers

Dog Soldiers (2002)

Starring: Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby, and Liam Cunningham
Directed by: Neil Marshall
Written by: Neil Marshall
Production Company: The Carousel Picture Company, Kismet Entertainment Group, Luxenbourg Film Fund, The Noel Gay Motion Picture Company, and The Victor Film Company.

I find that it is very difficult finding good examples of werewolf films. Rarely do I see a preview for a werewolf movie and think, “I’ve gotta see that!” In fact, when I saw the trailer for Dog Soldiers for the first time, I had written it off to be missed. Luckily I read a review lauding the film, changed my mind, and enjoyed a very entertaining film.

Dog Soldiers follows a group of army soldiers in Scotland on a training mission in the wilderness. Pitted against a special forces team, the soldiers are less than thrilled about the exercise.

Their enthusiasm takes an even sharper drop when a mutilated cow drops into camp and they discover the special forces team slaughtered. Then the fun begins. It turns out that werewolves inhabit the woods. As the soldiers find themselves the latest victims of the lycanthropes, they encounter Megan (played by Emma Cleasby) who drives the survivors to the temporary safety of a secluded farmhouse.

We find out that zoologist Megan is there researching the regular disappearances of hikers through the woods, because of the rumors of werewolves being involved. Now all they have to do is survive the night with the werewolves outside desperately trying to get in to them.

It is a pretty straightforward script. It goes the way many horror films these days are avoiding, the way of the simple plot. It seems today’s horror films have to be so convoluted, it is nice to sit down and just get a basic survival horror film. In fact, the film is so frank that the twist near the end is predictable yet out of place, one of the few negatives of the film.

Dog Soldiers differs from other modern horror films in that it eschews dependence on special effects. The werewolf effects are not CGIed. They are animatronics and bodysuits. According to Dog Soldiers trivia from IMDB, “the people involved in the filming believed that CGI was being over-used at the time and that it would take viewers out of the movie because they would be focused on how the special effects looked rather than the story,” a sentiment with which I firmly agree.

The acting is pretty good, as well. Liam Cunningham, who plays the foil to our main character, Captain Ryan, plays the cold, devious villain with pleasing subtlety, and Emma Cleasby does a good job with the one character that seems poorly written in the film. Kevin McKidd, who gives the deep but fairly dull role some personality, plays the main character, Private Cooper. The star, however, is Sean Pertwee. His character of Captain Wells steals the show. Pertwee, proving to be an excellent actor, plays his part with depth not seen by the other actors. This is not Pertwee first foray into under appreciated horror films, either. He was part of the cast, and one of my favorite characters, in one of my favorite horrors, Event Horizon.

Jason Fried, CEO of web design company 37signals, said in a speech in 2006, “You don’t need to outdo the competition. It’s expensive and defensive. Underdo the competition. We need more simplicity and clarity.” That’s what you get with Dog Soldiers, simplicity and clarity, and it is a nice change from the competition.