Halloween Horrorfest: Dog Soldiers

Every once and a while, there will come along a movie that really surprises me. I go in not expecting much and the film catches me off guard. Dog Soldiers was one such film with it's deft blend of balls to the wall action, suspense and a liberal dose of black humor made this one of the more memorable and entertaining horror films for me of the past fifteen years. 

A group of British Soldiers, led by Sgt. Henry Wells (played by Sean Pertwee), are on a training exercise in the Scottish Highlands. Among the soldiers are Private Cooper (played by Kevin McKidd), Private "Spoon" Witherspoon (played by Darren Morfitt), Corporal Bruce Campbell (played by Thomas Lockyer), Private Kirkley (played by Chris Robson) and Private Terry Milburn (played by Leslie Simpson). The training exercise is business as usual until the group finds themselves being hunted in the woods, with Sgt. Wells being critically injured. They flag down a passing motorist, Megan (played by Emma Cleasby), who takes them to a nearby farmhouse so they can treat Wells' injuries. Once there though, they find themselves stranded and under siege by the same creatures, quickly identified as a pack of werewolves. Quickly coming to terms with the fact that werewolves not only exist but they are quite possibly about to be killed by them, the men decide to stand their ground to keep the werewolves at bay until morning. With no escape and limited ammo, it's going to take every once of strength and wits to survive.  

To sum up the approach of Dog Soldiers, it is simply Aliens meets Night of the Living Dead with werewolves. It has a relatively straight forward plot line that barrels at you like a runaway freight train, barely taking a moment to let the audience take a breath. It's a wild and exciting rollercoaster ride that uses every cent of it's admittingly small budget quite well. The film is populated with a group of genuinely likeable characters that you want to see get through the night. Of course, this being a monster movie, not all of them will. But that's where the suspense of the film comes from. Neil Marshall both wrote and directed the film, and manages to pull it off quite nicely. He crafted a story he knew he could execute on a limited budget. The creature design is also really interesting with what has to be the most unique werewolf design I think I have ever seen. The film is littered with cheeky pop-culture references as well, with notable nods to Aliens, The Shining, An American Werewolf in London, and The Matrix being notable ones. 

Overall, Dog Soldiers is a wild ride of an action horror film, with solid performances to back it all up and some cracking action sequences as well. It's a blast from beginning to end with a heavy dose of dark humor as well to keep everything from getting too serious. I'd recommend it for anyone that likes a good, suspenseful monster movie.