Dog Soldiers is a 2002 British horror film, written and directed by Neil Marshall and starring Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee and Liam Cunningham. It was a British production, and although set in the highlands of Scotland, was filmed almost entirely in Luxembourg.
In the U.S., the film was never released in theatres but went direct to video.
It is considered by fans to be a cult classic (often mentioned in comparison to films like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later) due to the writing, direction, cinematography, chemistry of the cast, strong performances and the nearly complete lack of computer-generated imagery used for special effects.citation needed
The film contains a large number of homages to different films ranging from The Wild Bunch to The Matrix. There are also numerous references to various works by director Sam Raimi, including the use of the name Bruce Campbell for one of the characters.
Plot
The film opens with a pair of campers sitting around a campfire. the woman gives her boyfriend a small dagger made of pure silver. That night they are both torn to shreds by an unseen predator. The movie then shifts to a depiction of SAS selection, showing Private Cooper on escape and evasion. He is captured and is commanded by Captain Ryan, the OC for the exercise, to kill the dog that had been hunting him, as a test of his willingness to follow orders. He refuses, and is therefore binned from the course. Cpt Ryan kills the dog anyway and Cooper tries to punch him, but is instead thrown and RTU'd (Returned to unit). The plot proper concerns a squad of six British Army soldiers (Bruce, Terry, Spoon,Cooper, Sarge, Joe) training in the Scottish Highlands. They are dropped off by helicopter with a brief that they are behind enemy lines and set off. Their mission is to tab 50km to the pickup point through enemy patrols. Pte Cooper spots a valley through which they can move to avoid detection. Expecting to carry out a routine training mission, they find the savaged remains of a special forces squad. They drop their bergens and SA80s (fitted with Blank Firing Adapters) and instead arm themselves with the remnants of the Special Forces arms, including flashbangs, HK5s, a shotgun and an SLR. The single survivor, Captain Ryan, has been slashed and is bleeding profusely; he makes cryptic references to what attacked them and repeats that 'there was only supposed to be one'. Unseen antagonists make their presence known in the background, and attack the soldiers, Bruce dies in the attack when he impales himself on a tree limb and is subsequently attacked by one of the assailents. Sarge attempts to save him by he is wounded when the beast scratches his stomach and spills his intestines. The soldiers retreat, firing and manoeuvring until they spot a car's headlights on a track ahead. The group encounter a zoologist, Meghan, who takes them to a lonely house. As darkness arrives, the house is surrounded by the attackers: to the soldiers' incredulity, these are revealed to be werewolves. The Sarge is taken to the second floor where Cooper and Meghan begin to bandage him up while the rest of the group ties Ryan to a chair and searches the rest of the house for weapons they can use. The werewolves attack the house for the first time and Terry is pulled through a window. After the soldiers regroup from the attack they begin to ration their ammuntion and they realize that will not last the night. It is then revealed that Ryan's wounds are healing and he begins to morph into a wolf. A fight ensues which ends when Ryan is stabbed through the stomach with a sword. This does not kill him and he manages to escape. There is then a lenghty section where the soldiers argue about what they should do next. Their arguement is cut short when they are attacked again. Everyone manages to survive this lenghty attack. When they decide to attempt to get back to the jeep they are unsuprised to see that is has been torn to pieces. Meghan tells them that there is another jeep in the shed and Joe, who is still furious that he is missing the footie game, is elected to retrieve it while Spoony makes a distraction. The wolves take the bait and chase spoon back into the house while joe makes it safely to the barn. Once he gets in the jeep and turns on the lights he sees Terry being eaten by a wolf. Terry is still alive and is reaching out the Joe for help when the wolf bites into Terrys neck and rips his head from his shoulders. The head is tossed onto the jeep and Joe speeds out of the shed before the wolf can get him. He makes it back to the door before he realizes that there is a wolf in the jeep with him. He attempts to get himself pumped for a fight and then jumps in the back seat for a fight to the death. The rest of the group opens the front door a minute later and Joes horribly savaged body spills out onto the floor. The soldiers then cut the fuel line on the jeep and drive it back into the barn. Cooper begins to run back as Sarge lights up the line of gas with a molotov cocktail and the barn is destroyed. Once everyone is safe back inside it is revealed that there were no wolves in the barn and that Meghan is actually a wolf and is helping the wolves kill the soldiers. Once she begins to morph Spoon shoots her in the head killing her instantly. The reamianing three soldiers begin to barricade the house and get ready for their final battle before daylight. The wolves attack and the soldiers are all separated. Cooper and Sarge are forced upstairs where they barricade themselves in separate rooms. Spoon is cornered in the kitchen where he begins to fight one of the wolfs with his bare hands. Cooper is stuck in a bathroom and is trying to get through the wall when a wolf breaks through the door but he subdues it by stabbing it in the head with a faucet. Sarge is stuck in a closet where he has created a makeshift flamethrower from an aerosol can and a lighter and he is holding the wolves at bay. Spoon in fighting for his life in the kitchen . Cooper makes it to a bed room with Sarge where they hide in another closet. Spoon stabs the wolf repeatedly with a knife and he thinks he has killed it but it gets back up and another wolf enters the kitchen. He is held up against the wall where he tells the wolves that he hopes he "gives them the fucking shits" and spits in their faces. He is then killed. Cooper and Sarge make it back to the kitchen and find Spoons unrecognizable corpse. They can only identify him through a watch found in the midst of his bloodied body. The two soldiers are barricaded in the kitchen when Cooper realizes that Sarges chest wound is gone and that he is one of them. Sarge begins to fight the infection and pushes Cooper into the basement. He then cuts the gas line of the stove, holds the picture of his wife in his had and hits the button on the stove just as he turns, incinertaing himself and the remaining three wolves. Cooper in then shown screaming for the sarge from the basement. When he turns around he sees bodies hanging from the ceiling and as he makes his way through them looking for a way out, Ryan shows up again, the sword still shoved through them. The two fight for a while and just as Cooper is about to be killed he finds the silver dagger from the beginning of the movie and stabs Ryan with it. The silver renders the wolf mortal to all other weapons and cooper proceeds to shoot Ryan in the head with his last bullet from his sidearm. Cooper and meghans dog then leave the house and look around at the destroyed property around them. The credits roll over tabloid articles of a platoon ravaged by werewolves and an article that shows that joe footie team won their match. FINAL BODY COUNT-9
Cast
Awards
- Golden Raven and Public's Award to The Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film, in 2002.
Sequel
A sequel Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat is planned. This will take up the story from where it left off and will involve American soldiers.[1] Writer/Director Neil Marshall is not involved with the production and neither is cinematographer Sam McCurdy or any of the original cast (aside from Liam Cunningham). Rob Green is currently pencilled in for directing duties,
The film was originally billed as an October 2005 release[2]; in November 2005, it was still described as being in pre-production.[3] However it was reported in January 2006[4] that filming would commence in April 2006.
As of July 2008 the movie has been been removed from the IMDB website. It does not seem like the movie will be made.
References
- ^ Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat at UHM
- ^ DOG SOLDIERS: FRESH MEAT plot and poster at Fangoria
- ^ List of current projects at Kismet Entertainment
- ^ Producers talk DOG SOLDIERS: FRESH MEAT at Fangoria
External links
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