Well it's October so let's give it a good start with the review of Dog Soldiers. The film premiered in May 2002 and that you may have seen glimpse of it on the Sci-Fi channel.
So we start off in the Scottish Highlands where a couple is out camping. They have their tendered moment until they hear a howling noise outside from their tent. Their tent is ripped opened and the couples are horrible mauled off screen. We cut to somewhere in North Wales where we meet one of the main characters Private Cooper (played by Kevin McKidd) who is in a special forces training mission. He fails to carry out the order by his captain Richard Ryan (played by Liam Cunningham) to shoot the Special Forces dog. Therefore he fails the training and is kicked off the Special Forces. We cut to four weeks later in the Highlands of Scotland we meet up with Private Cooper and five another British army soldiers on a routine training mission. Sergeant "Serge" Wells (played by Sean Pertwee), Corporal Bruce Campbell...you heard me Corporal Bruce Campbell (played by Thomas Lockyer). Private "Spoony" Witherspoon (played by Darren Morfitt), Private Joe Kirkley (played by Chris Robson), and Private Terry Milburn (played by Leslie Simpson). So the army guys have their complaint of missing the football "British soccer" game of England against Germany and continue on with their mission. While the army guys are wondering through the woods they're already being spotted by Captain Ryan and his special forces. The army guys set up camp and share some funny stories until a dead animal come falling out of nowhere. A little bit later at the Special Forces base Captain Ryan is on watch but little does he knows he's being watch by something. And through creepy POV shots Captain Ryan gets attacked. The next day the army guys reached the Special Forces base to find it in shambles with no one left alive except for the wounded Captain Ryan. So the army guys load up on live ammo despite Ryan's protest that guns won't work on "them". The army guys...you know what I'm tired of calling them army guys so I'm just gonna call them The BAMs (Big Ass Motherfuckers) instead. So the BAMs have their first causalty when Corporal Bruce Campbell is having gun trouble for some reason. May be if you check to see if the safety's on that could be the reason. So Corporal Bruce Campbell makes a run for it until he ran right into a tree branch impaling himself to death. OK this scene is pretty stupid yet so funny because you have to be really stupid to get yourself impale like that. And to top it off he gets instantly mauled off screen and it's really disappointing that he didn't get to say groovy before dying. The Serge finds Corporal Bruce Campbell's body as he get attacked but only to severely wounded quite gruesomely. I mean his intestines are hanging out of his stomach he shouldn't be alive let alone be able to defend himself but he's rescued by Private Cooper.
We cut to the BAMs regrouping while running from their mysterious adversaries until they spotted a car passing by and haul ass. The car stops as one of the BAMs ran right in front of it and this is where we're introduce to a zoologist name Megan (played by Emma Cleasby). Megan picks up the BAMs and manages to get away from adversaries and headed to a lonely house. As night falls the BAMs have set up camp as the adversaries surrounds the house. Megan explains to the BAMs that these mysterious adversaries are in fact werewolves. Of course the BAMs don't believe her right away except for Captain Ryan but that doesn't chance the fact that they're still being attack by the werewolves. It’s explained that Captain Ryan and his special forces knew about the werewolves and plan on capturing one to be used as a weapon. But we all know what happen with that plan. Further explanation that the BAMs were just bait to lure out the werewolves. Now as most werewolf films go that if you get bitten or scratch by a werewolf you become a werewolf. So it discovered that the Serge and Captain Ryan are infected and Captain Ryan was the first to turn before escaping out of the house. The film pads out with a few of the BAM members getting killed off while trying to escape to the nearest town. Things get really tits up when Megan reveals herself to be part of the same pack that's attacking the BAMs and then turns before Cooper guns her down. OK if she was a werewolf this time why did she bother to help out the BAMs if she was just gonna to turn on them anyway. The werewolves finally got inside the house leaving with Cooper, Spoony, and the Serge defending for their lives. We get an awesome last stand from Spoony as he takes on one of the werewolves unarmed before he dies. Oh yeah Spoony has a moment so bad ass it would make Reb Brown so proud. The Serge cuts a gas line of the kitchen stove letting the gas fill in the room while Cooper escapes to a cellar. And before the transformation takes over the Serge switches on the kitchen stove setting off a spark that causes the house to explode. Cooper manages to survive the explosion...somehow but he's not alone. As the explosion did take out most of the werewolves the werewolf Ryan was in the cellar the whole time. So there's a final fight between Cooper and werewolf Ryan ultimately Cooper kills werewolf Ryan with a silver letter opener. The film ends with Cooper walking away from the demolished house while we get to see the final score of the football match between England and Germany; England wins.
My Final Verdict: This film is a sweet level of brilliance the film didn't relay on crappy CGI for the werewolves and it does a good job of keeping the werewolves hidden at some points. Dog Soldiers feels like an awesome homage to Predator when you think about it. There are some funny moments in the film even with the werewolves attacking the BAMs. So if you're that somebody who's sick and tired of Twilight dumbing down werewolves this film will make you feel much better. So stay tuned next time as this Halloween special continues as I review Trick r Treat.
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