Filmography: Dog Soliders (sans spoilers)
Last night I watched Dog Soldiers, a recent-ish horror Britflick starring Kevin McKidd and Sean Pertwee. I'd recorded it last Sunday night, but because it was on Channel 5 the recording was rather annoyingly snowy. But it's such a dark film that I don't think the poor quality of the recording undermined it too much (plus it more-or-less spared me the sight of some gory bits).
Well, I won't give any spoilers because that'd be a bit pointless with this kind of film. Everything is about the suspense as a group of soldiers go on a training mission in the Scottish Highlands but end up having to fight off a bunch of werewolves. The point of the film is to be shocked when shockling things happen, and care about who's going to survive, and hope they think up ingenious ways of killing the monsters. In many ways, I suppose it's pretty standard fare, and could equally be a vampire or zombie movie with only a minor twist to the plot.
But I'm making it sound bad, aren't I? It's not a classic in its own right, though it has all the classic plot tropes you could want in a horror movie. And yet it does the tense suspense thing very well, largely because McKidd and Pertwee are both very good actors. Because it's firmly in the mould of a standard horror film, it is occasionally predictable. But because the characterisation works well, you do care about who's going to survive. Plus, it's nice to see a decent british horror film with nice Scottish and English accents - somehow I always feel I'm slightly culturally removed from Night of the Living Dead type fare because it's just so western. And it's very virile too - there's only one woman in it, and all the testosterone and banter between the soldiers is all pleasantly manly.
The werewolves, I must admit, aren't entirely convincing, and yet at least they haven't gone down the jarring CGI route with them. They're really not so bad. And early on they're actually quite scary. But it's the threat of them that really gives a scare factor, of course. Oh, and look out for the credits - they're quite amusing :)
So if you're looking for something to watch late at night, I'd say go for it. Don't expect 28 Days Later calibre, but it's a decent horror film that's worth watching.
Well, I won't give any spoilers because that'd be a bit pointless with this kind of film. Everything is about the suspense as a group of soldiers go on a training mission in the Scottish Highlands but end up having to fight off a bunch of werewolves. The point of the film is to be shocked when shockling things happen, and care about who's going to survive, and hope they think up ingenious ways of killing the monsters. In many ways, I suppose it's pretty standard fare, and could equally be a vampire or zombie movie with only a minor twist to the plot.
But I'm making it sound bad, aren't I? It's not a classic in its own right, though it has all the classic plot tropes you could want in a horror movie. And yet it does the tense suspense thing very well, largely because McKidd and Pertwee are both very good actors. Because it's firmly in the mould of a standard horror film, it is occasionally predictable. But because the characterisation works well, you do care about who's going to survive. Plus, it's nice to see a decent british horror film with nice Scottish and English accents - somehow I always feel I'm slightly culturally removed from Night of the Living Dead type fare because it's just so western. And it's very virile too - there's only one woman in it, and all the testosterone and banter between the soldiers is all pleasantly manly.
The werewolves, I must admit, aren't entirely convincing, and yet at least they haven't gone down the jarring CGI route with them. They're really not so bad. And early on they're actually quite scary. But it's the threat of them that really gives a scare factor, of course. Oh, and look out for the credits - they're quite amusing :)
So if you're looking for something to watch late at night, I'd say go for it. Don't expect 28 Days Later calibre, but it's a decent horror film that's worth watching.