the audience applauded

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Dog Soldiers (2002) *** (out of 4) A group of soldiers are out on what they think is a normal exercise but soon they come under attack. What they don't realize at first is that they're doing battle with a group of werewolves but pretty soon they find themselves trapped inside a house without much hope.Neil Marshall's DOG SOLDIERS is a film that I had heard a lot of great things about but I honestly had avoided watching it for a while simply because I felt it was probably another horror film with all hype and very little bark. Boy, what I incorrect because this here was actually an incredibly clever, unique and fun werewolf movie that takes all the "classic" traditions and updates them in an exciting film that perfectly blends horror, action and comedy.What really caught me by surprise is the fact that this here is basically a military movie. You know, the type of movie that has been around since the silent era. As with those films, we're introduced to a group of men, we get to know them, we get to care about them and then we see them go into battle. Of course, the big difference here is that the battle is against a group of werewolves who are basically soldiers themselves as they work together to hunt down their enemy. So, in the best sense, this here is a military movie with the great horror elements.You can tell that Marshall is a fan of the genre as there are certainly several winks towards other horror movies. The speech at the start of the picture about a fallen soldier seems like it was "inspired" by or paying homage to Robert Shaw's speech in JAWS. The werewolf costumes are terrific and I really thought they were fun and threatening. Another major plus are the performances as the entire cast fit their roles quite nicely. You have a great villain, a great group of soldiers and Emma Cleasby is great in her role.The film is full of violence and gore and it's done in a very entertaining way. There are some nice twists along the way and for the most part this is about as good as you're going to get. I really thought the film was full of imagination, which is something films lack.

Objectively, Dog Soldiers is a fairly bad movie, with hardly any of the scenes making sense, very shallow humor, low-brow writing and a pitiful excuse for action. The film crew and actors manage to provide some credence, but I assume that the "so bad, it's good" factor would work a lot better if they hadn't.Let me give you a spoiler-free rundown of what the first 30-40 minutes of the movie *looked like* to me: A group of adult men are playing a group of twelve-year-old boys who are running through the woods, shooting with their toy guns at imaginary enemies, while shouting nonsensical stuff that preteens assume adult soldiers might say. Since none of the material the camera captured had any resemblance of tension, generic but frantic action music is playing, while the actors are pointing their rifles into the depth of the wood, shooting wildly at absolutely nothing. When not shooting at air, the group of men-playing-children is sitting around a fire or walking aimlessly through the woods and having some of the most boring and dim-witted conversations you could hope to find in a movie...in my opinion. After that, the scenery switches but nothing else improves much.The acting is fair enough and occasionally loosened by exaggeration. Author/director Neil Marshall isn't generally awful either, but rather brought to the limits of his wits when it came to creating tension or action with a bare minimum of a budget. Almost everything that happens is laughably ridiculous and hardly given much thought. A lot of cheap tricks serve in visibly veiling the lacking quality of the action. The music is basically carrying every scene. Without it most viewers might question whether anything is actually happening at all. Choppy editing is used to help the music along, creating an audio-visual mess. One scene features a single soldier attempting to block a door from a werewolf, while also reloading his rifle. Nothing exciting is actually happening. The soldier is crouching in front of the door, fumbling with his gun, while we see little bits of an ugly, static wolf mask lightly moving around in the door's window. If the camera held still, the scene would be laughable to look at, without a trace of tension. To circumvent the obvious absence of action, the scene switches between 2 different camera perspectives, every second. In one angle the camera keeps swinging around, like the cameraman was heavily drunk and just about to run off to the toilet, jerking around on the spot, unable to concentrate on his job, only barely capable of keeping the camera held on the scene. In the other angle, the camera appears to be lying on the ground, after the cameraman finally ran to the bathroom. In his despair he didn't even mind placing the camera straight or orderly. The soldier is seen in the top right corner, while 3 quarters of the screen only show the ground and the wall next to the door-frame. Additionally, the camera is slightly tilted, giving the impression that the house is about to tip over to the side. Now imagine the scene altering between those two camera angles once per second. In effect it's a lot like watching a video of two elderly men, quietly playing chess, while frantic action music is playing and the camera view is doing what I described above - wildly moving around. And that's exactly what the majority of the movie is doing, adding music, shaky cam and bad editing to otherwise boring and nonsensical events.I won't pretend that my assessment of the movie would or should feel the same to everyone. Regardless of that, I think you might have the best chances of enjoying this movie if you belong to the group of men who are easily excitable by soldier uniforms, firearms and thoroughly meaningless, childish expressions like "Owned you!".

Dog Soldiers (2002) is my number 1 favorite best werewolf film of all time, a true horror classic! I love this film to death and it is my favorite action horror werewolf film in the horror genre! It is number 1 because it is simple, it is soldiers and werewolf's and they fight! Well directed and written by Neil Marshall who directed The Descent and Doomsday, I still have to watch Doomsday. I never saw before The Descent and I am not planning too. Dog Soldiers is my all time favorite werewolf movie because it reminds a bit on Aliens, instead of Aliens is werewolf's. It is practical I didn't noticed any CGI in it, I like the werewolf's they are tall and giant monsters. I like the cast you have Kevin McKidd as lead, you have Sean Pertwee as his commander the name of the character is Sergeant Harry G. Wells. Kevin McKidd is Private Lawrence Cooper. Liam Cunningham is Captain Ryan the human bad guy in this, he is the guy we don't trust. I also like this guy Darren Morfitt who plays Private Phil "Spoon" Witherspoon. Thomas Lockyer is Corporal Bruce Campbell the name and the last name from the actor Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead trilogy). This THE BEST WEREWOLF movie of all time! It won in 2002 the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film's Golden Raven, so you get an idea."Do you think it's all over? It is now." Plot: A British Squad is sent on a training mission in the Highlands of Scotland against Special Operations squad. Ignoring the childish "campfire" stories heard about the area, they continue with their mission and come across the bloody remains of the Special Ops Squad, and a fierce howling is pitching the night sky... With two mortally wounded men, they make an escape, running into a zoologist by the name of Megan - who knows exactly what hunts them. What began as what they thought was a training mission turns into a battle for their lives against the most unlikely enemies they would have expected - werewolves.This is actually British film it is not an American film, but I absolutely love it to death! THIS is how you do action horror movie with gore, suspense and most of all action. 100% fun and one of the movies that never gets boring. I specially liked the ending and I mean at the part where Wells sacrifices himself and blows up the house killing entire werewolf family excellent bad - ass scene ever!!! Neil Marshalls best film hands down. This film is so much fun and the werewolves look so bad ass. Love the fight scene at the end. A classic movie and a perfect example to every movie maker out there on how you can make a fantastic film on a low budget! It would have been awesome to see Statham take on these werewolves. But I liked the lead actors, great action, environment. I enjoy Dog Soldiers! Jason Statham as the main lead would be a bad ass seeing him kicking werewolf's ass! There is a lot of this movie that I like: it is a true horror film, you see people get's slashed and ripped off, you see a lot of blood and so on. I love the line when Cooper (Kevin McKidd) says a line Do you think it's all over? It is now and bum he blows to pieces Ryan/werewolf (Liam Cunningham) with a shot gun. I love that there is one sole survivor in this movie, entire squad get's eaten by werewolf's. You have a lot of gun fire power, soldiers are using a machine gun Heckler & Koch MP5A2 which is awesome. I love practical digital visual effects for werewolf's the animatronics by the company image FX were fantastic and the best one I ever saw! The physical-effects supervisor and stunt coordinator Harry Wiessenhaan was great and brilliant he knew how to make a werewolf for making this movie. Neil Marshall written and directed this movie so well and he really did made an excellent job making a horror film.Dog Soldiers is a 2002 British action horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall, and starring Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee and Liam Cunningham. A British production, set in the highlands of Scotland, it was filmed almost entirely in Luxembourg.Overall: Splitting the difference, we get an 10/10 -- an outstanding score, I absolutely love this movie to death, it is original and it is brilliant horror action film my number 1 favorite werewolf movie!

This is what real movie-making is. Not the CGI. Not the show-off soundtrack. Not the handsome but meaningless faces of the so-called actors. Not exaggerated advertising. "Dog Soldiers" is a film made by and for horror film lovers. The script should be regarded as one of the best. Not too much but just enough explanation. Excellent paces all through. It was written, directed, and edited by the same person: Neil Marshall. The ultimate credit can't go to anybody else. Watching this film is like being told a good story by a skilled storyteller. He never raises his voice. Never uses different tones to give cheap jump scares. Never cheat. Marshall simply tells a story evenly and calmly, even at some most vivid and breathtaking scenes. His as-a-matter-of-fact tone is ultimately scary because it brings realism and horror in the face. You soon believe that this nightmare can really happen and you are so trapped you want to just let them eat you cold. The werewolves in this film are believable. Sometimes they are just animals and sometimes they are much superior than human beings. There is no wasteful part in this film and every bit gets used. "They work as a pack", said Megan. And with her statement we see the dedication of a werewolf determined to throw a dinner party for her folks, including a suggestion that they are to destroy the last hope for an escape. Only one or two scenes are really bloody and graphical. However, they stay with you, and your fears for the werewolves are imprinted, at least to the end of the film. All in all, it is a horror film without any wastes and pretence. Only the British can do. Economic or low-cost filmmaking is indeed their natural tendency.