Dog Soldiers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the unrelated novel by Robert Stone, see Dog Soldiers (book).
| Dog Soldiers | |
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 Dog Soldiers DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Neil Marshall |
| Produced by | Tom Reeve, Christopher Figg |
| Written by | Neil Marshall |
| Starring | Sean Pertwee Kevin McKidd Liam Cunningham |
| Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment |
| Release date(s) |  March 22, 2002 March 20, 2003 |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Dog Soldiers is a 2002 film, written and directed by Neil Marshall and starring Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee and Liam Cunningham.
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.
The film contains a large number of homages to different films ranging from The Wild Bunch to The Matrix. The character Witherspoon even makes reference to the Kobayashi Maru test from Star Trek. 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.
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[edit] Plot
The plot concerns a squad of six British Army soldiers competing in a training exercise in the Scottish Highlands against a team of Special Forces operatives. While travelling on their way to a perceived weak spot in the enemy strategy, the team spot a distress flare launched from the opposing camp. Most of the team has been killed, and the only survivor, Captain Ryan (Liam Cunningham), has been greviously wounded. Unseen antagonists make their presence known in the background, eventually attacking. Bruce is killed when he runs into a snapped tree branch, and Sergeant Wells (Sarge, Sean Pertwee) is wounded. The group is rescued by a passing zoologist, Megan (Emma Cleasby), who takes them to a nearby house. As darkness arrives, the house is surrounded by the attackers: to the soldiers' incredulity, these are revealed to be werewolves.
As the night progresses, the werewolves make a series of attacks on the house, during one of which Terry (Leslie Simpson) is killed. Running low on ammunition, they devise a series of increasingly desperate plans to either escape or destroy the werewolves. Joe attempts to hotwire the owner of the house's Land Rover Series III, but is killed by a werewolf that was hiding inside. Megan, the zoologist, suggests that the werewolves must be using the barn as a den, leading Cooper (Kevin McKidd) and Spoon (Darren Morfitt) to use the hotwired Land Rover to blow it up. Meanwhile, both Ryan and Sarge are making a miraculous recovery from their wounds. Eventually Ryan transforms into a werewolf, before being impaled on a sword and retreating. Ultimately it is revealed that the werewolves are actually the family who live in the house, and Megan is one of them. She unlocks the doors, but is shot by Sarge before she can transform, leaving Sarge, Spoon and Cooper to fight for their lives. Spoon is killed, after nearly beating a werewolf to death with his bare hands and after Cooper hides in the basement, Sarge chooses to use the gas cooker to blow up the house, the family of werewolves, and himself up, rather than share Ryan's fate. Ryan (still in werewolf form, and still impaled on a sword) returns to the wreckage, where he is killed by Cooper, the sole survivor.
[edit] Sequel
A sequel Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat is planned. This will take up the story from where it left off and involve the American team from the original exercise.[1] However, the sequel (like sequels to the film The Howling) has little in common with the original. Writer/Director Neil Marshall is not involved with the production and neither is cinematographer Sam McCurdy or any of the original cast. 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.
The tagline is: Hungry for seconds?
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Sean Pertwee | Sgt. Harry G. Wells |
| Kevin McKidd | Pte. Cooper |
| Emma Cleasby | Megan |
| Liam Cunningham | Capt. Ryan |
| Thomas Lockyer | Cpl. Bruce Campbell |
| Darren Morfitt | "Spoon" Witherspoon |
| Chris Robson | Pte. Joe Kirkley |
| Leslie Simpson | Pte. Terry Milburn |
[edit] 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
