by Ed Travis
As awesome of a movie as Dog Soldiers still is, in high definition it is always going to look totally bone. One of the most disappointing Blu-ray purchases of my life was buying the original, barebones Dog Soldiers Blu-ray and finding that it looked so terrible I wasn’t even willing to part with my DVD copy of this beloved early 2000s soldiers versus werewolves film. So when Scream Factory announced a Collector’s Edition release, there was no way I could pass up a review opportunity. Surely this release would wipe the floor with that older version. And yes, it does. This new Collector’s Edition is easily the best edition of the film available. But to my surprise, the film itself still looks kind of bad. I’m happy to report, however, that packing discs out with special features will often assist in solving years old questions that barebones releases simply can’t… things like: Oh, Neil Marshall shot the film on 16mm. So, it turns out, that graininess and weirdly “much older looking than 2002” aesthetic of Dog Soldiers is never going away because the original elements are what they are. But in a weird way, knowing this gives the film an endearing, rather than anger-inducing, quality. This is a low budget “calling card” first feature film from a director who has gone on to prove his talents over and over again and who is currently directing some of the best episodes of Game Of Thrones, TV’s biggest reigning champion. So when a guy like that, here in 2015, admits to it probably being a huge mistake to shoot the film in 16mm, you empathize with him, and accept it for what it is.
And what it is is a top notch siege film a la Assault On Precinct 13 or Rio Bravo or Night Of The Living Dead… only with the best looking non-American Werewolf In London werewolves to date. Dog Soldiers is an extremely gratifying watch, because you get just about everything you want out of a movie like this. Compelling and tough characters who occasionally pop into 2 or even 3 dimensional space, entertaining set pieces, remarkable practical creature effects, and even some laughs sprinkled in amidst the tension. One thing you really don’t get in Dog Soldiers, and which ends up almost feeling like a gutsy decision in retrospect, is a “transformation” sequence. Every werewolf movie has to have a transformation sequence, right? Since the earliest days of The Wolfman, this has been an unbreakable rule. So Neil Marshall went ahead and broke it. And the only real reason seems to be the simple fact that they couldn’t pull off an even remotely impressive sequence in 2002 dollars and with 2002 technology on the budget they had. This might feel like a cop out, but after watching Howling II the other day… I can vouch that it isn’t. Marshall’s werewolves are magnificent creatures… glimpsed just often enough to satisfy and tantalize simultaneously. Standing some 9 feet tall and portrayed by dancers who were comfortable utilizing built in stilt mechanisms whilst blinded by large animatronic heads, these werewolves are so beautiful you just wonder why so many other films make them look like hairless and almost clay-like beasts. If side-stepping a transformation sequence yields creatures this iconic in their design… then I’m honestly willing to go without the transformation sequence. Call me what you will.
Littered (come on, you KNOW that pun was intended) with fantastic British character actors such as Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee, and Liam Cunningham, Marshall’s script is well acted and gives at least these three, along with the lone female character (Emma Cleasby’s Megan), satisfying story arcs, even if those arcs aren’t particularly fresh or original. McKidd’s Private Cooper starts out the film failing entrance to the Special Forces Unit led by Cunningham’s Captain Ryan. He doesn’t fail because of his lack of skills. To the contrary, he’s an exceptional soldier. He fails for refusing to shoot a dog dead at Ryan’s order. So yeah… Ryan is a bad guy. Everyone on earth knows you’re a bad guy when you start off a film killing a dog. Soon the clear bond between Cooper and his father-like squad leader Sgt. Wells (Pertwee) is solidified when, on a training mission some weeks later, they encounter Ryan alone in the woods with his entire Special Forces unit torn to pieces by mysterious assailants. There are other squad mates who get to have some great jokes and rapport with one another too. Just enough rapport to make their deaths hurt when they’re ultimately holed up in an old farm house being attacked by werewolves on all sides. This simple set up allows enough space for the characters to breathe and have some meaningful confrontation amidst the snarling and the fangs.
So while there isn’t a single reinvented wheel in Dog Soldiers, you do have authentic-feeling military camaraderie, a standard siege setup seasoned with werewolves, and just enough character beats, jokes, and twists and turns along the way (not to mention clever set pieces and action sequences), to make the film something elevated beyond what a “soldiers versus werewolves” movie likely should have been. Marshall wrote and directed the film and between this, The Descent, and Doomsday, he earned a blind watch from me for all eternity… even if my recent revisit of Doomsday didn’t work out as planned. Dog Soldiers holds up all these years later, even if the 16mm original elements suffer in the leap to HD. Solid writing bolstered by fantastic character actors and confident creature effects make Dog Soldiers an entertaining film in its own right that also effectively launched Marshall as a modern day genre filmmaking maestro.
The Package
I spent a fair amount of time in my feature review discussing the look of the film, which isn’t too hot, but which has nothing to do with Scream Factory’s release. But this is a case where Blu-ray as a format does virtually nothing for this title. For a 16mm film, this transfer really doesn’t look too bad.
The bonus features here absolutely justify the “Collector’s Edition” designation with an all-new documentary that runs over an hour long and includes interviews with almost all of the film’s talent both in front of and behind the camera. There’s also a director’s commentary which I sadly haven’t been able to find the time to take in, even though Marshall seems like a very engaging speaker when discussing film. You also get an early short film created by Marshall called Combat, which is cute and ever so British, but doesn’t necessarily portend the wily filmmaker Marshall would grow to become. Still galleries and trailers round out the package, as well as killer new cover artwork.
All in all, fans of Dog Soldiers will get a whole lot of value (unavailable anywhere else) out of this release. As long as you can look past the 16mm visuals of the film in HD, you’re going to get the best package for this fun little film that you can buy.
And I’m Out.
Dog Soldiers hit Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory on June 23rd, 2015.