Story: As we all know, if it’s not Scottish, it’s crap. But in this film, a bunch of Scottish army studs crap their pants when they start getting picked off one by one. As well they should; their heavy artillery ain’t the scariest thing in these woods. Need a hint? What’s tracking them rhymes with Airwolf.
Scares: Tons. From the opening scene where a couple get busy then get dead to the slam-bang-bloodfest of an ending, there are chills, thrills and things that go bump in the night aplenty. Not to mention a good old-fashioned mystery; just what’s going on with these werewolves, and are there members of the group that know more than they’re saying?
Splat factor: Off the charts, loud and proud. Guts a gogo, with lots of disgusting glorchy special sound effects to keep things icky.
Closing scene “shocker”?: No, which instantly makes it one of my favorite modern-day horror movies.
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Though werewolves are nothing new, this story sure its. Dog Soldiers is OG all the way baby.
Trick or Treat?:
This is like finding your favorite candy right at the top of the pile. It’s a tasty, fun bit of fright that you’ll wish you had more of after it’s all said and done (but no dice so far; talk of a sequel is pre-production at best, just hot air at worst.)
Dog Soldiers is very busy action-wise, and tough to keep up with sometimes. But attention pays off big-time. Don’t be afraid to pop on the closed captioning if you have a hard time with the Scottish accents and rapid-fire delivery. Trying to multi task while watching this one is also out, you’ll end up rewinding again & again to see what you missed. And you don’t want to miss a minute. It’s that much fun.
Fans of Grey’s Anatomy — I can’t be the only genre lover who also loves me some chick-flicks, right? — will instantly recognize a younger Kevin McKidd (Dr. Owen Hunt) as Cooper, a soldier that was tapped for a special operations group but passed it by when the price of admission was too (creepy) high. The re-introduction of that special ops leader (played with a fistful of attitude and ego by a wonderfully talented Liam Cunningham) early on in the action throws a good dose of suspicion and mystery to the already frantic storyline, and gives the movie an edge it wouldn’t have otherwise had. Emma Cleasby plays Megan, a zoologist that saves the boys’ bacon, but may not be telling them everything she knows either.
Which brings me to my only sticking point with this film; there are too many times where our gallant boys in cammo should have tried to get more information from these two characters. And towards the end of the film, one of the characters pulls a 180 that is more a WTF than a spooky surprise. Otherwise, the dialogue feels real and the actors throw themselves into their characters and the crazy circumstances with gusto. The beginning of Dog Soldiers feels like a real band of soldiers shooting the shit before everything goes bottoms up.
You believe every bit of the craziness, it’s intense, over the top, and realistic. Men get disemboweled, torn apart, and orders go out the window. It’s more than a great scare, it’s a character study. How each man reacts and how they take care of others or look out for number one. Simply fascinating, and a must-view if you’re looking for an honest to goodness scare.
Score: 
Atomic Fangirl 