Review: "Dog Soldiers" - Scream Factory Blu-ray

Review of Dog Soldiers (2002; Neil Marshall) - A Recent Scream Factory Blu-ray. Check out the review below:

Dog Soldiers is a horror/action werewolf film with some comedy thrown in. The story follows a group of Scottish soldiers on a routine weekend war games exercise who stumble upon the mutilated remains of a special forces unit and find only one survivor. This survivor is not very keen on talking and only repeats, "there was only supposed to be one." Slowly the group begins to understand the threat they are up against and they begin to look for safety. They run into a lady with a car who takes the group with her, eventually finding a house to seek refuge in. It is in this house that the group becomes fully aware of what they are up against and realize that they must make their last stand at this house in hopes of any them surviving.

There are a lot of werewolf films out there, some great and some really bad. Dog Soldiers falls somewhere in the middle, but more towards the great side. The film has a lot going for it but also some aspects that push it back a little. The film is not supposed to be a serious film (as documented in the extras) but the humor it employs is a little hit or miss. In particular, a soldier boxing with a werewolf can really take you out of the film. Fortunately there is not too much of this type of over the top activity. For the most part it is a solid little action/horror film that pits soldiers versus werewolves. Perhaps that title, soldiers vs. werewolves would have been more fitting for the tone of the film.

One specific aspect of the film that helps raises the quality of this low budget film is the quality of the acting. Often in low budget films the acting is a little shaky. Fortunately for this film, the main actors are capable of taking a rather simple and potentially cheesy plot and transform it into a solid horror/action film that effectively walks the line between serious and fun. Another effective aspect of the film is werewolf effects. For being such a small budget film the werewolves look top notch. This is in part because of the quality design and the actual werewolf suites, as well as the solid directing by Neil Marshall. This film was made with a very small budget but looks far better than one would expect.

In the end Dog Soldiers is a solid action/horror film with some cool action and some pretty good looking practical effects. As well the film features solid acting from the whole ensemble. With the combination of solid directing, good acting, and great special effects the group who put this film together were able to elevate this low budget film above the sea of all the other mediocre low budget horror films. Hence the reason for this packed Collector's Edition Blu-ray for Scream Factory.

The most talked about aspect of this Blu-ray is the video quality. The video quality is, for the most part, not that great. Here is a response from Neil Marshall, the director, in regards to the Blu-rays video quality. Don't purchase this release with the expectation of an amazing video presentation. However, the video presentation here has a very interesting quality since it was taken from two film prints. The video presentation on this Blu-ray looks like it was filmed and released in the early 80's. In particular the way the colors look reminds me about a lot of horror films from the early 80's. In the end the video quality of this release leaves a lot to be desired but the new aesthetic the film has is worth checking out if you enjoy a visual aesthetic similar to many horror films of the early 80's.

Special Features:
The Blu-ray release from Scream Factory comes with some great and extensive supplements:

• Werewolves Vs. Soldiers (61 mins): An awesome making-of documentary that is a very in depth look into the making of the film featuring informative discussions with most of the cast and crew. A great feature overall.
• A Cottage in the Woods (13 mins): A cool look at the production design of the film. A very informative little feature mainly discussing the house set and the mechanics of the set within the story of the film.
• Combat - A Short Film by Director Neil Marshall (7 mins)
• Audio Commentary with Neil Marshall: A solid commentary that provides a lot of information on the making of the film. Unfortunately not much on the quest of making this new Blu-ray presentation, which from what I understand took a lot of time and effort.
• Dog Soldiers Photo Gallery
• Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery
• Trailers