Rottweiler (2004)

User Rating:

3.2/10   

Director:

Brian Yuzna

Writers:

Miguel Tejada-Flores (screenplay)
Alberto Vázquez Figueroa (story)

Release Date:

10 June 2005 (Spain)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Eat. Sleep. Fetch. Kill.

Plot:

Follows the story of a dog who was beaten severely at a young age and has surgery, in which it's bones are replaced with metallic bones. Later, this half robotic dog comes back for a gruesome revenge..

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Robot | Experiment Gone Wrong | Female Nudity | Chase

Cast

William Miller	...	Dante
Irene Montalà	...	Ula
Paulina Gálvez	...	Alyah
Cornell John	...	Dongoro
Lluís Homar	...	Guard Borg
Paul Naschy	...	Kufard
Ilario Bisi-Pedro	...	Aranda
Nicholas Aaron	...	Sugarman
Lolo Herrero	...	Nacho
Ramata Koite	...	Berta
Bárbara Elorrieta	...	Woman in white
Ivana Baquero	...	Esperanza
Roberto Hijón	...	Said
Abdel Hamid Krim	...	Abu (as Hamid Krim)
Levinson	...	Moja

MPAA:

Rated R for strong gory violence, sexuality, nudity, some language and drug content.

Runtime:

Spain:95 min | Argentina:95 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Singapore:M18 | Germany:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-18 (self applied) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Castelao Producciones

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dante is on the river's edge screaming at the rottweiler coming to get him, his handcuff is on his right hand, while previously and throughout the rest of the movie it had been on his left.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in El maquinista (2004)

Soundtrack:

Dufresne Search Party

confusing, but does feature the longest gratuitous male nudity sequence in memory

The plot synopsis of this film does not actually match the film. The narrative is all jumbled around in time and loaded down with long post dubbed dialog. Any excitement is lost in confusing flashbacks and the mentioned long long sequence of the "on the run" male lead trotting around naked.

Brian Yuzna knows how to assemble the elements to make a horror film but when he directs himself he has showed before and shows again he doesn't know how to do much with those elements. There is also the odd misplaced sexual perverse element that stops the movie dead in it's tracks, this time that is the silly nude hero sequence.

Paul Naschy, Spainish horror icon actor, doesn't have much to do here, but the overall level of professionalism doesn't make his appearance the embarrassment that his two recent made in America films were. Then again his own Rojo Sangre makes this film look even worse.

Behind the scenes footage reveals many better angles than Yuzna chose to use. Also the director of photography says he likes to use lots of big lights. This certainly shows in the film, one sequence early one looks like it was shot during the day time but then proves to be a night scene. This is only the beginning of the confusion this movie generates.

Can't they make a straight forward chase/horror film? Well whatever they are trying to make here they couldn't make that film either.

FX are pretty bad overall, dog's robo makeup mostly looks silly as do the various puppet dogs and CG Terminator rip off dog. Much of the movie is devoted to padded dialog scenes. Only visual touches that work are a couple of nice crane shots, one right near the end of the film.

Sometimes the film is bad/funny but not enough of the time to overcome the boredom and confusion of the flashback structure and stiff re-dubbed actors. The reaction shot of the chicken though is fabulous. That chicken could teach the rest of the cast a thing or two about acting. All in all a loser in all ways. The film was nearly booed off the screen when it premiered at the Belguim horror festival.