Dog Soldiers (2002)

A routine military exercise turns into a nightmare in the Scotland wilderness.

Director:

Neil Marshall

Writer:

Neil Marshall

Stars:

Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby

5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sean Pertwee	...	Sgt. Harry G. Wells
Kevin McKidd	...	Pvt. Cooper
Emma Cleasby	...	Megan
Liam Cunningham	...	Capt. Ryan
Thomas Lockyer	...	Cpl. Bruce Campbell
Darren Morfitt	...	'Spoon' Witherspoon
Chris Robson	...	Pvt. Joe Kirkley
Leslie Simpson	...	Pvt. Terry Milburn
Tina Landini	...	Camper
Craig Conway	...	Camper
Villrikke's Acer	...	Sam the Dog
Bryn Walters	...	Werewolf
Ben Wright	...	Werewolf
Brian Claxton Payne	...	Werewolf

Storyline

A British Squad is sent on a training mission in the Highlands of Scotland against Special Operations squad. Ignoring the childish "campfire" stories heard about the area, they continue with their mission and come across the bloody remains of the Special Ops Squad, and a fierce howling is pitching the night sky... With two mortally wounded men, they make an escape, running into a zoologist by the name of Megan - who knows exactly what hunts them. What began as what they thought was a training mission turns into a battle for their lives against the most unlikely enemies they would have expected - werewolves.

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Plot Keywords:

exploitation | scotland | training mission | full moon | special forces | 

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Taglines:

A Bitch of a Werewolf Movie

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence/gore and language

Details

Country:

UK Luxembourg USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 2002 (UK)

Also Known As:

Cães de Caça

Filming Locations:

Luxembourg

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£681,348 (United Kingdom), 12 May 2002, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kismet Entertainment Group, The Noel Gay Motion Picture Company, The Carousel Picture Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

How they went about the werewolf transformation there were two choices, the transformation effects from An American Werewolf in London (1981) which was impossible as they didn't have the time or resources to do it and the other lesser option was CGI which at that point CG effects were not all great, some were great as it was post Jurassic Park (1993), Neil Marshall explained he didn't want to do some "cheesy morph" so he went back to some old school techniques, having them hide behind the furniture and pop up as the werewolf.

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Goofs

When the team reaches the destroyed special forces position there are 105mm charges and ammunition amongst the equipment present. The 105mm is an artillery piece unlikely to be used in a wood, and definitely not by special forces.

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Quotes

Cooper: We go together or we don't fuckin' go!

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits, other than the title.

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Connections

Referenced in Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010)

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Soundtracks

Lyke Wake Dirge
Traditional
Arr. Mark Thomas

User Reviews

On careful consideration - pretty much the best werewolf film ever.

Why is Aliens the best action SF film ever? One of the reasons is because James Cameron took the time to build up the characters in the squad to the point where you actually cared when the grunts started to get shredded.

Dog Soldiers does exactly the same, and features some great Brit dialogue to boot.

The region 2 DVD features an extra commentary not found on the Region 1 DVD - basically this consists of the director, the co-producer, Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee and Liam Cunningham getting hammered on Stella Artois and producing a brilliantly funny commentary which sounds like a bunch of mates getting drunk while watching the movie. Which was exactly what it was, except that this particular bunch of mates actually made the movie. Genius!!! Liam Cunningham - spectacularly stiff upper-lipped and evil in the film - turns out to be a very droll Irishman with the gift of the gab. "The Uamhunn.... The Uamhunn....."

One of the film's strengths is its gritty portrayal of British infantry in action, both in word and deed. I particularly enjoyed the cast commenting on how much they relished dumping those "crappy plastic guns" (the SA-80s the squad carries at the start) and getting a chance to charge about with MP5s. As Kevin McKidd put it: "So, you want me to run about the woods with a machine-gun, firing it all over the place. And I get PAID for this?!!"