Dog Soldiers (2002)

Director:

Neil Marshall

Writer:

Neil Marshall (written by)

Release Date:

10 May 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Horror

Tagline:

Six soldiers. Full moon. No chance.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Scotland | Full Moon | Training Mission | Special Forces | Soldier

Awards:

4 wins & 4 nominations

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
Vilrikke's Acer	...	Sam the Dog
Bryn Walters	...	Werewolf
Brian Claxton Payne	...	Werewolf
Ben Wright	...	Werewolf

Also Known As:

Night of the Werewolves (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence/gore and language.

Runtime:

105 min | Japan:104 min

Country:

UK | Luxembourg | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-18 (video premiere) | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | Italy:T | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Luxembourg

Company:

Kismet Entertainment Group

Trivia:

The insurance did not cover the actors jumping out of the helicopter early in the film. As most of the crew were ex-army they jumped out of it instead. The crew also doubled up as Sgt Well's soldiers for some of the tabbing shots.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Cooper is showing Sarge their location on the map and a possible route, he initially breaks a pencil in half to point on the map. Later shots alternate between the broken pencil pointer and a pine needle.

Quotes:

[a la Aliens]
Cooper: Remember - short, controlled bursts.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Black Sheep (2006/I)

Soundtrack:

Tom Hark

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?!!"