Dog Soldiers

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For the unrelated novel by Robert Stone, see Dog Soldiers (book).

Dog Soldiers
Dog Soldiers North American DVD cover
Directed by	Neil Marshall
Produced by	Christopher Figg Tom Reeve David E. Allen
Written by	Neil Marshall
Starring	Sean Pertwee Kevin McKidd Liam Cunningham
Distributed by	Pathe Film
Release date(s)	March 22, 2002 March 20, 2003
Running time	101 min
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Dog Soldiers is a British horror film, written and directed by Neil Marshall and starring Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee and Liam Cunningham.

In the U.S., the film was never released in theatres but went direct to video.

It is considered by fans to be a cult classic (often mentioned in comparison to films like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later) due to the writing, direction, cinematography, chemistry of the cast, strong performances and the nearly complete lack of computer-generated imagery used for special effects.^{[citation needed]}

The film contains a large number of homages to different films ranging from The Wild Bunch to The Matrix. There are also numerous references to various works by director Sam Raimi including the use of the name Bruce Campbell for one of the characters.

1 Plot
2 Sequel
3 Cast
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The plot concerns a squad of six British Army soldiers competing in a training exercise in the Scottish Highlands against a team of special forces operatives. While travelling on their way to a perceived weak point in the enemy defences, the team spot a flare launched from the opposing camp. The special forces team has been killed, except for Captain Ryan (Liam Cunningham), who has been grievously wounded. Unseen antagonists make their presence known in the background, eventually attacking. Bruce is killed when he runs into a snapped tree branch, and Sergeant Wells (Sean Pertwee) is badly wounded. The group is rescued by a passing zoologist, Megan (Emma Cleasby), who takes them to a nearby house. As darkness arrives, the house is surrounded by the attackers; to the soldiers' incredulity, these are revealed to be werewolves.

As the night progresses, the werewolves make a series of attacks on the house, during one of which Terry (Leslie Simpson) is killed. Running low on ammunition, they devise a series of increasingly desperate plans to either escape or destroy the werewolves. Joe attempts to hotwire the owner of the house's Land Rover, but is killed by a werewolf in the process. Megan suggests that the werewolves may be using the barn as a den, leading Cooper (Kevin McKidd) and Spoon (Darren Morfitt), to use the hotwired Land Rover to blow it up. Meanwhile, both Ryan and Wells are making a miraculous recovery from their wounds. Ryan transforms into a werewolf, before being impaled on a sword and escaping. It is revealed that the werewolves are actually the family who live in the house, and Megan is one of them. She unlocks the doors, but is shot before she can transform, leaving Wells, Spoon and Cooper to fight for their lives. Spoon is killed after a protracted fight using crockery, his bare hands, and a frying pan against a werewolf. Cooper and Wells are chased upstairs, only to be cornered, and break through the floor into the kitchen. Cooper hides in the basement, and Wells chooses to use the gas cooker to blow up the house, the family of werewolves, and himself, rather than share Ryan's fate. Ryan, still in werewolf form, turns out to be in the basement as well, and still impaled on a sword, attacks Cooper and is killed by him, leaving Cooper as the sole survivor.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Sequel

A sequel Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat is planned. This will take up the story from where it left off and will involve American soldiers.^[1] Writer/Director Neil Marshall is not involved with the production and neither is cinematographer Sam McCurdy or any of the original cast. Rob Green is currently pencilled in for directing duties,

The film was originally billed as an October 2005 release^[2]; in November 2005, it was still described as being in pre-production.^[3] However it was reported in January 2006^[4] that filming would commence in April 2006.

The tagline is: Hungry for seconds?

[edit] Cast

Actor	Character
Sean Pertwee	Sgt. Harry G. Wells
Kevin McKidd	Pte. Cooper
Emma Cleasby	Megan
Liam Cunningham	Capt. Ryan
Thomas Lockyer	Cpl. Bruce Campbell
Darren Morfitt	"Spoon" Witherspoon
Chris Robson	Pte. Joe Kirkley
Leslie Simpson	Pte. Terry Milburn