A quick note on a British low-budget horror movie called 'Dog Soldiers' which may be of interest to horror RPG people. Despite having a special FX budget that wouldn't pay for the coffee bill on a Hollywood production, this wee film is a lot of fun if you enjoy twisted British horror/humour. On the summer release schedule it will probably be overshadowed by 'Attack of The Clowns' and 'Spiderman' but I'd recommend it to those who prefer a good screenplay and character dialog rather than showy FX and plot-led exposition. More importantly the movie essentially depicts a Delta Green / PISCES operation (or a Call of Cthulhu investigation) gone fubar :)

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The movie follows a regular British Army platoon that is dropped into a remote area of the Scottish Highlands on a training exercise. They are supposed to make their way through 'enemy lines' and are armed with blanks rather than live ammo.

Naturally all is not as it seems. A Special Forces detachment is in the area following the platoon. The platoon is essentially dispoable live bait to draw out a critter that has been killing tourists in this once-remote area. The ultimate objective is to capture the critter alive. Unfortunately the critter turns out to be an entire pack of werewolves and the Special Forces guys are first on the menu.

The squaddies discover the remains of the Special Forces team, and one survivor, and are pursused by the pack in an intense chase. They are assisted by a mysterious lady (crypto)zoologist and find temporary refuge in a farmhouse. But with no radio or telephone, a 50 mile hike to the nearest road, and only scavenged weapons and ammo from the Special Forces camp, things get pretty desperate. I won't say any more in case it spoils things too much :)

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The film bears comparison with flicks such as Southern Comfort, Assault on Precinct 13, The Evil Dead, Jaws et al. A major strength is the plot detail; many of the clues to what's going on are provided in a low key fashion rather than shoved in your face. Additonally there has been a fair bit of thought put into the psychology of the piece, with the action following the human platoon working as a team, against the teamwork of the wolf pack (there is a little more to it than that but it would be a major spoiler).

Cinematography on the movie is pretty impressive. The tech boys have managed to capture the somewhat unique Scottsh light in quite dramatic terms. There is also a real sense of the gritty, dirty, intense environment.

The characterisation is excellent, for once we have a horror flick where characters are not ciphers for the plot, they come across as real people in a desperate situation. The dialog is first class, full of acidic black humour that will have you laughing even as you squirm in your seat at the copious gore and sometimes gruesome on-screen events. Also (and quite surprisingly) the move maintains a full-on level of suspense - if you can deal with the suspension of disbelief then it will have you on the edge of your seat... well, it worked for me (especially the final post-denoument personal battle, which gave me a serious attack of the heebie jeebies and had everyone in the cinema shuddering and yelling) and I'm pretty jaded when it comes to horror flicks.

The downside to the movie is the low quality special FX, the critters are not CGI masterpieces. However the director uses all the tricks in the book to keep the focus off the critters and on the people. You could pick a couple of holes in some of the events of the film if you really wanted to but then that can be said of most films.

Another possible downside, especially for non-Brits, may be the accents and the very dark jokes. Politically correct touchy feely US citizens may not see the humour in, for example, the scene where the screaming eviscerated platoon NCO is stitched back together by his 2IC wielding a cannister of Super Glue. If you can imagine an action/horror version of 'Snatch' or 'Lock Stock' then that may help you decide if you can stomach the films sense of humour (pun intended).

In summary I found this one very enjoyable. It plays with the genre whilst attempting to keep a logical, even keel. If you can deal with the low budget format I think DG and CoC GMs would find it very entertaining.