Spooky Movies: Dog Soldiers

Next up are two under-appreciated, low-budget monster movies produced and written by Neil Marshall. In the first, Dog Soldiers (2002), a squad of British Army soldiers is sent to the Scottish highlands for a training mission against a Special Air Service unit, but all they find is the grisly remains of the SAS men. The group is attacked by persons or creatures unseen as they flee. They reach a road where they meet a zoologist, Megan, who not-so-coincidentally has a truck and knows more than she’s saying about whatever is eviscerating people in the woods. She spirits them away to an old farmhouse, where they hole up and are shocked to discover they’re being hunted by werewolves.

This film accomplishes a lot with a low budget. The werewolves are horrifying, yet oddly beautiful—even graceful—and there are enough plot twists to keep the story from being too predictable. It’s quite gory, though—more intestines than a butcher shop—so it’s not for the kids. If you’re like me and you hate it when the dog dies in a film, you may want to skip the first 15 minutes.