Dog Soldiers (2002)

"We are now up against live, hostile targets. So, if Little Red Riding Hood should show up with a bazooka and a bad attitude, I expect you to chin the bitch!"

- Sgt. Harry G. Wells

Dog Soldiers is an independent British werewolf film directed by Neil Marshall. Produced by the Carousel Picture Company and Kismet Entertainment, it premiered at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Films on March 22nd, 2002. It was later screened at the Dead by Dawn Edinburgh Horror Film Festival in the UK on March 31st. The film has proven exceedingly popular and has earned cult status among fans, owing largely to it's frenetic pace, subdued special effects and misplaced humor. The premise of the film revolves around a British commando unit who encounter a werewolf while performing training exercises in the mountains of Scotland. They take refuge inside the home of a woman named Megan, but they find that they are in for the fight of their lives as the werewolves come after them tooth and claw.

Plot
Two campers go out into the forests of Scotland for some fun and romance. As they settle down in their tent, the female camper gives her partner a silver letter opener. Suddenly, a werewolf tears through the fabric of the tent and slaughters them.

Meanwhile in Northern Wales, British Special Forces soldiers run through some training exercises. Captain Ryan is running Private Cooper through a private training mission to see if he's got what it takes to join Special Forces. He instructs Cooper to shoot a dog in the head, but Cooper refuses, saying that he won't kill a dog without a good reason. Ryan is unimpressed with the private's morals and Cooper doesn't make it into Special Forces.

Time passes and Cooper is back with his old unit. The squad is led by Sergeant Harry G. Wells and includes: Bruce, Joe, Terry and Witherspoon (Spoon). They are stuck in the mountains of Scotland on a training mission. As they assimilate to their environment they discover that a rival unit is having a bit of trouble. They find Captain Ryan bloody and partially eviscerated with his innards spilling out. The soldiers do a quick makeshift patch-up job on him and try to radio for an emergency evac. Ryan drones on about "them" and "they" without giving any real indication as to what he is referring to. The squad is unable to radio for backup so they try to relocate to a safe point. As they are marching through the woods, a werewolf leaps out and mauls Bruce. Sarge tries to save him, but gets disemboweled in the process. Private Cooper takes command and rescues the bleeding Sergeant. They high tail it to the nearest road where they find a civilian named Megan driving along in her pick-up. They all pile into the vehicle and she agrees to take them to a house a few kilometers up the road.

They get to the house and everyone is terrified. Sarge is taken upstairs where Cooper tries to mend his wounds using Super-Glue. The rest of the soldiers eat some leftover food and take stock of their ammunition. Captain Ryan begins acting strangely. He appears to be healing himself remarkably from what should have been fatal wounds.

Suddenly, more werewolves converge on the house and begin tearing at the doors and walls trying to get inside. The soldiers unsling their carbines and open fire, but the bullets appear to be mostly ineffective against the creatures, causing little more than superficial damage. At the very least, the noise and the smoke seem to keep them at bay. Megan deduces that the werewolves must be sensitive to light and she begins flashing them with the strobe from an old camera. After several minutes of intense fighting the wolves retreat to lick their wounds. Terry is killed during the melee. Everyone has to come to grips with the fact that what they are facing are indeed werewolves. Megan explains that she has been traveling this valley for some time researching the phenomenon. The commandos learn more about what is really going on from the injured Captain Ryan. Ryan is almost completely healed of his wounds and the soldiers learn that the Special Forces team deliberately sent the commando squad into the forests as bait for the werewolves. Special Forces wanted a live one for themselves so they could study it.

There is a shed behind the house with a land rover in it, which could help them to escape, but they need someone to act as decoy so that another soldier can go in and hotwire it. Spoon is elected to act as decoy and he marches out the front door with a flare in order to attract the attention of the werewolves. As the werewolves converge on Spoon's position, Joe runs out the back towards the shed. He hotwires the truck and turns the headlights on. As he does so, he finds a werewolf gnawing on the face of an earlier victim. Joe blasts through the doors of the shed and the werewolf follows suit. As he backs up towards the house, the werewolf somehow manages to get inside the cab and kills Joe.

Inside the house, Captain Ryan is starting to feel particularly agitated. His wounds are completely healed and he begins turning into a werewolf for the first time. He transforms, but the soldiers take him down hard and fast. They impale him on a piece of debris and pushed out the door.

The only ones left are Cooper, Megan, Spoon and the ailing Sarge. Understanding the werewolves' pack mentality, they realize that the creatures are probably regrouping in the shed. They use a canister of compressed gas to blow the shed to bits, but quickly discover that none of the werewolves were inside it at the time. Cooper and Sarge learn that Megan is actually one of them. The house belongs to her family and the entire family are all werewolves. Megan is something of the black sheep of the family and she clings to her humanity more than the others do. However, she can no longer resist the change and begins to transform. Cooper shoots her in the head.

Sarge begins feeling a bit better and his wounds are rapidly healing. He realizes that it is only a matter of time before he becomes a werewolf as well. Cooper and Sarge split off from Spoon as the werewolves attack en masse. Spoon puts up a strong fight and succeeds in going toe to toe with a werewolf for at least a full minute. Ultimately, the Werewolf manages to grab Spoon by the head and tears him to pieces.

Sarge and Cooper mess about with a werewolf upstairs before retreating down into the kitchen. Cooper hides in the cellar as Sarge rips out the gas line from beneath the stove. He lights it up and the entire house explodes. Cooper survives because he was in the cellar. He is not alone however. Captain Ryan, still a werewolf attacks Cooper one last time. Cooper finds a silver letter opener and stabs it into Ryan's chest. As the werewolf reels in pain, Cooper finishes him off with the last bullet from his handgun. Cooper is now free to emerge from the remains of the house and eke out a peaceful happy existence for himself.

Quotes
"It's that time of the month."

- Megan

"There is no Spoon."

- Private Cooper

"I hope I give you the shits you fucking wimp!"

- Private Witherspoon

"Now as of this moment as far as we're concerned we are 50K's behind enemy lines. Now if we do happen to make contact, I expect nothing less than gratuitous violence from the lot of you. Just cos we're firing blanks it doesn't mean we have to be thinking nice thoughts."

- Sgt. Harry G. Wells

"So you remember, you keep the fire down, right, you get stuck in and you kick their fucking teeth out, or I guarantee you, Joe, they will be eating your bollocks for breakfast, Sunshine."

- Sgt. Harry G. Wells