REVIEW: Dog Soldiers
11-04-02 | 03:40 PM
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REVIEW: Dog Soldiers
OK, I watched DOG SOLDIERS on Friday night and here are my thoughts. I viewed the movie from start to finish on a front projection set-up, with selected scenes viewed after the movie on a regular analog 27" TV. See the end of the review for equipment notes if you care to.
Synopsis: Basically, it's about a group of British soldiers out on a military exercise in the Scottish highlands. They stumble on the decimated camp of the special ops team they're up against, and from then on it's a fight for survival against werewolves.
First off, let me get all uncertainty out of the way. The disc is ANAMORPHIC. DOG SOLDIERS wasn't a big hit here or anything--in fact, it was a festival circuit/underground favorite that was picked up for theatrical distribution in many countries except this one, primarily because it was deemed too "British" by Hollywood (Oh no! Accents!) The same bozos were probably responsible for our not being able to see one of my other favorite werewolf movies, GINGER SNAPS, in theaters.
PICTURE QUALITY: For front pj users and those with large HD RPTVs, this disc is going to be pretty challenging, particularly in darker scenes where contrast is low. This is a major issue because, as expected with a werewolf horror movie set in the Scottish Highlands, most scenes are nighttime shots and dark or dimly lit indoor shots. On my pj, which does have some limitations with black level detail (see notes at the bottom), the lack of resolution became quite a bit of an issue at times--but it was definitely better than I'd expected, considering that this disc qualified for "straight to video" status in the U.S. market. The most obvious quality of this disc is how soft the picture looks. There is also quite a bit of grain in the darker scenes, and not of the natural kind found on well-transferred film-based material. The grain here is noisy and a bit crawly, but again not as bad as I'd expected. On a more positive note, there seems to be hardly any edge enhancement used, and if there was I didn't notice it--either way, it was minimal enough (if it was there) that it didn't bother me.
The above comments on picture quality pertain to my front pj set-up. On my analog TV, fed via s-video from my DVD player, the shortcomings of the transfer were less noticeable. This is not to say that you won't notice it on smaller displays, but then again I'd already seen these flaws on the projected image, so I knew what to look for. If your only display option is a 32" or less analog set, this disc might look perfectly ok to you. Digital displays of similar sizes will probably make the flaws a little bit more apparent, particularly in scenes where there is noise in the picture.
AUDIO QUALITY: The disc comes with a DD5.1 track and this is what I used. Unfortunately, it's a pretty ho-hum presentation. The front soundstage is fairly flat and non-three dimensional. In addition, dialogue is not presented very well over the various sound effects and it can be quite difficult at times to make out what the actors are saying. Those with trouble understanding various British accents and slang (and there's a mix of them here, between Scottish, Irish and English accents of varied class backgrounds) might want to up the level of the center channel to make up for this. I was ok with the accents because I grew up in a fairly recent post-colonial country (Singapore) and also spent some time living in England, but I still had to rewind on one or two occassions to make out what was being said. A good comparison can be made to both SNATCH and LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, two recent and hugely popular imports which featured a multitude of accents, but with better mixing for dialog. Be warned also that there is very little LFE info and you may wonder once or twice if your sub is turned on. A good example of this is in an early scene when a British Lynx helicopter drops off our band of intrepid soldiers--the sound of the rotors is flat with a very noticeable lack of any bass. All in all, a pretty disappointing audio experience.
EXTRAS: I haven't finished watching the extras yet, but there are only two of note. First off is a featurette on the making of the movie, featuring cast and director interviews and a couple of behind the scenes shots. The featurette is ok, and while it might look like one of those HBO "documentaries" used to promote upcoming movies, it's obvious from the content that it's meant for viewers who've already seen the feature. The other extra is a commentary by one of the producers, which I skimmed through, picking out only scenes that I wanted more background info on. It's a fairly lively commentary and the producer is obviously excited about the movie and pretty proud of the final product, as he should be, IMHO.
MOVIE'S MERITS: I have to say that despite the transfer's shortcomings, I'd recommend this disc to anyone--if nothing else because it takes a genre movie and elevates it above much of the overly-slick, poor excuses for horror movies put out these days. There's nothing particularly original here, and it's obvious that the film was done on a limited budget, but there's still much to enjoy. Atmosphere is great and most importantly, the acting is superb. The cast is mostly unknown, which actually serves the movie pretty well--you have very little idea who's going to die next. Characters are sketched in, but they're done well enough that each has a recognisable, distinguishable personality and you'll actually care if they live or die. Or at least I did. Finally, apart from GINGER SNAPS--which was a very different movie and, arguably, not even a movie about werewolves--no one's done a truly enjoyable werewolf movie for quite some time (probably not since AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON). If you're in the mood for a well-executed, fun and different take on a werewolf flick, this disc is for you. At the price I paid ($14.99), it was certainly a worthwhile 2 hours of my time.
EQUIPMENT NOTES
Displays: Panasonic TH-AE100 Digital LCD projector and Samsung TXL2791F 27" analog 4:3 TV. AE100 was fed via component video cables (Canare L4CFB) from DVD player; s-video used for the Samsung. Image projected is about 7.5' wide (horizontal) on a flat, matte white wall (I've used a screen before, when I had a set-up that allowed for a smaller picture and I prefer my new wall). Seating distance is about 15 feet back, so I'm at just about 2x screen width. The AE100 is a native 16:9 pj with 848x480 resolution and has limitations (as all LCD pjs do) with black level. Specifically, it's incapable of producing truly black blacks and shadow delineation in the darkest scenes is very difficult. That said, it seldom becomes an issue except on poorly transferred discs and well-done offerings (think the first murder scene in SE7EN) remain acceptably enjoyable.
Source: JVC XV-S500 DVD player modified by JVB Digital. I actually prefer this player in my set-up with my projector over both the Panasonic RP56 and RP82 as it results in slightly less screendoor. YMMV with your displays.
Sound: Harman/Kardon AVR320 receiver.
Speakers: Triangle Titus 202 fronts with matching Sextan center channel speaker; Paradigm Atoms for rears and SVS 25-31CS subwoofer. Mapleshade Golden Helix speaker cabling.
Synopsis: Basically, it's about a group of British soldiers out on a military exercise in the Scottish highlands. They stumble on the decimated camp of the special ops team they're up against, and from then on it's a fight for survival against werewolves.
First off, let me get all uncertainty out of the way. The disc is ANAMORPHIC. DOG SOLDIERS wasn't a big hit here or anything--in fact, it was a festival circuit/underground favorite that was picked up for theatrical distribution in many countries except this one, primarily because it was deemed too "British" by Hollywood (Oh no! Accents!) The same bozos were probably responsible for our not being able to see one of my other favorite werewolf movies, GINGER SNAPS, in theaters.
PICTURE QUALITY: For front pj users and those with large HD RPTVs, this disc is going to be pretty challenging, particularly in darker scenes where contrast is low. This is a major issue because, as expected with a werewolf horror movie set in the Scottish Highlands, most scenes are nighttime shots and dark or dimly lit indoor shots. On my pj, which does have some limitations with black level detail (see notes at the bottom), the lack of resolution became quite a bit of an issue at times--but it was definitely better than I'd expected, considering that this disc qualified for "straight to video" status in the U.S. market. The most obvious quality of this disc is how soft the picture looks. There is also quite a bit of grain in the darker scenes, and not of the natural kind found on well-transferred film-based material. The grain here is noisy and a bit crawly, but again not as bad as I'd expected. On a more positive note, there seems to be hardly any edge enhancement used, and if there was I didn't notice it--either way, it was minimal enough (if it was there) that it didn't bother me.
The above comments on picture quality pertain to my front pj set-up. On my analog TV, fed via s-video from my DVD player, the shortcomings of the transfer were less noticeable. This is not to say that you won't notice it on smaller displays, but then again I'd already seen these flaws on the projected image, so I knew what to look for. If your only display option is a 32" or less analog set, this disc might look perfectly ok to you. Digital displays of similar sizes will probably make the flaws a little bit more apparent, particularly in scenes where there is noise in the picture.
AUDIO QUALITY: The disc comes with a DD5.1 track and this is what I used. Unfortunately, it's a pretty ho-hum presentation. The front soundstage is fairly flat and non-three dimensional. In addition, dialogue is not presented very well over the various sound effects and it can be quite difficult at times to make out what the actors are saying. Those with trouble understanding various British accents and slang (and there's a mix of them here, between Scottish, Irish and English accents of varied class backgrounds) might want to up the level of the center channel to make up for this. I was ok with the accents because I grew up in a fairly recent post-colonial country (Singapore) and also spent some time living in England, but I still had to rewind on one or two occassions to make out what was being said. A good comparison can be made to both SNATCH and LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, two recent and hugely popular imports which featured a multitude of accents, but with better mixing for dialog. Be warned also that there is very little LFE info and you may wonder once or twice if your sub is turned on. A good example of this is in an early scene when a British Lynx helicopter drops off our band of intrepid soldiers--the sound of the rotors is flat with a very noticeable lack of any bass. All in all, a pretty disappointing audio experience.
EXTRAS: I haven't finished watching the extras yet, but there are only two of note. First off is a featurette on the making of the movie, featuring cast and director interviews and a couple of behind the scenes shots. The featurette is ok, and while it might look like one of those HBO "documentaries" used to promote upcoming movies, it's obvious from the content that it's meant for viewers who've already seen the feature. The other extra is a commentary by one of the producers, which I skimmed through, picking out only scenes that I wanted more background info on. It's a fairly lively commentary and the producer is obviously excited about the movie and pretty proud of the final product, as he should be, IMHO.
MOVIE'S MERITS: I have to say that despite the transfer's shortcomings, I'd recommend this disc to anyone--if nothing else because it takes a genre movie and elevates it above much of the overly-slick, poor excuses for horror movies put out these days. There's nothing particularly original here, and it's obvious that the film was done on a limited budget, but there's still much to enjoy. Atmosphere is great and most importantly, the acting is superb. The cast is mostly unknown, which actually serves the movie pretty well--you have very little idea who's going to die next. Characters are sketched in, but they're done well enough that each has a recognisable, distinguishable personality and you'll actually care if they live or die. Or at least I did. Finally, apart from GINGER SNAPS--which was a very different movie and, arguably, not even a movie about werewolves--no one's done a truly enjoyable werewolf movie for quite some time (probably not since AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON). If you're in the mood for a well-executed, fun and different take on a werewolf flick, this disc is for you. At the price I paid ($14.99), it was certainly a worthwhile 2 hours of my time.
EQUIPMENT NOTES
Displays: Panasonic TH-AE100 Digital LCD projector and Samsung TXL2791F 27" analog 4:3 TV. AE100 was fed via component video cables (Canare L4CFB) from DVD player; s-video used for the Samsung. Image projected is about 7.5' wide (horizontal) on a flat, matte white wall (I've used a screen before, when I had a set-up that allowed for a smaller picture and I prefer my new wall). Seating distance is about 15 feet back, so I'm at just about 2x screen width. The AE100 is a native 16:9 pj with 848x480 resolution and has limitations (as all LCD pjs do) with black level. Specifically, it's incapable of producing truly black blacks and shadow delineation in the darkest scenes is very difficult. That said, it seldom becomes an issue except on poorly transferred discs and well-done offerings (think the first murder scene in SE7EN) remain acceptably enjoyable.
Source: JVC XV-S500 DVD player modified by JVB Digital. I actually prefer this player in my set-up with my projector over both the Panasonic RP56 and RP82 as it results in slightly less screendoor. YMMV with your displays.
Sound: Harman/Kardon AVR320 receiver.
Speakers: Triangle Titus 202 fronts with matching Sextan center channel speaker; Paradigm Atoms for rears and SVS 25-31CS subwoofer. Mapleshade Golden Helix speaker cabling.
Last edited by eujin; 11-05-02 at 09:02 AM.
11-05-02 | 07:21 AM
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My copy of DOG SOLDIERS has an...
ANAMORPHIC TRANSFER! Though the image is a little soft at times and can get grainy too! Also the Dolby surround seems to make better use of all the speakers than the DD5.1.
cheers, Tony Block
PS Here's some more comments on the DVD from posters at mobius home video forum.
http://www.mhvf.net/cgi-bin/anyboard...Qz=&aO=1&iWz=0
cheers, Tony Block
PS Here's some more comments on the DVD from posters at mobius home video forum.
http://www.mhvf.net/cgi-bin/anyboard...Qz=&aO=1&iWz=0
11-05-02 | 09:03 AM
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Ok, something very bizarre is happening with my player. Went home and fired up the disc again, and again, it appeared to be non-anamorphic--even had the black bars above and below the picture, which should not be there on a 1.85:1/1.78:1 aspect ratio. I then decided to pop the disc out and perform a hard shut down and unplugged the player. After waiting a minute or so, I plugged in the player, powered it up. Crossing my fingers, I put the disc in again and hit "Play". This time, the black bars were gone and the picture appeared anamorphic! Unfortunately, this had no effect on the poor picture quality that I'd reported earlier. I jumped about the disc to look for specific scenes that stood out and confirmed that the picture looks identical to the first time I saw it, save for the black bars the first time. And before anyone else asks, my DVD player was set to 16:9 Normal the whole time. I don't have OS X so I didn't bother popping it in my Mac. And I don't know how to explain this anomaly. Maybe it was a glitch in my newly modded player. I don't know, but I'm not going to try to repeat this bizarre episode. For now, the player is staying as is and I'm not performing any hard shut downs or unplugging it--ever. My apologies to everyone who's read my initial review--I will edit it now and confirm that this disc is anamorphic.
11-05-02 | 06:59 PM
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Here's an online review from eccentric-cinema.com.
11-07-02 | 09:57 AM
#5
Great flick!! I was really impressed with it, especially the acting quality. You normally don't find that in this type of flim. Really well done. Easliy one of the best blind purchases I have ever made. One of the best Werewolf movies I have ever seen also.
Good effects and a fair amount of gore...
8/10
Good effects and a fair amount of gore...
8/10
11-14-02 | 08:14 AM
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From: Virginia Beach, VA
Originally posted by d2cheer
Great flick!! I was really impressed with it, especially the acting quality. You normally don't find that in this type of flim. Really well done. Easliy one of the best blind purchases I have ever made. One of the best Werewolf movies I have ever seen also.
Good effects and a fair amount of gore...
8/10
Great flick!! I was really impressed with it, especially the acting quality. You normally don't find that in this type of flim. Really well done. Easliy one of the best blind purchases I have ever made. One of the best Werewolf movies I have ever seen also.
Good effects and a fair amount of gore...
8/10
11-15-02 | 10:37 AM
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From: The Land of Corn
Saw this at K-Mart the other day for 14.99, but thought twice about getting it. Guess I'll have to make a trip back to pick it up.
BTW: Didn't this air on the Sci-Fi channel a while back?
BTW: Didn't this air on the Sci-Fi channel a while back?
11-20-02 | 08:02 PM
#12
YEah, it wasn't a bad movie at all! I'd give it 3.5/5 stars. Some of the dialogue wasn't the best ( I'm not talking about the accents) and at times you could see what's coming ( No spoilers) but it was entertaining and fit the evening since it was a full moon.
11-25-02 | 12:51 PM
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From: Virginia Beach, VA
Last edited by mikeporter; 11-27-02 at 04:36 PM.
11-28-02 | 07:26 PM
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Here's a good review from DVD verdict.
http://www.dvdverdict.com/smallclaims/dogsoldiers.shtml
and DVD Angle
http://www.dvdangle.com/reviews/review.php?Id=2820
http://www.dvdverdict.com/smallclaims/dogsoldiers.shtml
and DVD Angle
http://www.dvdangle.com/reviews/review.php?Id=2820
Last edited by Tony Block; 11-28-02 at 07:39 PM.
