Monster of the Day #438

Wow, I really *couldn’t* handle the truth!

  • Flangepart

    “Sparkling Vampires? Wait’ll they get a load of me.”

  • Ericb

    “Welcome to Team Jack.”

  • bgbear_rogerh

    No novocaine. It dulls the senses.

  • Tcarberr

    Do NOT give this guy a golf club!

  • The last great werewolf movie of the 20th Century? Certainly the last major one.

  • Ken_Begg

    It really is pretty good, and it looks at werewolves through a different lens than most, so that’s to the good.

    A more conventional, quite fun late werewolf movie is Dog Soldiers.

  • What’s really great about this film is that they didn’t need to use any makeup or special effects on Jack at all.  He was just that good an actor.

  • I’ve heard a lot of good things about DOG SOLDIERS, but I haven’t seen it yet. I think when it “premiered” on The Sci-Fi Channel was the first I’d heard of it, so I still get a bad vibe from it (as is typical for anything I associate with being a Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie).

  • Gamera977

     Yeah Dog Soldiers is a pretty good movie. My only beef with the movie is it pulls out about every plot element and cliche you’ve seen in every other werewolf movie. Fun but don’t expect any real surprises.

  • Petoht

    Yes, but it had some great practical effects, especially for the werewolves’ legs.  The DVD had a little making-of, and it showed the stilts they used.

    Also, Dog Soldiers may have premiered on Sci-Fi (in the US), but it’s not a Sci-Fi original.  I think Sci-Fi may have nabbed a bunch of rights to it, but it’s a real movie. MPAA rating, premiered at film festivals, etc.  Please don’t write it off because of the association with Sci-Fi.

  • Well, as things would have it, my brother currently has DOG SOLDIERS borrowed from one of his friends, so I’ve borrowed it from my brother and plan to screen the film tonight. Fingers crossed, as they say.

  • Well, I gave the film a viewing, and you’re right, I was impressed. Seeing SHARKTOPUS really made me gun shy on any movies associated with a certain cable channel. I was quite pleased to see DOG SOLDIERS was an actual movie, and a pretty good one at that.

  • Gamera977

     Glad you liked it Rock! And Petoht hope I didn’t give the wrong impression- I liked the movie, I liked it a lot, one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in years. Only thought it was a little predictable, if it had surprised me a little more I think I would have listed it as one of my all time favorites. Well worth the money I paid for it. Then again with the flood of zombie and vampire movies lately anything different I’m a big fan of. Werewolves are IMHO sooooo much cooler than lame zombies and vampires anyhow.  

  • Petoht

    I suppose that’s a fair enough complaint.  It wasn’t exactly shocking in where the plot went.  I was just too distracted by the awesome werewolf costumes.  Also, I went in expecting genetically engineered werewolf soldiers for some reason, so I was a little off balance at first, which probably helped.

  • Gamera977

    Can’t argue with that at all- the werewolves were 100% badass. If I were ten years old this movie would have given me nightmares for a month!

  • Something I liked was the fact that film was a classic Men of Action vs Monsters formula (of the type it seems domestic movie makers are incapable of doing anymore*) which works because of it’s simplicity. Yes, things were predictable, but the lack of an Evil Government Conspiracy and having actual heroic good guys was a pleasant throwback to the kind of fun monster movies I grew up on.

    (* At least this seems to be the case with the major studios, as the independent film BATTLE L.A. provided these elements in spades!)