Dog Soldiers 4K/UHD Review (Scream Factory)

by todayshaul · Published · Updated

Dog Soldiers is a 2002 horror film written, directed and edited by Neil Marshall (The Descent, Doomsday, Tales of Halloween, Game of Thrones, Hannibal, and Constantine). A group of soldiers which includes Wells (played by: Sean Pertwee from Gotham) and Cooper (played by: Kevin McKidd from Grey’s Anatomy) is dispatched to the Scottish Highlands on special training maneuvers face their biggest fears after they run into Captain Ryan (played by: Liam Cunningham from Game of Thrones) – the only survivor of a Special Ops team that was literally torn to pieces. Ryan refuses to disclose his mission even though whoever attacked his men might be hungry for seconds. Help arrives in the form of a local woman named Megan (played by: Emma Cleasby from Doomsday) who shelters them in a deserted farmhouse deep in the forest … but when they realize that they are surrounded by a pack of blood-lusting werewolves, it’s apparent their nightmare has just begun!!!!Dog Soldiers is a great balance of horror and action. It’s a twisted mix of werewolf meets war. The script never lets up and it keeps you glued to the screen. It has excellent production design and damn near every department hits a home run here. Neil Marshall is highly under-rated as a director and this is one of his best features. The cast is full of some of the best overseas talent around and a decent amount of them have moved on to way bigger projects after this one. My only complaint about Dog Soldiers is that it was shot way too dark. Besides that, it’s one of the best werewolf flicks in recent years and it stands out from most of them. Dog Soldiers builds up some nice tension and suspense plus it has some solid twists thrown in there. The look of the werewolves in this is top notch. This horror movie actually gets better over time and with each repeat viewing. This comes highly recommended especially for werewolf and horror fans!!!!Let’s talk about the high definition presentation and special features from Scream Factory! This 2160p (1.85:1) transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is a major improvement compared to all the home video releases in the past. I’ve owned several different versions of this over the years and honestly they all looked pretty bad. The quality was always lower due to lose elements and it’s just a really dark film when it comes to the cinematography. This is almost like seeing the feature for the very first time because it’s like night and day when it comes to the comparisons between them. This is one of the best upgrades in the history of 4K. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 on the UHD disc. The audio here is really good, this aspect of the horror feature has never been an issue. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, all the action is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has three different commentaries on the UHD disc, those are the only extras featured on it. The rest of them are located on the blu ray disc. “Audio Commentary” with Writer and Associate Professor of Film Alison Peirse. “Audio Commentary” with Director Neil Marshall. “Audio Commentary” with Producers David E. Allen and Brian O’Toole. All three have their own vibe and different subjects discussed. There’s lots of great information and stories between all these audio tracks. “Werewolves, Crawlers, Cannibals and More” is a 38 minute interview with director Neil Marshall/ “A History of Lycanthropy” is a 33 minute interview with author Gavin Baddeley. “Werewolves, Folklore and Cinema” is a 23 minute interview with author Mikel J. Koven. “Werewolves vs. Soldiers” is an almost 1 hour and 2 minute documentary about the film with several interviews with cast and crew involved with the werewolf flick. “A Cottage in the Woods” is a 13 minute look at the production design. It has various “Theatrical Trailers”, a “Dog Soldiers Photo Gallery”, a “Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery” and the almost 8 minute short “Combat” from Director Neil Marshall.This home video release is loaded with all kinds of extras. Everything that you want to know and see is featured here about the werewolf movie. It has a slipcover and a blu ray disc included. This is a must own, it’s available everywhere right now. CHECK IT OUT!!!!