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Ultra HD : Highly Recommended
Ranking:
Sale Price: $29.95 Last Price: $36.98 Buy now! 3rd Party 26.64 In Stock
Release Date: August 23rd, 2022 Movie Release Year: 2002

Dog Soldiers Collector's Edition - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Overview -

Scream Factory brings Dog Soldiers back to the moonlight with a new 4K transfer in HDR. Dog Soldiers is still one of the most fun werewolf films ever made and continues to be a bright spot in the horror genre. The new video presentation looks incredible and the DTS-HD 5.1 audio track still sounds good. There are new extras along with the previous bonus features imported over here. Highly Recommended!

 

A group of soldiers dispatched to the Scottish Highlands on special training maneuvers face their biggest fears after they run into Captain Ryan – 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 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!

From Neil Marshall, the director of The Descent, Doomsday, Centurion and episodes of Game Of Thrones, comes this terrifying thriller starring Kevin McKidd (Rome, Trainspotting), Sean Pertwee (Gotham, Event Horizon), Emma Cleasby (Doomsday) and Liam Cunningham (Game Of Thrones). 

Bonus Features

DISC ONE (4K UHD):

  • NEW 4K Restoration from The Original Camera Negative By Second Sight Films – Approved by Director Neil Marshall And Director Of Photography Sam McCurdy – Presented In Dolby Vision
  • NEW Audio Commentary With Writer And Associate Professor Of Film Alison Peirse
  • Audio Commentary With Director Neil Marshall
  • Audio Commentary With Producers David Allen And Brian O’Toole

DISC TWO (BLU-RAY):

  • NEW 4K Restoration from The Original Camera Negative By Second Sight Films – Approved by Director Neil Marshall And Director Of Photography Sam McCurdy
  • NEW Audio Commentary With Writer And Associate Professor Of Film Alison Peirse
  • NEW Werewolves, Crawlers, Cannibals And More – An Interview With Neil Marshall
  • NEW A History Of Lycanthropy – Author Gavin Baddeley On Werewolf Cinema
  • NEW Werewolves, Folklore And Cinema – A Video Essay By Author Mikel J. Koven
  • Audio Commentary With Director Neil Marshall
  • Audio Commentary With Producers David Allen And Brian O’Toole
  • Werewolves Vs. Soldiers – A Look At The Making Of DOG SOLDIERS Featuring Interviews With Director Neil Marshall, Producers Christopher Figg And Keith Bell, Actors Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Leslie Simpson And Emma Cleasby, Special Effects Artist Bob Keen, And More!
  • A Cottage In The Woods - A Look At The Production Design With Production Designer Simon Bowles
  • UK Theatrical Trailers And U.S. Home Video Promo
  • Combat – A Short Film By Neil Marshall
  • Two Still Galleries – Photos From The Film And Rare Photos From Production Designer Simon Bowles And Special Effects Artist Dave Bonneywell's Archives

OVERALL:
Highly Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray
Video Resolution/Codec:
2160p HEVC/H.265
Length:
105
Release Date:
August 23rd, 2022

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

More than twenty years later, Dog Soldiers still hold up in a fierce, brutal, and highly entertaining way. Dog Soldiers is quite possibly one of the best werewolf movies to ever grace the screen. It's a non-stop action horror film with a bit of comedy mixed in for good measure, one that can be watched over and over again. Part Predator, part werewolf, all horror could be the best description, as it features an elite team of military personnel who come across a pack of vicious werewolves in the woods. There's tons of violence, guns, and enough blood and guts for two films. This is low-budget horror moviemaking at its finest.

For the Full Film Review, CLICK HERE.

 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Dog Soldiers howls its way to 4K + Blu-ray Disc via Scream Factory. Both discs are housed inside a hard, black case with a cardboard sleeve. The artwork consists of a brand new illustrated image of the blood-dripping werewolves, similar to those iconic wolves howling at the moon shirts. There is oddly no reversible artwork and there is no insert.

Video Review

Ranking:

Back in 2001, Dog Soldiers was shot in 16mm but has now been newly scanned in 4K from that original camera negative to present a great-looking 2160p UHD 4K transfer with HDR. This restoration and transfer process with supervised by Neil Marshall himself and the director of photography Sam McCurdy.

This isn't an overtly vibrant and colorful movie. This new 4K image with HDR enhances those nuanced palettes that take the icy colder look from the forest to a warmer spot inside that infamous cabin. Shades of green, blue, and grey look bolder here. The brown tree bark mixed with the green leaves makes for quite a dreary and damp-looking picture. Small bursts of yellow and orange from gun blasts and fire brighten up the screen nicely. Once inside the house, the color gamut transitions to a much warmer climate with tons of reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. The brown fur on the wolves looks excellent and distinguishable from each wolf. The red blood is simply amazing and has many shades of red ranging from bright to dark, depending on who's bleeding and where from. The camouflage uniforms look fluid and blend in nicely with the surrounding wooded landscape.

The detail looks even better this time around. The film grain has been kept intact to have an even and layered filmic image that doesn't fluctuate too much from brighter and lower-light sequences. Gooey practical effects in guts, organs, teeth, and bowels all look fantastic. Closeups reveal individual hairs, strands of fur, textures in blood-soaked clothes, and rubbery noses and mouths are all excellent. Wider shots of the wooden walls, doors, dirt, grime, and mud are all revealed nicely. Droplets of blood, sweat, and drool also come across better this time around. Black levels are richer with this new 4K image and don't bleed over, and the skin tones are all natural. This is a wonderful looking 4K presentation that maintains this movie's visual grit from start to finish.

Audio Review

Ranking:

This 4K release comes with a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track along with its 2.0 stereo option. This looks like the same audio mixes from the previous Blu-ray release, which sounds good. The same heft and even audio pops are present here.

For the full audio review, CLICK HERE.

Special Features

Ranking:

There are around 186 minutes of bonus features included here. There are three audio commentaries to choose from both new and vintage. The extras port over the original bonus features from the previous release here and add some brand-new interviews as well. All of these are worth the time.

4K Ultra Blu-ray

  • Audio Commentary #1 - The previous commentary with director Neil Marshall is included here as he discusses shooting the film thirteen years ago on a small budget, using practical effects, working with a great cast, and the difficulties of the shoot. It's a great commentary track, full of fun facts from the movie. A must-listen.
  • Audio Commentary #2 - A brand new audio commentary track from writer and film scholar Alison Peirse is added to this release. Alison discusses the film in detail, the production, werewolves in cinema, and this film's cult status.
  • Audio Commentary #3 - Producers David E. Allen and Brian O'Toole talk about the production of the film, how it all came together, the visual effects, and its success all these years later.

Blu-ray Disc

  • Werewolves, Crawlers, Cannibals And More: An Interview With Neil Marshall (HD, 39 Mins.) - A brand new interview with the director himself as he discusses his entire career, life, and all the films he's made. This is a ton of fun to watch.
  • A History of Lycanthropy: Author Gavin Baddeley on Werewolf Cinema (HD, 34 Mins.) - This film historian goes through most of the werewolf movies and navigates how each film furthered the way in horror and created its own genre.
  • Werewolves, Folklore And Cinema: A Video Essay By Author Mikel J. Koven (HD, 24 Mins.) - Here is a Zoom interview where the author reads his essay to clips of the film where topics included Hollywood's idea of werewolves to actual history and folklore of the creatures.
  • Werewolves Vs. Soldiers (HD, 62 Mins.) - This is a fantastic hour-long feature on the making of 'Dog Soliders' with most of the cast and crew coming back to talk about the film. There is some on-set footage, clips from the film, and tons of great interviews. There were some very funny moments where some of the actors in the film discussed some of their mistakes while shooting.
  • Combat (HD, 8 Mins.) - This is a short film by Neil Marshall, starring a couple of the actors from Dog Soldiers. It's worth watching.
  • A Cottage in the Woods (HD, 14 Mins.) - Here we have the set designer of the film talk about how he built and shot the scenes in the cabin. He also talks about they were able to get the camera in all those hard-to-see spaces.
  • Photo Galleries - There are two sets of photo galleries here. One is a behind-the-scenes slideshow and the other is promo images and stills from the film.
  • Trailers (HD 5 Mins.) - Trailers for the movie are here.

 

Final Thoughts

Dog Soldiers still stands the test of time more than twenty years later as being one of the best examples of werewolves in cinema history. This is a high-octane thrill ride of horror and dark comedy. The new 4K transfer with HDR looks excellent and the DT-SHD 5.1 audio mix sounds good. The new and old bonus features are all still worth watching as well. Highly Recommended!