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.
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.
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.
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
Blu-ray Disc
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!
