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Nightmare Fuel / Dog Soldiers

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"Run for your lives, before they tear your legs from under you."

The whole plot of the movie is about fighting against a pack of werewolves that are capable of strategy without really having a way to kill them, at least not instantly.


  • The werewolves themselves are pretty freaky. Their mangy appearance, combined with the movie's rather dark lighting and frenetic editing, makes them come across even more feral than they already are. And they are quite feral.
    • Despite being so feral, the wolves move with an unearthly grace. Appearing like phantoms or dancers, which is enhanced by being disturbingly skinny compared to other traditional depictions.
    • The sheer level of competence the wolves display in hunting their prey is pretty disturbing as well. From the moment we hear them transforming, it only takes them a few short minutes to locate and begin pursuing the squad. They only last as long as they do because they have guns and, unlike Ryan's squad, aren't caught off guard. Now imagine being a civilian hiker like the couple at the beginning? You'd have absolutely no chance.
    • And these werewolves aren't mindless beasts. They display a frightening level of intelligence, from slowly opening a tent zip to hiding in the house and waiting until the barn is blown up to reveal themselves. They can also remember the layout of their home, knowing all the entrances and where each room is, as when Cooper and Sarge escape through the wall into a different room, it isn't more than a few seconds before they wolves are trying to get through the door of that room.
  • The opening scene, in which a couple gets eaten by the wolves while on a camping trip. The wife being ripped in half, with her blood splattering all over the tent, certainly sets the tone for what's to come.
  • Round a campfire, several of the squad jokingly share their respective phobias. Asked to share his, Sergeant Wells shares an episode from his past...
    Sarge: ...Me and Eddie Oswald decided to go and get a tattoo done to commemorate our first trip into the desert. I got a Desert Rat, and Eddie... being a bit of a believer, he said that his soul belonged to God, but it was up to Satan to save his skin. So he got this fucking great devil tattooed right on his arse. Anyway, Eddie, poor fucker, triggered an anti tank mine. Just bits and pieces of him... was all that remained. Anyway, the thing that really did our nuts in that day, was when you... came across a bit you recognised. Bit of ear... toe, a nose, a tooth... but the thing that really freaked us out that day was when Lieutenant Charlie found a bit of Eddie... with a tattoo on. I mean, everything else was burnt to a crisp. This bit was perfect. And there's Old Nick, chortling his fucking arsehole off at us. So you could say that Eddie was right. That Satan did indeed save his skin, just not all of it. Or you could say that Eddie was just unlucky. Either way, it taught me to keep a very open mind.
    • In the setting of an army training exercise, this monologue, set to the backdrop of a nightly forest, eerily foreshadows the fearful awe of finding a hint of something not quite of this world.
  • In a clearing, the squad finds a Special Forces camp, deserted and strewn with gore - some of which Terry accidentally steps in. They then find Captain Ryan, injured, near-frozen, and shouting, half-crazed with terror, about whatever killed his men.
    Ryan: THEY TORE THEM TO PIECES, IN FRONT OF MY EYES!
  • Ryan's squad was specifically prepared to confront a werewolf and they still were overwhelmed. The implication seems to be that encountering any more than one lycanthrope is an unwinnable battle, even by a black ops squad armed to the teeth.
  • As they're about to leave Ryan's camp, the squad suddenly hears what can only be described as a hybrid of agonised wailing and animalistic howling, indicating that the werewolves are transforming and the hunt is about to begin.
  • Sarge's intestines hanging out after he gets clawed by one of the wolves.
  • One of the wolves ripping through the ceiling of Megan's car and attacking the squad while the car is in motion.
  • Ryan's transformation, and the fact that he spends the rest of the movie with a sword sticking out of his chest.
  • Terry being taken by one of the wolves. Some time later we see him still alive... and being slowly torn apart. And then his head is ripped off.
  • The squad stumbling upon what's left of Joe. There isn't much.
  • The mid-movie reveal that the wolves are the family that owns the house is made much, much more terrifying when it's revealed that they've been keeping dozens of decaying human corpses in the cellar and closets around the house. They were even in the middle of cooking what's heavily implied to be human flesh when they transformed and went out hunting again! It's immediately made clear that these people aren't victims, but monsters who have been preying on travelers through the area for generations.

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