ROTTWEILER (1983)
Tagline: They were perfectly trained for one task....manslaughter!
(Horror, Thriller, Crazy Military Experiments) [R]
Note – This move is better known today as DOGS OF HELL or ROTTWEILER: DOGS OF HELL. I try to put the year on all my reviews to avoid confusion between movies. There was a completely separate movie called ROTTWEILER also released in 2004.
In this one, the military had trained some dogs to kill using chips implanted in them. At some point the dogs get out of control and in spite of a mad scientist warning the top brass about the dangers of using these dogs, they decide to transport them for field operations anyway. The truck carrying them gets into an accident releasing several into an unsuspecting small-town community. Can the town Sheriff and some citizens with guns eliminate the threat before the town is mutilated?
The big pluses in this one include the fact that we get some time-honored 80s tropes.
1. A Forest at night.
2. Campers in the forest at night.
3. Teenagers
4. Creepy background music.
5. Enough red paint to last for days.
Outside of that, this movie misses on so many marks it’s hard to give this thing a good rating. Given the premise, I really wanted to. First off the score is embarrassingly bad. A lot of this movie feels like there is a hardcore night swamp soundtrack playing in the background. Next, we’ve got some of the lamest country and weird old crappy music playing in almost every scene. As I mentioned before the scenes where were are supposed to be spooked, they do ratchet up the good old creepy music, but it’s few and far between. Even just a better score and soundtrack could have helped this freakin thing out a TON.
The film is mostly shot in the dark so it is really hard to see what is going on for a lot of it with the bad cinematography and horrible lighting. I don’t mind horror flicks being dark, but proper lighting placement is a huge deal. So much about this premise looked great, but I think in the final analysis they were trying to sell the 3D theatrical release. By the way, if you are going to do a horror flick I get that horror fans are 365, but you want to try and get these things out in October, literally the Halloween season jackpot.
Sadly the acting is also really rough. Hank, the Sheriff is played by Earl Owensby who is actually a decent producer, but his performance here feels plain and forced for 95% of his screen time. Perhaps equally bad is Robert Bloodworth who plays a bar owner named Denny. I can’t vouch for their other efforts, but man this one feels like they were taking sleeping pills before each take. Kathy Hasty plays Denny’s wife Kim. Emotionally she probably displays the most range in this entire movie, but it’s the only acting role she either ever got or ever took.
This is just one of those flicks that had a ton going for it in the idea room, but some of the dialog, direction, and soundtrack just killed it. For me, this is a 3 out of 7. Fine for a Halloween marathon, but you had better have some better selections on that playlist, or people are leaving early.
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