Have you ever watched a horror film that by the end of it you’re rooting for the serial killer, alien, mutant, etc.? I’m not necessarily a horror movie fan, per se, but I do enjoy a good creature feature…and also a good laugh.
While browsing Netflix, I ran across a horror film titled Night of the Wild, I suppose it is a play on London’s Call of the Wild. In the movie there is a meteor shower that drops green meteorites to earth causing all of the dogs in the surrounding area to become feral. The main characters of the film are Roz, Sara (her stepmom), Roz’s little sister, and her dad. Another important character is Shep, Roz’s dog. At the beginning, Roz and Sara don’t get along–typical stepparent/stepchild relationship…or lack thereof.
Roz goes on a camping trip with two of her friends. While out there a pack of wild dogs kills her two friends. Roz returns home in a panic. Shep, who for some odd reason didn’t change, goes with her.
What follows is a hour of gore, people screaming, and people acting stupid. Apparently the meteor also changed the chemistry makeup of human beings making them stupider and more prone to make bad decisions. Even the cats knew to hang out in a tree! I don’t want to say much more so as not to spoil the movie…not that anything I say could spoil the movie anymore than it spoiled itself.
At the beginning of the gore-fest–which was pretty laughable–I said that I would forgive every thing wrong in the movie if there was a Shih Tzu in it. Unfortunately, there were no Shih Tzu, not that the camera stayed on any one dog or person for very long. However, a couple of Maltese and a little Yorkie named Coconut proved that small dogs have killer instincts too.
Needless to say, I laughed throughout most of the movie while noticing all of the continuity errors there were. Spoiler alert! The entire movie was one big continuity error with bad actors. End spoiler alert.
The dogs were fantastic actors and actresses. Most of them seemed well-trained or at least had some basic training. Some of the dogs had even gone through Protection Training judging by the grab to the arms and nothing else.
As for the cast of little or unknown actors and actresses, they really shouldn’t quit their day jobs and if acting is their day job…uh they probably should either get a new profession or get some acting classes.
The one thing that I did like about the movie is also the one thing that I hated about the movie: the reason for the dogs changing is never explained. I like how the movie began with the meteor shower and the dogs automatically starting to act weird. However, by them not explaining how and why the dogs were affected, it doesn’t explain why Shep retained his domesticated traits. It does say that Shep is an old dog who was deaf (a fact that is forgotten shortly after), so maybe that was it. Either have all of the dogs change and don’t explain anything or explain why the dogs are changing thereby explaining why Shep is the only exception.
This is one of those movies that when I watch them, I think “I could write a better story than this” and I’ve been saying that more and more often these days.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying “don’t watch this film.” In fact, I think every dog lover/person who is more dog than they are human should watch this oddly satisfying film filled with stuffed dogs, fake blood, Halloween decorations (it’s not a Halloween film, but the props sure are), people without common sense, and CGI dogs that look a lot like the dogs from Sims 3.
Anyway, that is all I have to say about the film. If you are bored, check it out and let me know what you thought of it.
Until next time…the wild is calling you, are you going to answer?
Four-Legged Shadows 