#86 | Dog Soldiers 2: Shadow of the Wolf

**Listen to our Dog Soldiers episode on:**

It’s week two of our Halloween ‘Season of the Wolf’ and we’re moving away from the delicate, thoughtful world of Japanese anime for a very different, very British interpretation of the Werewolf movie genre. Directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent, Game of Thrones) Dog Soldiers is a blood-soaked, uproariously funny action-comedy-horror hybrid that has earned a well-deserved cult status since its release in 2002.

Relying on practical effects over CGI, Dog Soldiers feels like a classic horror B-movie in all the right ways, from the creatively gory kills to the weapons-grade scenery chewing indulged by the cast of reliable British character actors. The plot mostly keeps things simple – a group of soldiers engaged in a training mission in the remote Scottish highlands find themselves stalked by a family of flesh-eating Werewolves. Thanks to the intervention of a mysterious zoologist (Emma Cleasby), they take shelter in an abandoned farm house, from where they spend the rest of the movie being picked off one by one as they desperately attempt to survive the night.

The movie gained limited exposure at the box office – in the USA it went straight to cable – but over the years its reputation has endured. A sequel was publicly mooted by Marshall – in fact plot elements for a second movie were deliberately worked into the original – but ultimately nothing got off the ground. This week on Beyond The Box Set, we set out to correct that injustice with some sequel ideas of our own – including a prequel that casts light on Private Cooper (Kevin McKidd)’s strong aversion to dog murder, a TV sitcom crossover and a What We Do In The Shadows-esque mockumentary.

To hear our ideas – and our reaction to the original film, including a surprisingly passable Sean Pertwee impression – check out this week’s edition of Beyond The Box Set, available for free streaming and downloads from all good Podcasting platforms. Simply follow the links at the top of this blog post, or search for Beyond The Box Set on your preferred podcatcher.

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Next week, our Season of the Wolf hops continents again for a very American spin on an iconic Wolf-themed fairy tale. If you go down to the woods today… download some podcasts for the trip. Appreciating nature is, like, so 19th century!