Summary
- Neil Marshall still holds out hope for a sequel to
Dog Soldiers
, but its fate remains uncertain after years of trying to move forward. - The making of the original film was a lengthy process involving numerous rewrites to enhance characters and relationships.
- Despite fans’ desire for a sequel,
Dog Soldiers
may remain a standalone classic in the world of werewolf movies.
In the pantheon of monster movies, the werewolf sub-genre is one that has delivered some huge highs and beastly lows. One that falls into the former category is Neil Marshall’s 2002 movie, Dog Soldiers, which became a cult classic thanks to it embracing practical effects over other movies’ love of CGI, and delivering a solid horror movie to boot. However, the film never got a sequel, but Marshall still has not entirely given up hope of returning to the premise in the future.
Release Date May 10, 2002
Runtime 105
Tagline Six men. Full moon. No chance.
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Dog Soldiers focused on a military group on a routine exercise, who find themselves besieged by a pack of werewolves and, as is customary, find their numbers dwindling as they are hunted down and slaughtered one by one. Despite now being 20 years down the line, Marshall recently addressed an idea he has for a new movie, but he won’t write it unless he knows that he can get it green lit. Speaking to Inverse, Marshall responded to being asked if there was an update on Dog Soldiers 2, saying:
“I wish there was. I’ve a feeling it’s probably dead in the water because things have gone very quiet from the other side. I’m not giving up, though; there’s still a possibility. We’ve been trying to get it off the ground for the past six years. I’ve got a story hammered out, but I’ve not written the script yet because I want to know if we’re actually making it or not first. It’s a good idea, and I know Kevin McKidd (Cooper) is on board, but everything has gone very quiet and we don’t know why. The fans want it, and I’d love to give it to them, but if I make a mess of it, they’re not going to thank me. The most important thing is making sure that it lives up to the first one. That’s the hardest part.”
Dog Soldiers is a Great Werewolf Movie, but Took Many Years to Make
While many fans complain if a movie is announced and doesn’t materialize within a couple of years, back in 2002, the process of bringing Dog Soldiers to the screen was not a swift one. Continuing to explain how the film changed during the years it was in production, Marshall discussed how the movie changed from his original script, adding:
“It follows the same basic structure, and I went through 18 drafts before we filmed it. It’s hard to say because I haven’t read one of the old drafts in a while, but it’s fundamentally the same structure. The changes were about bringing more character to the individuals and their relationships with each other, improving the dialogue, and figuring out little character beats. Those tweaks all improved the film, adding layers to the structure that was already there.”
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Dog Soldiers still holds a place in the hearts of werewolf movie lovers, and while we are currently riding a wave of nostalgic legacy sequels that a follow-up could fall right into, there is always a question of whether it is strictly necessary. For now, it looks like Dog Soldiers is remaining a standalone story in the world of werewolf tales, and that is perhaps not a bad thing at all.
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