Take one rottweiler, beat it into a bloody pulp, resurrect it with mechanical parts, and what do you get? A dose of awesomeness, for sure—but more specifically, Brain Yuzna’s (he of Bride of Re-Animator, Beyond Re-Animator, Return of the Living Dead 3, and The Dentist fame) latest directorial effort—a little slice of B-movie nirvana called Rottweiler.
Rottweiler concerns Dante, a prison inmate, as he tries to escape from the clutches of the corrupt and evil businessman Kufard (played by Spanish horror veteran Paul Naschy) and his robotically reconstructed rottweiler (who has been given orders to simply kill Dante) while trying to find his long lost love, Ula…but all you really need to know about the film is that it contains plenty of scenes in which a robot dog runs around, glares with glowing mechanized pupils, pounces on people, and rips them up in puddles of gory goodness.
Sure, the film tries to delve into a deeper human story about how far one will go in the name of love (keyword: “tries”), but my guess is that people interested in renting or buying a horror movie called Rottweiler aren’t exactly interested in getting tangled up in a romantic tale, and trust me, these people have nothing to worry about, because Rottweiler without a doubt delivers the relentless murderous mutt aspect. All the flesh-tearing and blood-spouting that the titular hound so lovingly provides for the audience is actually pretty top-notch, too, as far as effects go (sure to make many gorehounds happy—get it? Gorehounds? Hounds? Dog movie? …I apologize). The methods of killing aren’t at all creative, and after a while they become a bit mundane (all the dog does throughout the entire movie is chomp on humans with its metal jaws), and even though there’s a lack of mutilation ingenuity, there is still something special about seeing the Terminator-esque pooch chow down on homo sapien-flavored Kibbles n’ Bits.
The acting in Rottweiler teeters on the edge of Mediocrity, nearly falling into the dreaded pit of Absolutely Horrid, but never actually taking the tumble. The main reason for this okay/almost-really-bad seesaw is William Miller (the actor portraying Dante), who stumbles through most of the movie awkwardly, spitting out the “emotional” lines as short and as quick as seemingly possible, not unlike a very disturbed and shy 6-year-old’s response when the attorney asks him if he’ll point to the spot on Muttons the Bear where Daddy touched him. Still, Rottweiler is a B-movie with a focus on a killer dog, and acting matters not in films such as this. You put the disc in your DVD player expecting to see a badass dog with a steel skeleton chew on people like a squeaky toy, and that’s exactly what you get.
The rottweiler itself comes off as menacing at the first few glimpses you see of it, but after it stalks Dante for a while and picks off those doomed souls containing the Dante scent, you’ll be giddily giggling as if you’re watching a new episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000—all hopes at taking this film seriously are crushed in its first 30 minutes.
One element of the film that perfectly compliments its campy feel is Rottweiler’s music–suspenseful tunes that seem like they are part of a remastered soundtrack to an Ed Wood film. They’re cheesy as hell, but they work.
The truth is, Rottweiler is one of the most fun-to-watch B-movies I’ve seen in what seems like ages. Though it contains a side-story that slightly gets in the way of the vicious and bloodthirsty cyborg canine attacks, it is not enough to deter from the film’s mindless-yet-amusing action. This one is worth a rental for horror fans looking for a laugh (albeit an unintentional one), but should be bought by B-movie maniacs looking for a new addition to their collection of simple-minded, bad-but-great films.
-Spooky Steve
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
