Rottweiler (2004)
By: Devon Bertsch on September 7, 2006.
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| Magna Pacific (Australia). Region 4, PAL. 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 5.1, English DTS 5.1. 91 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Brian Yuzna
Starring: William Miller,
Irene Montalà, Paulina Gálvez, Paul
Naschy
Screenplay: Miguel Tejada-Flores
Music: Mark Thomas
Tagline: Eat. Sleep.
Fetch. Kill.
Country: Spain |
While Brian Yuzna is not the world's most
consistent filmmaker, I'm always willing to
give one of his movies a try. They might not always
be great *cough* Return of the Living Dead
III*cough*, but they are generally fast
paced, and have SOME entertainment value. Rottweiler is an adaptation of the novel El Perro by Alberto Vázquez Figueroa, and while it
does have a fast pace, that's about all there
is to it.
The year is 2018, and
we find our hero, Dante, in a Spanish prison camp
for immigration confinement. It may be in Spain,
but everyone there speaks English. Dante escapes,
but is tracked by a guy who has a ROTT, a mechanically
suped up Rottweiler. The guy catches Dante, but
Dante kills the dog, gets the upper hand, and
Han Solos this Greedo. Posthumously (yes, posthumously),
the tracker sics the ROTT on Dante, and the rest
of the movie is Dante trying to reunite with his
girlfriend while being chased by the now demonic
dog.
The acting is pretty shit in Rottweiler,
particularly from William Miller as Dante. It
does seem that Willy is Spanish, though, and he's
playing an American, so maybe the accent was just
too much for him to do while acting. The Dante
character does particularly stupid things throughout
the movie, but he's such an idiot, it feels
like characterization more than anything. Paul
Naschy is present, but he doesn't turn into
El Homely Lobo, so I didn't care that much.
The Rottweiler makeup can be pretty cool, and
it reminds me a bit of the cover of NOW Comic's Terminator number seven with
the dog terminator. Most of the CG used for the
dog (and in the film in general) is bad, and there
are a few moments where the dog is clearly a stuffed
canine, but overall I think Yuzna did a good job
bringing the animal to life on a lower budget.
Despite the dog, there's not too much of
interest for horror fans, as this is much more
of an actioner. There is some gore, but not too
much, and it's not up there with some of
Yuzna's more excessive works. There is a
bit of nudity, and for a change of pace, this
time it's a man running for his life naked
through the woods, but if that's not what
you're after, you'll be disappointed
with this film. |
| Video |
| Rottweiler is presented at 1.85:1
in a 16x9 enhanced print. It's a new film,
so the image is sharp. There were a few MINOR specks,
and some very light grain, but I really only noticed
that in one darkened scene. A few digital glitches
were present, but I think they were actually a result
of poor CG edits. |
| Audio |
Rottweiler comes with two mixes,
a 5.1 surround and a DTS track. On the 5.1 track,
the only effects I really noticed using the surround
capabilities were some bullets and some cars. The
dialogue is firmly placed in the centre speaker,
and was a bit quiet, so I had to keep turning the
sound up. I think the score did use the surround
mix, but I may be wrong about that because all I
could really hear was bass. I like bass, but the
score was so bass heavy it was hard to hear anything
else, and most action scenes had score accompaniment.
There's one scene in a red light district
where, I'd guess, some rap fan is supposed
to be thumping in his car. It was so bass heavy
that my partner yelled at me to turn off the subwoofer
because the sound was painful (big bass baby). If
they were trying to make it seem a b-boy was blaring
his stereo in my lounge, they succeeded.
Fortunately, that's not the only audio
choice, right? The DTS must salvage the disc,
you say? Not so fast, gentle reader. The DTS audio
suffers from a scattershot remix, with almost
every sound effect and spoken word directed to
the wrong speaker. Dialogue comes through the
right rear channel for almost the entire film
which makes it sound as though the characters
are throwing their voices like seasoned ventriloquists,
while subtle ambient effects which should normally
come from the rear of the soundstage scream at
you from the front speakers. |
| Extra Features |
| The main extra, for me, is a four and half minute
interview with Yuzna, who confesses that the source
book had no genre elements. There's also a
two and half minute interview with the animatronic
team, who said they liked the idea of doing a Terminator dog. An 18-minute behind the scenes is included,
but it's a bit rough, playing like raw footage
from the set. A few deleted/extended scenes, the
trailer, and a still gallery featuring production
and promo stills round the disc out. |
| The Verdict |
| Rottweiler is much more of an
action movie with a few ghostly scenes. It plays
like it wants to be a merging of sequels, Terminator
4: Rise of the Judgement Dog and Man's
Best Friend 2. The only real reason to
watch Rottweiler for horror fans
is Naschy, and he doesn't do much. Regardless
of your tastes, turn the film off before the terrible
pun that marks the climax. |
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