Neil Marshall has had an interesting career in horror, with his 2008 film The Descent leading to widespread acclaim for its masterful claustrophobic horror. But before he was sending a group of women into a cave to get blitzed by inbred cave people, he was having people fight mutant soldiers.
Marshall’s directorial debut Dog Soldiers is turning 21 this year, and it is now finally freely available to stream in the United States. The cult British horror throws in a mixture of horror, comedy, and action in what feels like a love letter to the wackiness of older B-movies.
As of Feb. 2023, it can now be streamed on the free ad-supported streaming service Tubi – so get ready for some knowingly ridiculous werewolf action. Following an SAS squad getting ambushed, they retreat back into the woods as they slowly become prey for a group of werewolves.
The cast isn’t made up of any particularly big names, but many ended up collaborating with Marshall again in future films, as well as on television. Female lead Emma Cleasby collaborated with the director again for Doomsday, but hasn’t appeared in much since — we’d love to see her return to the screen.
For a fairly low budget film ($4.5 million in 2023), it features some really fun design work with its lycans, as well as some fairly enjoyable action. Hardly Citizen Kane, but really shows where Marshall began and gives an excellent insight into the director he later became.
The English director went on to work on Game of Thrones, The Descent, 2019’s awful Hellboy, and the middling 2020 horror flick The Reckoning.