Dog (US-2009; dir. Tim Gates)
This upcoming horror film from Tim Gates offers a very promising approach to the animal/human interface. Definitely not your average lycanthrope.
Synopsis:
A vast salvage yard lies nestled in the woods, on the edge of a small, Mid-Western town. Owned and operated by a pair of sadistic, murderous brothers, the yard is a place of death and unimaginable horror. A place that hides the darkest of family secrets. When night falls, the salvage yard is watched over not by canines of the four-legged breed but by ‘Dog’, the owners’ younger brother.Warped by years of abuse at the hands of his siblings and horribly deformed by generations of in-breeding, the feral and misshapen boy (more beast than man) prowls his shadowy domain, viciously slaughtering anyone foolish enough to enter after dark.
One day, Lizzie and her friend ‘Pump’ enter the salvage yard and from a distance (within the darkened confines of an abandoned school bus), Dog takes notice. The sight of the young woman causes something to rise from deep within him … a feeling he’s never felt in his entire, tortured existence. These urges drive him into the night, to track the troubled teen and his journey takes him beyond the fences of the salvage yard, to the outside world … with deadly consequences.
Featuring an experienced cast and crew, it seems to offer more than the rather soulless plotting of much recent horror cinema, recognising the narrative power that can be generated by monsters that elicit our sympathy at the same time as they threaten the normalities we cling to.
Dog was an “Official Selection” at 5th Annual Fright Night Film Festival, held in Louisville, KY, on 12-14 August, after premiering at a special showing on 29 May at the Michigan Theatre in Jackson, MI.
Actor John Lennox, who is trained as a fight director, plays the lead character Dog, a role for which he had to lose 30 pounds to get the right look. He commented:
“It was one of the hardest gigs I’ve ever done. A lot of running about, moving about, jumping on people.”(mlive.com)
Creature and other effects for the film were handled by special effects artist Vincent Guastini and his fellow artists in V.G.P. EFFECTS and DESIGN STUDIO. V.G.P.’s credits include Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags Of Our Fathers, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Scary Movie 4, Stephen King’s Thinner, Child’s Play 3, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Virus, The Last Of The Mohicans, Super Mario Bros: The Movie, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Snoop Dogg’s: Hood of Horror, Driftwood and Unearthed.
Hopefully, the film will be released more widely very soon. Director Timothy Gates has promised to keep us informed.
Gallery (including some alternative posters):
- Sources: Timothy Gates via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery; Official website; MySpace page
Now this one looks cool! Inbreding and abuse leads to bad things. This is one junkyard dog you wouldn’t want to run into! I can’t wait to see more of this one!
ive really been wanting to watch this horror movie “dog” from director timothy gates, as it looks like a great movie ! but i cant seem to find the dvd anywhere, and cant seem to find a website to watch this movie on either ! 🙁 its now 2012, and the movie came out in 2009, i would of thought i would of found it somewhere, so i was wondering if anyone know’s where i can get the dvd or something ?? thank you so much …craig
Craig, from what I can see DOG has only been seen at a few film festivals, but hasn’t had a general release. I don’t know why, as the reviews seemed to be positive. The website no longer exists, but the link to the Myspace page gives some idea of the history, though the last entry was Jan 2010.
Unfortunately, the film is in limbo and (at this point in time) may never see the light of day…
That’s a great shame, James. The film looked interesting. I’m sure there’s an interesting story behind it….