Dog Soldiers has no such symbolism in mind--it's simply a well-acted, at times gripping, occasionally funny siege movie that steams right along. The werewolves in Dog Soldiers are huge, frightening, oddly swift figures that writer/director Neil Marshall wisely keeps in shadows through most of the film, though the makeup effects used to make them are suprisingly effective. Think of them as less creepy Aliens with fur.

Shades of movies like The Evil Dead and Night of the Living Dead float through Dog Soldiers, but Marshall doesn't go for the feel of those films. Instead, he focuses on a more grounded sense of imminent danger, a la Assault on Precinct 13. In Assault, I had the idea that none of the characters was safe--John Carpenter nurdered a feeling of random jeopardy that impressed upon the audience the idea that a bullet could cut one of the characters down at any time. Dog Soldiers is more predictable; anyone who's seen movies similar to this before knows exactly where the characters are going to wind up, and that makes the tension in some scenes deflate a bit. There are other pleasures to be found here, though, and here's looking forward to Marhsall's next film.