Rottweiler (2004) Reviews

• "Eat. Sleep. Fetch. Kill."

  dmdearing2005-09-23

  Dante, everyone's favourite American immigrant trying to sneak into Spain has been captured! Along with his wife Oola he must try to evade the evil Rottweiler through Spain for an hour and a half. Only, Oola is never in the movie because shes raped and murdered as soon as they are discovered... oh well THAT is what the plot outline should have looked like on the back of the box. Instead it was rambling about some futuristic dog plated with metal that got loose in a prison and went on an unstoppable rampage. Anyway, as our hero Dante is evading the prison dog, "Rot" he somehow finds himself naked and running through the woods, often turning towards the screen for no apparent to bombard you with his rugged looks. I was surprised at how long he managed to last naked, and what's more as soon as he found some clothes, they were immediately torn off and I was forced to watch one of the only scenes I've ever seen where a man is raped. As for the dog, on the box he appears to be some kind of Terminator like robot on the cover, when in reality he's just a dog that got his mouth smashed in with a pipe, prompting him to get metallic teeth. Well, turns out the dog looks normal aside from his teeth on the outside. But on the inside, (As we see in roughly 3 hallucinations by Dante) His entire skeleton is made of extremely well polished metal (Don't ask me how he knows this, he just does). Because at the end of the movie we get to see the dog's skeleton fighting him. Now, I know this is a bit of a spoiler but It's just too amazingly pointless that I couldn't share it. At the climactic battle, the dog has its skin melted off and it's skeleton goes to fight Dante in a gigantic ring of fire. So basically, we have a metal dog skeleton fighting a character most of us probably want to lose anyway. As for who wins, well you will just have to watch the movie won't you? It's a horrible movie no doubt about that, but it managed to keep me laughing most of the time. A feat that most bad movies have not done (Catman and Robovampire, I'm looking at you). It's pretty hard not to laugh at some parts, so I would spare it the 1/10 and give it a 2 instead.

  More

• confusing, but does feature the longest gratuitous male nudity sequence in memory

  HEFILM2005-08-18

  The plot synopsis of this film does not actually match the film. The narrative is all jumbled around in time and loaded down with long post dubbed dialog. Any excitement is lost in confusing flashbacks and the mentioned long long sequence of the "on the run" male lead trotting around naked. Brian Yuzna knows how to assemble the elements to make a horror film but when he directs himself he has showed before and shows again he doesn't know how to do much with those elements. There is also the odd misplaced sexual perverse element that stops the movie dead in it's tracks, this time that is the silly nude hero sequence. Paul Naschy, Spainish horror icon actor, doesn't have much to do here, but the overall level of professionalism doesn't make his appearance the embarrassment that his two recent made in America films were. Then again his own Rojo Sangre makes this film look even worse. Behind the scenes footage reveals many better angles than Yuzna chose to use. Also the director of photography says he likes to use lots of big lights. This certainly shows in the film, one sequence early one looks like it was shot during the day time but then proves to be a night scene. This is only the beginning of the confusion this movie generates. Can't they make a straight forward chase/horror film? Well whatever they are trying to make here they couldn't make that film either. FX are pretty bad overall, dog's robo makeup mostly looks silly as do the various puppet dogs and CG Terminator rip off dog. Much of the movie is devoted to padded dialog scenes. Only visual touches that work are a couple of nice crane shots, one right near the end of the film. Sometimes the film is bad/funny but not enough of the time to overcome the boredom and confusion of the flashback structure and stiff re-dubbed actors. The reaction shot of the chicken though is fabulous. That chicken could teach the rest of the cast a thing or two about acting. All in all a loser in all ways. The film was nearly booed off the screen when it premiered at the Belguim horror festival.

  More

• Escaped convict and pursued by a robot dog in an interminable chase

  ma-cortes2007-07-18

  A prisoner in a future location manages to escape and is chased throughout the country by a cruel warden(Luis Homar) and a bloodthirsty dog.The prisoner is again recaptured but when he finds with the vigilante, a rabbit gives him a chance to flee.The dog is severely beaten and with surgery its bones are replaced with metal.The protagonist goes to a house living a woman(Paulina Galvez) and her daughter(Ibana Vaquero:Pan's labyrinth) and the dog continues attacking ,but circumstance again gives him an opportunity for freedom,which he takes,solely he still encounter himself being pursued by the terrible animal.The dog goes after him and will cross hundred miles to get to him.He attempts to arrive the city of Puerto Angel where thinks encounter his fiancée named Ula.Meanwhile are developed various flashbacks and recalls his past on relationship with her. Finally ,he will confront against a brutal nasty(Paul Naschy) and the gruesome robot dog. This is an exciting story about a convict on the run,William Miller stars as the hapless prisoner is wooden but his action scenes are well played.The mythic Spanish wolf man,Paul Naschy-Jacinto Molina-,is good as the sadistic villain,as always.The structure film is pretty plain and simple ,but concerns about the relentless pursuit and fighting among a fugitive and a savage dog following his footsteps.The picture is a remake from previous film titled : ¨The dog¨(1976)based on Alberto Vazquez Figueroa novel and directed by Antonio Isasi Isasmendi with Jason Miller,the first version develops a political intrigue with dictatorship included and resounding message.This new adaptation is a violent film with noisy action,stirring thriller and lots of blood and gore.The film is produced by Julio Fernandez(Filmax)with middling budget.Colorful and adequate cinematography by Javier Salmones,an expert Spanish cameraman(Romasanta,Thirteen chimes,The Borgia,art of dying) and atmospheric music by Mark Thomas(Dog soldiers,Agent Cody Banks 2).The motion picture is regularly directed by Brian Yuzna,a gore and guts expert director(Faust,Dentist 1,2,Society,Bride Reanimator).Rating : Average but entertaining.

  More

• Worth seeing for the chicken!

  udar552005-07-22

  Brian Yuzna is a cinematic mystery. After producing Stuart Gordon's first few films, Yuzna decided to pick up the creative end and began directing with BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR. Since then he has helmed a steady stream of horror titles that all have one thing in common; they are well made and full of outlandish ideas but never really good. His latest ROTTWEILER continues the trend. But ROTTWEILER sets itself apart from the Yuzna canon with its extremely bizarre plotting. Set in the future (the only way to possibly explain a half dog/half machine), the film plods along from point A to point B without much originality (think THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME mixed with THE TERMINATOR). Refuges get caught…bad guy molests woman…lovebirds get separated…guy escapes prison…monster dog chases. But then, at roughly the 40 minute mark, things take a bizarre turn. Our hero Dante is trying to catch fish in a stream when the Rottweiler shows up. The dog then chases the naked Dante down the river and then tackles him off a cliff. Dante escapes and finds refuge with a mother and her young daughter. The mother holds Dante at bay with a shotgun and then proceeds to rape him. All the while the robo-pooch is stalking up to the house. Maybe Yuzna was trying to work in some kind of "man as beast" metaphor there? But the weirdness doesn't stop there. After escaping from the dog for the 769th time, Dante is visited by the gory ghost of a former friend who tells Dante that his girlfriend is working as a prostitute in the city. Dante goes there only to find out that his girlfriend has been dead for quite some time. In fact, he was there when she was murdered. According to the flashback, she slept with Naschy to save their hides but jealous Dante was having none of that so he hit the road while Kufard unleashed his pet enforcer on Dante's girl. Dante is only a few steps away when this happens but only reacts after she has been torn to pieces. He beats the dog with a lead pipe which is the impetus for this entire long chase. As Kufard simply puts it, "You hurt my dog!" The cast for the film is serviceable. For Euro fans there is the welcome treat of Paul Naschy as the main villain Kufard. It is good to see Naschy in something that wasn't shot over four days (I'm still trying to forget that Fred Olen Ray monstrosity) and, although he is on screen for probably 20 minutes total, he gives the film's most commanding performance. Well, other than Zeus as the titular beast. Lead William Miller, looking like a cross between Owen Wilson and Mitch Hedberg, is pretty bad but you have to cut him some slack when most of his lines are, "Go to helllllllllllllll!" In terms of the small but appreciated "scientifically enhanced dog" film genre, this one is on the same level as 1993's MAN'S BEST FRIEND but pales in comparison to Earl Owensby's 1982 3-D classic DOGS OF HELL. However, this film will go down in cinematic history for featuring the greatest chicken reaction shot EVER! You'll know it when you see it.

  More

• 100% rubbish.

  rainking_es2006-04-27

  It's quite hard to talk about a movie such as this without insulting someone or without swearing. I think that the guys at IMDb should reconsider their position about that, because if we could use certain (forbidden) words these comments would be much easier to write. OK, here we go: a man escapes from a prison and he's pursued by a dog... hell yeah! Well Brian Yuzna is not only a dreadful director, he's also so slapdash (the lack of money is not an excuse), and he's learned nothing throughout all those years he's been in the industry. He does not have the faintest idea about cinema, he can't narrate, and he makes a mistake after another. PS: the funniest thing about "Rottweiler" is that it was made with the money of some Spanish public institutions. So, now we not only subsidize the local rubbish but also the foreign one. *My rate: 0/10

  More