DVD review: War Dog (1987)

War Dog is a independently produced actionfilm from Sweden, it´s directed by Björn Carlström and Daniel Hübenbecher who also wrote the screenplay. It´s suppoesed to take place in the USA but it doesn't look at all like the US, for instance all the cars are Volvos. Charles Stewart (Timothy Earle) is a Vietnam vet who wants answers about his brother Rick who disappeared in Vietnam and recently has been declared dead. With the help of a friend  he comes in contact with Dean Daniels (Ernblad), a reporter interested in missing Vietnam soldiers. Charles gets a hold of a videotape documenting a massacre where several people are killed, and amongst the killers Charles recognizes his brother and his former commanding officer, Spacek. Rick is now part of a group of super soldiers that are brainwashed, emotionless and unstoppable killing machines led by Spacek.
I like the plot, Charles is a unlikely action hero and the super soldiers are totally ruthless. Now before any of you yell Universal Soldier I should remind you that War Dog came several years before the Roland Emmerich flick and is´s not to hard to imagine that Emmerich might have seen this flick and been inspired by it. The acting is pretty good and is actually a little better than can be expected but beware that that they use voice over for all the actors which sometimes feels a little weird.
It´s well made, you can tell that its limited budget is used the fullest and the pacing is good. Make no misstake about it, this is a very violent film. There is a lot of big juicy squibs in this movie and no one is safe, not even children are spared.

Beware that the DVD released in the UK is cut, you should try to get hold of the german DVD release which is uncut with all the shoot outs, blood and gore intact.

Rating: 6 out of 7. This piece of swedish ultra violence is very highly recommend,
This is an old favorite of mine, I´ve owned different editions through the years. First the swedish VHS ex rental (which was cut), then a danish VHS ex rental (uncut), after that I bought the DVD released in the UK and now I have the german DVD release.

/JL