Michael O'Keefe An uncontrollable situation causing panic all over Manhattan. The Lupine Virus spreads rapidly, turning innocent New Yorkers into ravenous werewolves. Not just one werewolf running amok, but an epidemic of werewolves killing people from the get go. Will the military have a real cure or just enough manpower to put up a good fight? Plenty of action, explosions, fight scenes, vicious attacks and angry violence. A monstrous virus that keeps spreading out of control. These werewolves can shift back to human form and back to killer quicker than a containment plan can be improvised. A "B" movie with bite! CGI is not perfect, but lots of fun to watch.The cast includes: Dennis Haysbert, Ernie Hudson, Kate Vernon, Bill Duke, Arianna Richards, Craig Sheffer, Darin Cooper and Wes Studi.

LordJiggy *Spoilers commencing immediately* I mean, in this movie, they call them "Doctors," but the Doctor is able to whip up a vaccine to the dreaded Lupo virus in under five minutes. If that's not magical, I don't know what is.Somewhere, a screenwriter is under his analyst's couch, weeping "They destroyed my script." I'm not sure we're talking about the genius who wrote "BattleDogs," because the film is a subversive piece of work that would make Andy Kaufman proud: you know, it abandons tired conventions like logic, consistency, and entertainment value to force the viewer to confront their own bourgeoisie expectations of film.Really, now, why should characters in a movie pause to ask a questions like "How did that werewolf drop from the sky into the middle of this empty airport? And shouldn't I mention that to someone?" What right does an audience have to demand the merest of nods to reality in the portrayal of a high ranking U.S. Army Officer by having the actor shave his goatee? And who made you God with your petty requirement that the director set up things by actually showing someone with a magical vial of the virus so it would be handy to turn the hero into a werewolf so he sacrifice himself to save the day? Linear cause and effect is so twentieth century.The small-minded nerve of you philistines is a sad commentary on our educational system. Really smart people would appreciate the way the cutting edge artistes behind "BattleDogs" were transgressively interrogating our tired notions of "competency" and "not quite as stupid as a stick" movie-making.On the other hand, it's possible the script was too long and had too many big words in it, so they tore out pages at random and filmed it anyway.Either way, the world is a poorer place for it.

TheLittleSongbird SyFy have a notoriously bad reputation, though there are some tolerable movies of theirs out there even if they are too far and between. Battledogs was a movie that I wasn't sure what to make of, it wasn't a particularly good one but neither was it a disaster. I am in complete agreement with the acting being the best asset, the cast were a good one to begin with and they all give fun performances, especially Ernie Hudson. Battledogs is a better-looking movie than most SyFy movies, true the CGI is not particularly great(not really much of a surprise though) but the dogs/werewolves were fairly convincing, the scenery is good and the editing is not too choppy. The music and sound mayn't win any awards as such, but they are atmospheric and sharp enough and serve their purpose well. The car wreck scene was quite an exciting set piece, and the gore isn't too shabby either. Battledogs is not without its flaws though. There is some nice tongue and cheek humour in the script, but too much of the dialogue is cheesy, unnaturally flowed and not always fitting in certain scenes. There is also a rather make-it-up-as-you-go-along feel. The story is a mixed bag. The good news is, it didn't bore me particularly and the nods to King Kong, Free Willy and Day of the Dead original were nice; the bad news is, nothing comes out as original and the mix of sci-fi and horror is confused. Maybe it would help if those two elements individually worked, sadly they don't; it is not thrilling enough to be good sci-fi and it's not scary enough to be good horror either. And it is largely to do with the overall quality of the CGI, the poor suspense and how tame and uninventive the attacks seemed to be. I'd forgive the fact that the characters are overused stereotypes if anything interesting was done with them, but despite the efforts of the actors the characters never were developed or likable enough. And how inaccurately and poorly the military are portrayed is likely to get people even more infuriated, especially if they're part of the military themselves. In conclusion, not terrible or great. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Michael_Elliott Battledogs (2013) ** (out of 4) The Asylum strikes back with this rather confusing mix of sci-fi and horror. An evil Lt. General (Dennis Haysbert) does battle against the good Major Hoffman (Craig Sheffer) over a woman (Ariana Richards) who was bitten by a wolf (or dog) and turns into a wolf (or dog) and goes on a rampage in NYC. With the virus spreading, Hoffman wants to try and save her for a cure but the General wants more wolves (or dogs) so that the Army can use them in wars. BATTLEDOGS is a pretty confusing picture on one major level and that's the fact that I'm really not sure what the monsters are. They act and sound like werewolves but the title refer to them as dogs. Even stranger is that throughout the film they are called wolves by some, canines by others and some call them dogs. I'm really not sure what they are but the CGI used for them makes them look decent but they're still clearly fake but this here is to be expected with such a small budget. The film on the whole doesn't work but I think it contains a few entertaining things for those who line up week after week to see what SyFy is giving us. The biggest attraction to the film is its cast members as many familiar faces from familiar films are on hand. Not only do we get Haysbert (MAJOR LEAGUE), Sheffer (A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT) and Richards (JURASSIC PARK) but there's also Wes Studi (DANCES WITH WOLVES), Kate Vernon (PRETTY IN PINK) and Ernie Hudson (GHOSTBUSTERS). Obviously the screenplay doesn't give any of them a real chance to act but I thought all of them were fine in their roles and certainly raised the material. It was also fun seeing Richards back in a film after a six year break. The CGI effects are all pretty cheap and bad but The Asylum did give us some real, practical effects, which allowed for plenty of gore. I say this after everyone of these movies but if you're expecting quality then you're not going to find it here. If you looking for cheap entertainment then this here offers a little of it.