Killer dog movies have long been a staple of the horror genre. The most famous on is probably Cujo but then there are the lesser known (but no less important) entries in the sub-genre such as Zoltan – Hound Of Dracula and Devil Dog – The Hound From Hell. Considering how nasty a mad dog can get, it makes sense that film makers would mine that fear and churn it into movie gold, and that's exactly what Brian Yuzna has done with his set in the future entry, Rottweiler.

The film takes place in the year 2018, a man named Dante has been sent to a horrible prison for a crime that he did not commit. Knowing his innocence and feeling pretty down about spending the rest of his life in jail for something someone else did, Dante decides to make a break for it and he launches a daring prison bust out. Unfortunately for Dante, the bad guys who run the prison have got a secret weapon that they're going to use to track him down and get him back – a semi-robotic Rottweiler with a nasty habit of eating people!

Dante high tails it out of the prison as fast as fast can be and heads on out into the desert where he figures he'll be safe for a little while. Once he's out there he hooks up with a few friendly types who want to help him on his quest for freedom but with a killer robotic Rottweiler on his tail, most of these folks really don't last so long.

Well, well, well. Rottweiler stinks, but it stinks in a pretty good way. The acting isn't anything to write him about, the plot twists are as subtle as a brick to the face and the direction, while perfectly competent, is rather unremarkable. The cinematograph is merely adequate, and the soundtrack sounds pretty generic. So what makes Rottweiler worthwhile? The trash factor! Not only do we get a gratuitous cameo from Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy in a role as one of the bad guys, but we also get a splash of completely unnecessary nudity and a few gals running around in skimpy outfits. There's also some reasonably decent gore effects in the film – nothing as disturbing as, say, an Umberto Lenzi cannibal film, but the dog does spend a good portion of his screen time eating people and the camera doesn't really shy away from any of that.

And then there's the dog himself. Complete with shiny metal fangs and glowing, ice blue eyes that look like they could shoot laser beams out of them, this carnivorous canine runs around the entire film just messing people right up. He's a pretty bad ass dog and even if he's essentially a rip off of The Terminator (the 'borrowing' at the end of the film is completely blatant) you can't help but love the fuzzy little guy.

Successful on a 'so bad it's good' level, Rottweiler is a pretty decent beer movie. See it with a group and a sufficient amount of tasty, tasty brew and you should be all set. It's not going to change your life, it's not going to 'wow' you in any way whatsoever, but if you dig on killer animal movies and gratuitous exploitation, you should get a kick out of this.

Video:

The 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is clean and of pretty solid quality. The biggest flaw is that there is some noticeable mpeg compression evident in some of the darker scenes but other than that, things look good. Print damage is kept firmly in check, grain is a never a problem, and there isn't much to complain about in terms of edge enhancement or line shimmering. Flesh tones look pretty lifelike and quite natural and the color reproduction is also very nice, especially the reds used in the gorier moments of the film.