The Breed Review

The Breed - 2006

Iv'e had The Breed on tape for a while now, I will often tape films from film 4 that I have never heard of and watch them, sometimes you find they are awful and every now and then you get a real gem. Sadly The Breed was not a gem but it was not awful. Warning contains spoilers.

The Breed starts off like lots of other american teenage horror film's. Two completely random characters come across an isolated island and decided to go look for bar. As the film started it looked liked it wasn't going to be very impressive but then Wes Craven's name appeared under the role of Executive Producer did give me a ray of hope.

The story surrounds 5 teenager's, 3 boys and 2 girls, as they arrive on an island for a weekend party. The group play around on the island for a bit which shows the group are all easy going around each other and they often mention the past, which tells the audience that the group have known each other for a long time. One of the girls then gets attacked by the dogs (The Breed) and it looks like any other dog, which, I think, is a good thing, because it brings fear into the homes of anybody who owns a dog. This is a very clever technique and also very cheap as the film makers wont have to pay for special effects make up.

One of the boys is a trainee vet which I found a little too convenient, but he manages to look after the girl who got bit, though he cant stop her from turning a little mental. While the girls are out swimming in the lake, the boys go hunting, the man from the beginning appears and tells the boys they need to leave because the dogs don't want them hear, some dogs then appear and kill the man. The boys then run back and all the group make it back into the house but the dogs are circling outside. The group try to escape but the dogs seemed to have planned for that as they cut off all exits. Turns out the dog's were been genetically enhanced by people who have since left the island. One of the boys and the girl who was bit both die and the three remaining survivors, two brothers who own the house on the island and a girl who has dated both brothers, manage  to escape the island on the boat that was left by the couple at the beginning. One of the survivors wants to go below deck but when he opens the hatch. SHOCK HORROR a dog is onboard the boat.

The film was very well directed by first time director Nicholas Mastandrea, who has worked as a second unit director on such hits as 3:10 to Yuma, W and the Scream films. The script, which was written by Robert Conte and Peter Wortman, is a typical american teenage horror film but one thing is missing, sex. Most american horror films have the main characters all having sex with each other, but this is different, there was no nudity at all and every know and then some of the characters will kiss. I think not having any sex in the film is a good idea as it puts more emphases on the horror in the film, but as Wes Craven know's sex sells in cinema.

The dog hander's on this film trained the dog's brilliantly. The dogs actually do some of the best acting.
As a dog lover I did find it hard to watch some of the scene's where the dog's die but if I can't watch, it means the director has a done a good job.

The Breed is a well directed film and makes a difference to all over american teenage horror films.

One thing did bother me though... why didn't the man from the beginning just leave on his boat? Why did he stick around?

The Breed - 3.5/5