White Fang (1973)

a.k.a. Zanna Bianca

I shouldn't be surprised by the amount of extreme cruelty shown in this film because, c'mon, it's Fulci but wow. The acting is wooden, the story oddly paced, and the animal cruelty abundant - this movie is a trifecta of awful. As if this movie weren't weird enough, it ties in with Call of the Wild by having White Fang be Buck's son - Buck of course, then drops dead.

Viewing Format: DVD

Baxter

Despite the appearance of the DVD cover - and the fact that Baxter is a Bull Terrier and not a Pit Bull - this is actually a very good movie. Part horror and part drama, it tells the story of a murderous Bull Terrier looking for a person that's just like him. It's disturbing, but not gory in the sense of a traditional horror film - it's much more subtle.

Viewing Format: DVD

The Horror.

The horrror otherwsie known as Good Dog, Bad Movie's current movie library. Not pictured are my DVD of The Pack and my VHS of The Incredible Journey because I forgot I had them until after I took these pictures and re-shelved the discs and tapes. Note the abundant collection of Lassie movies - I've collected Lassie and Collie items since I was a kid, so they kind of add up. I have both a VHS and a DVD copy of [i]The Painted Hills[/i], a movie so bad I've only seen it once, and that was years ago. The VHS copy unfortunately came with Call of the Wild and The Return of Rin Tin Tin.

a.k.a Dracula's Dog

Featuring only the finest overused stock dog noises and Reggie Nalder's perpetual pseudo-duckface, Zoltan is....something, all right. It's not terrible - the dog actually does attack people rather than just staring at them, but the cuts they do for the footage look ridiculous, as if the dogs were flung by catapult at the actors - the ending of the move is rife with it. What I noticed most about this movie is that many time, the dogs would be barkin/howling without their mouths being open - kind of like the old Godzilla dubs.

Viewing Format: DVD

Not dead, still alive. An awesome reader will be sending me a copy of Fulci's White Fang - yes, the prequel to Challenge of White Fang, and it's supposed to be an absolute nightmare, as well as another sequel.

I could spend a lot of time on movie versions of Jack London's work, just because they're so prolific.

According to IMDB there are at least 15 versions and sequels of White Fang, and probably just as many of Call of the Wild.

Jack London is spinning in his grave.

Marmaduke

Marmaduke was already a painfully unfunny comic, so what better way to spice it up than make it a painfully unfunny movie? And being a children's movie, it needed a whiny protagonist voiced by Owen Wilson. And a dog dance party - because that's what kids like apparently.

Viewing Format: DVD

Secondary Blog!

I can now bore you with my collection of animal postcards:
http://animalsinmypostbox.blogspot.com/

Vacation

I'll be off to Michigan on Saturday, and will be out until the following Saturday. I'm going to try to get at least one more review up - probably Marmaduke. (Ugh.) I just received my copy of Day Of The Animals, and while it's not mainly focused on dogs, there are enough killer dogs, wolves and Leslie Nielsen to make me add it. I've also got a copy of Zoltan: Hound of Dracula on the way.

Current queue (In no particular order)
Marmaduke
See Spot Run
Day Of The Animals
Baxter

I'm also considering doing some animated dog movies, because there are plenty.

Challenge To White Fang

a.k.a Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca

I have to start this out by saying that I paid 50 cents for my copy of this movie, and I'm pretty sure that was an exorbitant price. Maybe it's the bad dub, maybe it's the blatant animal abuse, or maybe it's a combination of both. Difficult to follow, with jumpy scene changes, I found spinning in my computer chair to more entertaining than this movie - whee!

Viewing Format: VHS

New computer acquired (read: behemoth of a Dell from 2002), and it runs better than my old machine. I've also gotten my speakers fixed, so I can stream the awfulness from Netflix.

Next planned reviews:
Challenge of White Fang
See Spot Run
Marmaduke

I welcome any suggestions.

And then I forgot how to format posts.

A Dog of Flanders (1999)

This adaptation of the book is so awful that I was looking forward to Nello and Patrasche dying - but of course, they didn't. Damn you, Warner Brothers. Damn you.

Viewing Format: VHS

Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978)

So, when you breed a demon to a German Shepherd, you get a dog that doesn't actually attack anyone, but instead just sits there and stares at them. And then it turns into this:

Viewing Format: Theater, via Horror Remix

The Pack (1977)

AKA "The Long Dark Night"

I like how nobody on a goddamned island seems to own a boat. And leaving bodies everywhere is cool too, I guess.

Viewing Fomat: DVD