The Breed
Starring: Taryn Manning, Melanie Rodriguez, Oliver Hudson, Tyler Lively, Hill Harper
Directed By: Nicholas Mastandrea
Written By: Robert Conte, Peter Martin Wortmann
Released: 2007
Grade: C-

The Breed is just another killer dog movie that will easily get lost in its’ tracks. It doesn’t have anything else to offer that superior films such as Cujo, an obvious inspiration of the movie, hasn’t already given us. Let’s just forget that Wes Craven had anything to do with this, shall we? Nothing about this movie even gives us a hint of the brilliant and chilling mind of Craven. Luckily, he only produced this, so it was merely a poor investment choice rather than any hint of his creative abilities. Nicholas Mastandrea does okay at best in his directing debut with The Breed, but that is all since that is all the movie itself ever is. Mastrandrea manages to hold the film together by bringing out the most in the cast, yet overall it is far too unrealistic, at times cheesy, and I really don’t see how this movie could scare anyone: which is proof that ultimately it falls short.

Brothers, John(Hudson) and Matt (Lively) bring a few of the friends, Nicki (Rodriguez), Sarah (Manning), and Noah (Harper) to an isolated island for a weekend of partying. Despite an electrical problem, the weekend is off to a great start. Sarah finds a puppy that she becomes very affectionate towards. Soon it runs off and when she goes looking for it she gets a taste of the more vicious side of the dogs on the island when one bites her leg. Sarah claims she is fine though and they decide to drop it for now and stay and enjoy the rest of their trip. However, they begin to see more of these dogs, none of which look very friendly. Suspicions come up, but not everyone is convinced yet. As the dogs begin to surround the kids everywhere they go they constantly attack them. Since some of them don’t make it out of some of the attacks alive it becomes apparent that these are blood seeking hounds that will stop at nothing until they kill every one of them. The kids try to strategize ways to get off the island, but the dogs are always in the way ready to pounce and attack.

The acting is one of the only things that held the film together. Tyler Lively gave us a very smart, real, and sympathetic character. Lively and Hudson worked well off of each other as the confrontational and troubled brothers who were dealing with problems that they have been going through their whole life in the middle of this death trap that they are in. Hudson gave us a more laid back, but angered and belittled brother who was thought of as the screw up and uncaring one. Melanie Rodriquez was enjoyable as well, just the tone of her voice was enough to interest us in the story. Taryn Manning does pretty well too. However, I did feel like she was the one that was the biggest mystery as if she didn’t really show us her whole self. Also, she is the first to be bitten and therefore has some very dark moments, yet she didn’t really bring them to the full potential that could have added some much needed suspense to the movie.

One problem with The Breed is the theory that the dogs want them off of the island. When they actually try to get off the island, the dogs are trapping them in rather than trying to chase them off of it. The biggest flaw by far is that there is nothing remotely scary about the dogs. They just look like regular dogs. Most of the shots are even in the light, so there isn’t even the darkness to give a hint of the evil that they are supposed to possess. Even playing with the eye coloring or more frightening shots could have helped the image, but none of this was done. Obviously most horror fans wouldn’t be truly scared by the dogs no matter how scary they looked, but the reactions just seem so exaggerated, draining the suspense even more.

There is some blood when the dogs attack, but there really isn’t enough to make an effect or at least not enough to really make the attacks seem vicious. Also the film has its’ cheesy moments. One of the worst is when there is seemingly no hope left and the two brothers are left on the ground surrounded by dogs in every direction. Just then Nicki cruises in with her car and slyly says, “Need a Ride?”, even though she is believed to be dead at this point. Even if she was able to get out, it ignores the question of how she even escaped an equally hopeless situation that we saw her in seconds before. This as one of the only seemingly suspenseful moments just becomes another cliché. Nicholas Mastandrea does have good pacing in the film and along with the good acting and some character development that works well, gives us some enjoyment to be had. Unfortunately, a killer dog movie where the dogs don’t look like killers and are not intimidating or creepy whatsoever is a failure.