Rottweiler

'Relatively speaking' means in comparison to all of the films he's directed. Yuzna is not a seminal horror film director but he does have a certain style and following, and is not merely a hack. For example, a few of his films can stand up with seminal horror directors such as Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, and George Romero, and ROTTWEILER is one that can.

It's not a straight-out, routinely linear-plotted opus, but rather asks the viewer to follow a storyline that jumps through past and present. There is a purpose for this, that mostly being to maintain an intrigue about how the events leading to the chase of the bionic rottweiler and the hunted man came to be, and how the rottweiler itself became a killing machine.

There are also plot points that need the viewer to exercise some mental abilities to follow, and in doing so reward the viewer with a more inclusive experience rather than that of being a 'couch potato' merely as a recipient of programmed emotional effects. These are the folks who complained that they couldn't understand what was going on.

As a point of example for this, it's shown in subtle ways that the bionic rottweiler tracks the hunted man by his scent and the scent of his blood. Anyone who gets this scent on them becomes a victim as well, or if they are between the dog and the man. Those who are not do not get attacked. But the viewers who are looking only for simple plot devices and completely explained maneuvers won't get these subtleties.

This is Yuzna's most interesting horror film to date and the most enjoyable for me, and as I feel it is his best so far, I've called it his masterpiece. Plus it does have the gore that we've come to expect from him.

In 2018, in Spain, the prisoner Dante (William Miller) escapes from a prison and is chased by a robot dog. He tries to reach the city of Puerto Angel, where he left his beloved girlfriend Ula (Irene Montalà). While running away, he recalls his recent past in Spain with Ula.

I like Brian Yuzna, but the violent, bizarre and disappointing "Rottweiler" has one of the most ridiculous screenplays I have ever seen. The unpleasant story, where the political and economical situation of this future and the characters are awfully developed, has many situations not explained. We just see the lead character running most of the time tracked by a stupid dog that kills everybody. Better off sleep, since watching this movie is a pure waste of time. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Rottweiler"

Seriously, I don't see why everyone hates this movie. It's not THAT bad.

I felt the choice of actors was actually quite nice, for a low budget film starring a bunch of little known Spanish actors. There were several nice touches in the film that I enjoyed. For example, the main character slowly goes completely insane through out the movie, and I loved it. As he watches more and more people butchered by the rather well down robotic dog, he continues to decend deeper and deeper into insanity, with it finally culminating in his visions of his dead girlfriend speaking to him, even though she's been dead for a year.

I also felt the dog was well done, it didn't look that bad either... I must admit one last thing, I saw the movie on the Sci-Fi channel, so I didn't have to deal with the awkward nudity scenes, and the main character remained fully clothed throughout the movie.

As for the plot, yes, it was a bit lacking, but what do you expect? It was a movie about a killer, robotic dog. Tell me any movie where you have altered dogs as killers that was actually a success? And after having watched this movie after some of the Watchers flicks, you'll appreciate this movie so much more.

All in all, when compared to the other horror movie/slasher flicks of the twenty-first century, this really wasn't that bad. However, if you came into this movie thinking it would be the greatest thing since sliced bread, you will be sorely disappointed. Come into it with lowered expectations, and you'll be well satisfied.

And remember, it was better than "Watchers"...

Brian Yuzna's directorial career started off well with the innovative and freaky Society, followed by a serviceable sequel to Re-animator and the excellent Return of the Living Dead III; but since setting up his own production company, Fantastic Factory, in Spain, Yuzna's output has been surprisingly bad, with Rottweiler being the biggest dog of them all.

Set in the near future, the film sees a risk-taking young couple, Dante and Ula (William Miller and Irene Montalà) caught by the authorities as they play a game called 'infiltration', which calls for them to try and illegally enter a country without papers. Dante is sent to a high security prison, but is soon presented with an opportunity to escape into the surrounding wilderness, where he finds himself relentlessly pursued by a savage, cyborg tracker dog.

Admittedly, the above synopsis sounds like it could shape up to be a quality piece of sci-fi/horror entertainment—kinda like Westworld crossed with Cujo—but that is only half the story, and how the plot develops after Dante's prison break is simply insane.

However, since the sheer unpredictability of the narrative is the one of the only enjoyable aspects of the film (the other main 'positive' being the gore), I'm not going to spoil things by revealing too much, suffice to say that you should prepare yourself for some unbelievably poorly executed action, including a silly chase sequence involving numerous shots of Dante's naked ass, the least harrowing rape scene in movie history, the hilarious sight of the dog disposing of a gun (twice), and a priceless shot of a surprised chicken that is easily the best moment in the whole damn mess (the bird certainly gives a more convincing performance than the rest of the cast).

In case you are slightly familiar with horror cinema, you must have heard of the name Brian Yuzna already. He started as the producer of some hugely successful horror flicks in the mid-80's ("Re-Animator", "From Beyond") but quickly went on to directing his own grotesque and spirited horror projects ("Society", "Return of the Living Dead part 3"). Personally, I'm a rather big fan of Yuzna. His movies are always very entertaining and stuffed with blood & gore, even though the stories are hardly ever impressive...or even 'good', for that matter. For his latest effort, "Rottweiler", the story is even completely and utterly retarded and then STILL this is a very amusing B-movie with loads of absurd aspects that genre fans will love! "Rottweiler" is set in Spain in a not-so-distant future (2018). In order to avoid further immigration, the misanthropic Kufard (small but terrific role for veteran Paul Naschy) arrests everybody who washes ashore Puerto Angel. One day, he also arrests the young American couple Dante and Ula. They were playing the rich-kids game of "infiltration", in which the players illegally have to cross country borders. That game is just asking for trouble, if you ask me... Some time later, Dante escapes from a prison-transport and heads back to Puerto Angel in order to save Ula, only he's chased by a partly robotic and bloodthirsty Rottweiler that rips every living thing to pieces. The movie is truly incoherent, with extended and unnecessary flashbacks, and often provokes unintentional chuckles. It's fast-paced, though, and contains loads of sleaze and bloody deaths. The Terminatoresque dog looks thrilling and the music as wells as the opening credits are very funky. The acting is atrocious, but that what happens if you recruits cheap Spanish actors and force them to play American characters. The lead guy looks a lot like Orlando Bloom but his acting skills are even worse. "Rottweiler" surely is a meaningless horror film, but it remains fun to watch.