Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Welcome to the Pugsley Crew Reviews Podcast, where we talk about all manner of films. Are they good, bad or. Well, anything in between, really.
Today we talked about a film called the Plague Dogs. I'm joined Once Again by Ker9000.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: How are you doing, man?
[00:00:28] Speaker A: I'm not bad, mate. How you doing?
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. You've been up to much recently. Watched any cool films other than this?
[00:00:38] Speaker A: I'm trying to think what the film is called now.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Jess.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: What was that one about the woman and the house where we couldn't work out whether she was nuts with the little kids?
Never let go. That's it. Never let go. That was pretty decent, actually.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven't heard of it. I don't think there are two.
Oh, Halle Berry, right. Oh, I've seen the advert. I saw it advertised when I went to watch something in the cinema.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Yeah. She's in the middle of nowhere and she's got her two kids and it's like, is she nuts or is some evil after him kind of thing?
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll have to check it out.
But, yeah, I was gonna say I've got two films for us that we actually have to watch now. Someone mentioned them being awful. One of them is Samurai Cop. Don't know if you've heard of it. I've seen it.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: I've heard of that in passing. Yeah.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: And the other one is based on a video game that came out. I can't remember what it's called, but we can watch that as well. I think it's called Ballistic X versus Sever.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I've got the game for that, for the Game Boy Advance. But I've never seen the film.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Well, that's the film we're gonna. We're gonna have to watch soon as well, those two films.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Oh, wonderful.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Something you'll enjoy, I'm betting. Oh, yeah, I don't mind watch. See, that's the thing. I don't mind watching a bad film if it's entertaining. When you sit there watching a bad film and it's boring, it's just like, why. Why did I bother?
But one good thing about this film is that it wasn't bad or boring.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: No, it was pretty good, actually.
Very heavy.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. Like a start. Like within the first. Just like Watership down within the first few minutes, something dies in this. A dog that's chucked into an incinerator with Lombard.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: But have you seen this film before? I believe you haven't, because I'm sure you've mentioned on the podcast a few times that you hadn't seen her.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: No, this. This is the first time. I think if I'd seen this as a kid, I'd have therapy bills.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: It was a proven.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Even knowing the link to Watership Dan and same author. And I think this is arguably heavier.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah. I would say it's a heavier film than Warship down, especially with the ending.
It's just like. Because like Watership down, while this has it ups and downs throughout and there's some death along the way and what have you, might even be more death, but it kind of has a happy ending.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: This from the. From my opinion anyway, is it doesn't at the end, everyone who. All the main characters are dead.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Pretty much, yeah.
The book actually apparently has a happier ending.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it's weird. Cause you know how usually films are made, test audiences hate them with a horrible ending and then they like get remade with a new ending.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Well, when he wrote the book and took it to the publisher, they went, that's depressive. You've got to make it nicer at the end. So he did. But the cut of the book that the filmmakers got hadn't been altered yet. It still had the end. It's got.
The film has got the book's original ending before it was published.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: That's mad.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: So do you know how it ends in the book?
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Well, you know how they're basically trying to get to the island? I think it's just implied that they did. I think it's just said that they do and, you know, they live happy sort of thing.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Well, whereas this ends like they probably drown. They possibly could get to the island maybe.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Yeah, this. It's open to interpretation this, but one of the dogs was struggling already. I. I genuinely think they just drowned at the end, which is sad. After all they went through, they drowned.
But yeah, I thought it was really, really, really good, actually.
I personally prefer Watership down because it's just. For me it was more enjoyable.
But I think this one hits harder.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
It's like you said, Watership down has got those curves of depressive moments, happy moments, minor victories. And it's got like an overriding sense of although things suck, you can always have hope. Unlike with the whole Black Rabbit of inlay death thing.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: It turns out that although they've suffered and that they're all going to go to the happy ever after. And it kind of, you know, whereas this is just like doom and gloom and doom and gloom and doom and gloom and there's. There's the occasional little thing you might smirk at a little bit that's a little bit light hearted, but it's pretty much an ever going trajectory of sliding further and further into the shit. Really.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And like progressively you can see like the animation on the dogs that get skinnier.
They had Mark like drawing on them to make it look like the bones are all on the rib cage are all sticking out and shit like that.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: Oh yeah. When they see that sheepdog again and he doesn't even know they are because of that, like.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Withdrawn and Yeah.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: I thought it was pretty interesting though, especially as like the, the one dog is sold off. I think his name is Snitter.
Yeah, the little. I thought it was a Jack Russell myself, but it wasn't. It actually says what type of dog it is, I can't remember.
So terrier that looks similar to a Jack Russell, but it isn't a Jack Russell, it's a different terrier. Yeah, well, that one, he thinks he. Because this. He's like somehow mentally impaired from where they've messed with him. I can't remember exactly what they did to him because I'm sure it does say they were trying to do things to his brain.
The thing is, is he thinks he can kill people.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: By just things happening. Because obviously his master ends up getting run over by a truck and they blame the dog.
Yeah, it's his fault. No, it really wasn't. You, you should have been looking what you were doing. And then obviously the guy who gets shot in the face, that was the dog graphic. Yeah.
I was surprised. Like I thought the guy was gonna be like, oh, I'm gonna shoot the dog because he's messing with his gun. He doesn't. And he's like genuinely like, oh, come over to me dog, and we will have fun. And then the dog goes over and jumps up him, cuz he's like being friendly and then accidentally stands on the trigger of a shotgun and then the guy get shot in the face. It's like me.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: I wasn't sure whether the guy did want to play with him and was being nice or was trying to get him across to get him, if you know what I mean. So I was like, yeah, I don't know, I don't know. And then boom. And it's like, well, it don't matter now because he ain't doing either.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: I thought he. Because the way he was reacting with the gun, I thought it was that he wanted to shoot the dog, when he got it closer, but he didn't, like, try and grab the gun or anything. He just. He seemed like he.
When he got to the dog, when the dog got to him, he obviously died very quickly, but it didn't seem like he, like, tried to grab the gun to then shoot the dog or anything. So I think he may have actually been trying to be nice because he's like, maybe a lot of people throughout the film, they see the big dog and like, oh, my God, that's the one that's killing sheep and blah, blah, blah. And then they see the little dog, like, oh, the poor thing, look at his head. We need to get him seen too.
And. And that's what it seems to be. They see the little dog with this weird patch on his head where. I don't know what they did to him. Like I said, I'm sure the guy says in the car to the. The news reporter about what they were doing, but I don't know. I don't remember what was said exactly.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: I mean, clearly this author has got a thing about dogs, about animals that see stuff. Any. Because you've got Fifer in Watership Dan that sort of has fits and it's like, oh, I feel something. Oh, and then at points, this dog is like having PTSDS flashbacks and seeing a warm chair in his master. And so it's clearly a theme the guy likes to go back to, innit.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Animals that are, wow, I suppose, suffering some form of mental illness or possibly visionaries or.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the thing. It's like in Watership down there was the whole.
Like, it's all industrial is bad. Industrial stuff is quite bad and shows that side of things. And it shows, you know, that things can be tough, but if you work hard enough, you'll get somewhere in various other things. This one just showed the life is shit.
Like, I. I don't. I think maybe the. The. The story is. Is like, I know, maybe government and these secret tests and things that are a bit wonky. Maybe that's it. I don't know. Because there was no real outcome to it other than if things happen, everyone could die.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
I mean, I think maybe it is, like, lack of government transparency because obviously the dogs are like, oh, they torture us, they keep drowning me and whatever. I don't even know why. And yeah, so I do think it's like, it is the idea that the government test chemicals and drugs and piss around with play the plague and stuff, and people never get a real explanation of what the heck they're doing. Yeah, I suppose it. It is in that way. Possibly sort of a call for more government transparency.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense, actually.
And maybe that they shouldn't dick around with things that are dangerous.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: It is funny, though, because in. In the middle of the film, it's like, it'll show the dogs doing stuff, but in the background it'll have people talking as if they're from, like, the Science Place or the government.
And some of the things are literally like, oh, well, we. You want us to shut it down completely, really? And it's like, well, obviously they've been found out, so they want to close it all.
One thing I was wondering. I should have looked up the cast list.
I should look at the cast list, but I'm sure one of the people who were talking, like the commander guy, I'm sure, was Patrick Stewart, because if it wasn't, it sounded exactly like him.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Now. It is. It's Patrick Stewart. It's towards the end, isn't it? I think one of the military leaders.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: I think it's the first time Patrick Stewart ever did an animated film. There's loads of interesting people in this. Do you remember?
What's that? It's an old British TV show and there's a guy that's like an old man. Con artist. Mr. Greengrass.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, Heartbeat.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Heartbeat, Yeah, I think it might be Heartbeat.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: Greengrass was in it at one point because I was like, oh, that's Greengrass. I know there's more people than John Hurt from Watership Down. There was another voice. I was like, ah, it's a Watership down voice.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: I couldn't place one thing I thought was funny is. Is Todd the Fox, who clearly got ripped apart by dogs.
Him. I felt. I thought it was funny just how northern that fox was.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Oh, he was incredibly northern.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: I was like, okay, I'm from Wales. This is not. I'm not used to this language.
And also, I found it funny how often he would say, they'll shoot your ass out.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: I was like, what? This is a kid's film, sort of.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: And he's still acting. I'm sure he was in the. The modern version of All Creatures Great and Small that came out a couple of years ago.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: All right. I didn't know that. It's brilliant. They'll shoot your ass out as soon as these. As quick as they look at you. Stuff like that. I was like, oh, when I saw you running up here, I thought your ass was on fire.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Oh, he's great. Innit?
[00:14:31] Speaker B: He's.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: He's got to be one of the best parts. But I love it that the dogs don't think he's dead because they're like, nothing would get the Todd. He's invincible. He'll escape anything. And. Well, I'm pretty sure I just saw his legs get snapped off as the camera panned away. So I don't think so.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: It's because they think he's, like, really clever, don't they? And he. And he was. But unfortunately there was just way, way too many other dogs chasing him.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: I mean, I think the interesting thing with him is that the big dog in particular is kind of always saying he's not trustworthy and he'll sell you out in a heartbeat. And he only cares about himself.
And he essentially does die to save them. He dies to give them a chance.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Really, he's like the biggest hero of the whole thing in a way, because he goes out like a badass, trying to help his friends.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
And then he gets mauled quite badly.
But one thing I'll say about this film is it's very, very good. Like, I really enjoyed. I don't know about my other half. I don't think she was as into it as I was, but I think it was really cool. Like I said, though, it's quite depressing in that everything just gets worse and worse and worse. There's no.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: There's no upsides to anything.
And like, 90% of the time when the Todd is about they. The big guy, Ralph is kind of like, yeah, I'm gonna eat him because he's a dick. And it's like, nah, he's all right.
He does come across as really, like sometimes a bit selfish. Like when he ate.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: When he eats all those eggs.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Yeah, things like that.
[00:16:31] Speaker A: But like Snitter says, isn't it. It's in his nature. It's who he is. And you can't sort of fault him for.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Being a fox.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And the. The reason why Ralph is kind of comes around to him is because he literally. Todd, saves his life. Literally saves his life by pushing a human down a cliff.
And then you see it. You see his corpse later on where they've ate the. Out of him.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Oh, it isn't it. That's one of the most graphic things in it.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it's just on. Oh, my God, there's a dead guy. And you could see he's been properly nommed.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Well, why? Not a waste not want not exactly.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Because obviously he was hired to Go and shoot dogs.
But, well.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: That didn't work out.
Maybe it doesn't sound so great, but I don't know, you might agree with me on this. Like when he fell down the cliff, I kind of went, oh no, he died. Oh yeah. Then when, when the Todd died, I was probably, oh no, Todd.
You thinking I care more about a fox's life than the person?
[00:17:48] Speaker B: Yeah, well, it's.
You've kind of. When you've been watching the film, you've kind of grown to like the characters. Whereas the human who's just, you see occasionally following tracks and that, they're just like, man, who cares, you know?
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Yeah, you've. You've got used to them like friends, aren't you? You've been in on their journey with them and you're invested in their outcome. Whereas him, you know, you're not really invested in what he's doing.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: No, but it was funny how he like fell down the cliff.
But this is funny though, cuz when it shows the first sheep killed, I said to the Mrs. Like, that's pretty graphic. And this is a kids film, just a sheep all open, blood and guts everywhere.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: I mean, I.
I don't know what age my daughter would have had to be for me to show her this. I mean, it's not a worry now she's like 23 and in uni. But I can't imagine a pulling this out before being 10 or.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: You know, I get that.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: I think there's horror films I'd put on before this. I put something like Critters on before this, but.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: It'S a film I haven't seen for a long time. Critters.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: Oh, I love it.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: I haven't seen it for a long time, to be fair. I remember enjoying it.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: Oh, I love it. I love Critters. One's great. Critters. Two's great, Three's not bad, four's a bit downhill. And the fifth one that came out not too long ago was decent again, but not as good as one and two.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: Yeah, fair enough. I'll have to check them out again. It's been a long time. I haven't seen the fifth one.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: I know that it's called Critter's Attack, I think, or Attacks or something like that.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: Yeah, keep my eye out.
But yeah, when it comes to this, I thought the, I thought the animation was going to be the same as Warship down, but it's not quite this kind of like slightly different. Really good though.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I know this film's entirely hand drawn. I'M not sure whether Watership Dan had that rotroscoping in where they draw over real things and stuff.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Ah. I'm not sure.
I. I know that they're both very good films, though. And like I said, I do. I do personally prefer Watership Down, I think.
Yeah, I did just a better film, but this is. It's kind of harrowing.
Yeah. Really good, though. I. I haven't really got anything bad to say about it, to be honest.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: No, I don't think I have. Other than don't watch it if you're feeling depressed.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: The right timing.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: And also, if you really, really love your animals, probably best not to watch it.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Nah.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: But, yeah, it was. It wasn't expecting, like, one of the dogs. You see it like, the dogs, when you see him from certain angles, you can see that they've drawn balls on them as well. And they're. It's like, what the.
Why are they so graphic in their design?
Because, like, one of the first things they do is they just go, like, piss up against a tree when they free. And I was like, I don't know why, I just wasn't expecting you to see the dogs pissing up the trees.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: No, I mean, it's weird, isn't it? I mean, you think, what does that really bring to the table? Why is that there, you know?
[00:21:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it's just I said to the missus, I wasn't expecting them to be pissing on the trees. She said, well, that's what dogs do, they piss on things.
I was like, that's fair.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Because they walk around pissing on things, having a scratch drink, you know, they basically draw on them as if they dogs because they dogs, you know.
But, yeah, I don't think I've got that much more to add, really. I really enjoyed the film. If you've not watched it, even though we've spoiled the ending, watch it. It's really, really good.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, definitely.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: If you have watched the film, then you should let us know via Blue sky and what do you think of it? And if. If we write, is it. Is it really good?
How many children do you think this traumatized?
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Oh, a lot.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: I think you wonder, like, oh, we washed Watership down and that was terrible. But this film about dogs can't be as bad.
They surely won mon make it any more sad than Warship Down. Oh, they doubled down and made it 10 times worse.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: You never hear about this one, though, do you? People always go on about Watership Dan and Watership Dan tends To be played on TV like every Easter.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: I just don't know how this. I mean, I heard it got pulled from cinemas when it was released for being depressive and stuff.
Maybe that's. It just never got a proper foothold.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Apparently a woman was at a cinema screen in where the guy that directed it was and she said what horrible man would make something like this? And the cinema boss pointed to him and the woman hit the guy with an umbrella.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: Jesus. Yeah, that's surprising.
That is very surprising.
But yeah.
Would you recommend this film to people?
[00:23:35] Speaker A: Oh, definitely, yeah, to people, but not to kids.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: This is the most biggest reason I can come up for saying if you're going to show kids a film, even if it's got a low certificate, give it a fast forward through yourself first just to, you know, make sure you're not going to traumatize them.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fair, that's fair.
Or just stick it on and deal with the consequences.
Don't do that.
But yeah, surprising. Like I don't know this sound. Watership Down, I think are both PG and I think to myself, should they be pg?
That's even fucking crazier. Yeah, that's just mad.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: I mean I reckon if you, if you showed both of these to the Board of Film Classification now, I think they'd both get marked up from what they are.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I agree. But PG does mean parental guidance. So it's like you decide if your child is, you know, in the right mind for this film.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: So I guess, I guess it's not wrong.
I wonder if they ever do a double showing in cinema. I'll watch them.
Yeah. I'll go get a happy meal afterwards and I'll make me happy, Happy Little Meal.
But yeah, anyone who's listening, if you haven't seen it, really you should, you should see this film. It is brilliant though a bit sad.
And if you, like I said, if you have seen it and you giving this a listen, just like pop on onto, onto Air Blue sky and let us know if you agree with other thoughts.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. Always welcome to talk to people about it. Even if you're saying I'm completely wrong, I'll. I'll have a chat with you about it.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Exactly. That's what we do.
But that is going to be us. We'll be back again in a few weeks.
Maybe we'll be talking about Samurai Cop or that other thing I mentioned, which name I forgot, what was it called?
[00:26:00] Speaker A: Something First Server.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have to have a look at that.
That's gonna be fun. Hopefully. Anyway, thank you very much for tuning in. We will see you again soon. Bye. Bye.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Bye.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: What did he do? What did he do? Kill out in the open, right on the shepherd's trot. Clotting the place up with blood. Do you think he's blind you for it, Henny?
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Your ass will be inside out by morning.
