Monster Dog (1985)

A rock star named Vince (Alice Cooper) has a promising career and plans to go far with it as him and his crew travel to Vince's uncle's mansion to record his next music video as he was unhappy with his last one.
However it is a foggy drive at night and people are attacked by what seems like a werewolf as Vince briefly encountered one with his wife Sandra (Victoria Vera).
When they arrive at the mansion Vince doesn't find his uncle so they make themselves at home.
One of the actresses that will be in Vince's next video named Angela (Pepita James) has a terrifying nightmare that Vince became a werewolf after encountering a crazed old man (Bernarbe Barta Barri) while they were on the road after accidentally hitting a German shepherd telling them that they are all going to die because of Vince as he knows something about him the rest don't.
This greatly disturbs Vince as his family was cursed by a werewolf as his father was brutally killed by locals. Sandra tries to assure him that everything will be fine but once they shoot Vince's video they spot Vince's uncle's corpse crashing through a window and then the terror begins as redneck townfolks want to hunt down Vince and kill him due to his family curse and Vince's crew are attacked by wild dogs along with a giant one that kills them.

Impressive cheesy red screen for the opening credits as well as a spooky title of the film which seems to be common for Spanish flicks to have a different look to movie titles. Then things seem to roll well when we spot a music video involving our title character Vincent Raven as this was one of the best scene's in the flick wearing different outfits. But then it sinks after that with the cheesy discussions on Vince and his sweetheart Sandra while driving their van to a mansion to shoot their next video as well as his crew partying in the back. The lighting looked hard to see and this scene was daylight in the beginning but then it becomes night quickly which made things harder to watch.
Nice spooky dark look at the mansion with the Welcome Vince on the front as well as the innkeeper planning stuff as things looked good and still along with him going out and seeing a bunch of dogs in the mist and a blue light shining on this moment with some of them growling in which made this moment look unpleasant and leaving a bad feeling as well.
Some interesting cheesy discussion between a sheriff and a deputy patrolling the road in the foggy night as well as talking to Vince about what was going on along with one of them knowing him from when Vince was a child as well as some dark secrets told about his father which also draws you in to the unsolved mystery to what will become of that.
Then we have an interesting moment when the sheriff and deputy hears something growling in some bushes with one of them checking itout and then there's some silence and the other trying to discover as to what has happened to his friend as this was supposed to give you the chills but it doesn't. Plus the area looked too dark to see as well it didn't look like a dark wooded area at all.
A sad moment when the gang accidentally runs over a dog that is suffering in pain and has to be killed which isn't a nice site for dog lovers but nothing graphic is revealed here. Plus a good spooky presence by a crazy old man warning everyone that they will all die which is a nice horror presence to the story with his bloodied torn clothes as it draws yet another mysterious moment while we keep watching the film.
Interesting nightmare sequence that involves Angela waking up and being tormented by the old man as well as spotting everyone dead around her and she tries to get away as well as a nice back shot on Vince sitting at a chair as this was supposed to spook you out when he is about to reveal himself but this moment fails and looked mildly cheesy too.
A good drawn in moment when Vince discusses his past with Sandra about what happened to his father as the details about it were not pleasant which is a nice tale on a werewolf history.
Some great fun touches with the gang preparing to set up for the music video shoot as well as looking outside and other things like that which makes you want to join in for the fun as well as a nicely focused shot on Vince putting his make up on. Then things great really exciting when they shoot the music video with Vince singing as well as Angela coming down some stairs dressed as his bride as things looked spookily dark with this happening as well as a mysterious lit up shot on a window and some figure behind it with Angela mysteriously looking at it and BAM! THings looked perfectly intense after what is revealed here but yet another supposed jumping moment that fails big time.
Nice approach with some nasty townfolks being wickedly friendly warning them about vicious animals approaching making out they are there to help with good close up shots on them.
Then things look intense when they are intside being brutal to them and holding them up demanding to find Vince and to kill him as things looked good explaining their history as to why they want to kill him which was a nice add into the story. However things look cheesy when the leader of the pack Lou tells them on killing him with a silver bullet since we all know that too common in werewolf flicks.
A greatly drawn in moment with a devastating moment on what happens to Angela involving these townspeople which shows a good well focused slow motion moment.
We have Vince in action blowing away the townsfolks that tried to kill him which was an eye catcher and for sure offering some nice fast paced action on this.
Plus we have some intense moments on the dog invasion and attacking others as it looked good and fast with some nice intensity but the dogs we see coming in looked too much like your ordinary pets as well as not looking monstrous at all as we'd expect in a horror flick but some nice brief shots on a gigantic looking one dragging one of the gang members from Vince's music video in as this keeps you in suspense by wondering on what's going to happen next as well as some of the survivors trying to get away. Plus a nice shot on a wall briefly breaking through with this beast trying to attack.
Perfect still moments with a blue light shining on Vince around the dogs looking tame as this leaves a nice spooky feel and making you wonder if he was behind the terror or not. Lame moment though when they try to start a car to leave and they don't have the keys and have to go and grab them in the mansion leaving someone to keep and eye out which leaves a clue that when they come back someone else will be in their vehicle without knowing at the last minute.
The ending is really sad at what happens but a decent special transformation on someone turning into a werewolf with good close up shots for a low budgeter such as this one. Also we get to see the music video from what we saw in the beginning showing clips of scene's from the movie before the closing credits rolling up as this looked very clever describing the words in the song.
Bottom: Well this film is really bad unless you're a die hard Alice Cooper fan like me. Well Alice Cooper was hired by a die hard fan in Spain believe it or not and offered him alot of money to do the project which was probably why the film was made on an awful budget and you fans may be upset after we find out on what happens to him in the end. The picture quality is pretty bad and hard to see with not enough lighting and stuff like that. Yet it does seem interesting in some spots but it is overly long and the scenes take up too much time plus it is a real sleeper. Still if you're in the mood for a bad movie it's alot of campy fun. Otherwise it's pointless and easily forgettable.

Well the acting was spoken in english from these Spanish actors but it was overdubbed by American actors as they do a wooden job like many voice over actors doing a foreign film nonetheless probably due to their accents and the film being americanised to top it all off. The sound is also off synch too. I mean it's hard to tell if they're doing a good job as you don't hear their voices but they seem to perform well by watching them. I will do my best to see on what I can do for them here and whom is worth discussing.
Shock rock godfather Alice Cooper (Vince Raven) is one of the only main reasons for watching this flick and am surprised his voice was overdubbed by someone else as well. He presented hgimself differently in this flick than what we see him as a general rocker. His hair was short wearing different clothing etc. Seemed to stand out greatly by what he did and showed some disturbed moments thinking about his family background. Also does well springing into action with a shotgun which looked impressive as well. Shows great shocked expressions while changing at the end of his role. Seeing him in this was a real treat as he is by no means an actor whatsoever.
Victoria Vera (Sandra) represented herself nicely as well playing his sweetheart and somewhat a music producer or raod manager. Has a nice wholesomeness to her looks as well as having a nice warm attitude towards others which looked good too. Seemed to do well with her energy for when the terror happens. Also does well acting like a basket case during the end of her performance. Her beauty was a nice plus too.
Maria Jose Sarsa (Marilou) seemed to show off some interesting spunk as one of the crew members in which she stood out well with her outgoing attitude as well as doing nicely freaking out when the terror happens or being emoitnally scared showing nice freaked out expressions for what she had to do. Once again it was hard to see if she was a worthy character actress like the rest since her voice was overdubbed but looked like she worked on it.
Carlos Santurio (Frank) had the right looks for a guy next door type as one of the crew members in which he looked like that he showed off some nice energy just jumping into the scene whenever he needed to be like that. Also does well by the looks of it by being full of life. Had the clean cut looks which worked in well too. Had a worthy supporting role by what we spot here.
Pepita James (Angela) was the main one that stood out the most in my mind as she had the perfect looks to be someone freaked out by the terrors that happened as well as getting itno it big time during a nightmare sequence. She seemed to stand out greatly in a scene when she is appearing in a shooting for a music video and being distracted by what she sees from a window which showed off well. Had the nice pretty girl looks which is great for a horror flick.
Charly Bravo (Lou) had the marvellous looks as the leader of his redneck townsfolk werewolf slayer. Shows a good evil grin as well as coming across as someone that you can't trust. Does a powerful job within his blocking as well or getting ready to fire his rifle. Shows off alot of great energy into what he had to do.
Bernabe Barta Barri (Old Man) only breezed in about 3 or 4 scene's for this film but thought he was worth mentioning since he was the key to the story with his mysterious presence. Does a nice job acting ghostly or getting creepy. Plus does a nice job with his menacing behavior. He for sure had the right ability for a horror character from what we've seen him do here.

An old man is bloodied
people are bloodily attacked by dogs but it isn't too gruesome
A bloodied corpse falls from a crashing window
Angela is shot in the stomach
A redneck townsfolk is shot in the head
Vince is badly bitten by the werewolf on his shoulder

I thoroughly enjoyed Grupo Dichtomy's music in the film especially with the opening by having the howling keyboard sound effects as it will give you goosebumps and it was played during the middle of this film when Alice was telling Victoria's character his family history and it was playing during the closing credits too. We also hear cheesy winding and grinding sounds for when the terror really happens. Plus in other spots thumping and adventureous synthesizer music for an outdoors scene when Vince tries to find Angela after she runs away and brings her back to the mansion which offered okay timing. It was of course low budget sounding like the rest of the flick. Plus there's good deep gloomy sounds during the nighttime especially during a shot on the full moon as this worked in greatly too. The music is a little cheesy but in a great way.

We have a songtrack by the Allan Parsons Project during when the people are prepping up to do a music video with two excellent songs of his titled "A Dream Within a Dream" and "The Raven" as both those songs fit the film perfectly and was very memeorable for the scene to anyone who watched this flick. As we hear nice synthesizer music to the flick and electronic vocalising as this sounded totally wicked. Definetely 80's electronic rock sounds.

We get a dynamic performance by Alice Cooper performing after the opening credits of his song "Identity Crisis" in which there's adventures=our guitar playing as well as energetic vocialising in this which really suits on what goes on here.
There's also my favourite chilling number "See Me in the Mirror" as he has some great icy and smooth vocalising on this along with terrific ghostly synthesizer music too that stands out powerfully.
Both of these songs were never released on any of his albums or on a soundtrack but before the millenium rose he released a box set titled the Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper as these two songs were featured on it. A fantastic job he did with these songs.

All in all the music wasalot better than the film itself which was another reason from saving this cluncker from being below average

Old Man: (During a nightmare sequence) You're all going to die! You're already dead!!!

Vincent Raven: Listen, werewolves *do* exist.
Sandra: Oh, bullshit, Vince! The year 2000 is just around the corner. I am a recognized expert in electronic videos and you are the hottest rock n' roll star - in the world! You're making records, videos, movies - on high-tech electronic equipment of fantastic sophistication. You can get on a plane tonight and be in Australia tomorrow. And *you're* scared of werewolves.

Vincent Raven: You sure are something; do you know that, Sandra?
Sandra: Do *you* know something, Vince? As soon as we deliver this video job, we're heading straight for Moorea, one of the hundred and thirty Polynesian islands. Floating in crystal clear water - two weeks of nude sunbathing, coconut drinks and making love. I love you, Vince; I can't stand to see you like this.