Movie Review: Doghouse (2009)

Okay, somehow my review of Doghouse got "reverted to draft" so I have to publish it again... Scroll down for the movie review I meant to post this morning - V/H/S 2!

Hmm, what to think of Doghouse? Some of me likes the movie for what it does right, but the rest of me is still having a problem with the things it gets wrong. Feminists and others of similar beliefs will probably have a problem with the movie, too, because the overall theme of the movie is kind of anti-woman, mostly in regards to how they treat men in relationships. For the most part, though, Doghouse is still a pretty good, gory flick that is worth at least one viewing. I guess you just shouldn't take it so seriously.

Trying to help a buddy through a painful divorce, six friends travel to the tiny, isolated town of Moodley, where the women outnumber the men. As soon as they arrive, however, they find out that their plan of drinking heavily and chasing tail is not going to happen because the women of Moodley are sick with a dangerous virus that makes them very violent and hungry for the flesh of the men.

One thing that the movie really gets right is the blood and guts. Gorehounds sniffing for something good will probably like what they see in Doghouse. There are tons of gags involving axes, SuperSoakers, radio controlled cars, swords, and golf clubs. The effects are practical, which is of course always welcome, and there are some really great looking shots of men who have been cut open and gutted. Very realistic. The look of the infected women is also fun, with their red eyes, sharp teeth and bumpy faces. Later on, they go through a second phase of the virus which makes them mutate a little more - long, nasty fingernails, for one - and also makes them stronger and more intelligent. All the actresses playing these chicks were truly fantastic, really going crazy in their roles and playing very effective zombie-like monsters. Miss Scissorhands (or "The Snipper" as she's actually credited) particularly stood out for me.

The comedy element is really where the film falters a bit. There are a couple of lines and situations that were funny and got a chuckle out of me, but mostly I was listening to the dialogue and thinking that I knew that they were trying to be funny and it just wasn't working on me for some reason. The problem was with the actors' execution and line delivery which was sometimes deadpan and lacked any physicality. Of course it's funny when three of the guys dress up in ladies' clothes to try to sneak their way through the horde, and actually pretty much the whole movie is absurd enough to be laughable, but the comedy still could have used some tweaking. Other than that, I enjoyed the actors in their roles and despite all of them having something annoying about their personalities, they make themselves be likable by being very cute and charming. There are also some moments where their brotherhood and love for each other shows, and that was cute.

Okay, the woman thing. Thinking about it a little bit more, I can see both sides of what they were doing here. At the beginning of the film, the audience is given a little introduction for each of our six guys specifically related to their problems with the women in their lives (they're all in the "doghouse" I guess). Their women are bitches who yell and throw things at them, so it's no wonder why they would want some guy time. The virus in Moodley only affects the women and the only people they want to kill are the men. The infected women are not even wearing normal clothes, but rather more like costumes of different stereotypical women - there's a bride, a dominatrix with big tits and a bigger sword, a schoolgirl in pigtails, a fat housewife, etc. There's even a point in the movie, when the men have some downtime from their fight to get out of Moodley, where they actually talk about how hot some of the infected women are! Oh, boys, you're unbelievable.

On the other hand, though, there are tons of movies about men doing wrong to women and about how evil and violent men can be towards women. Why not a movie about nice guys getting shit on by women? It happens, and these guys chose to deal with it and finally bring that male aggression to the surface. And really, it's easy not to take the misogyny seriously when you look at just how they chose to deal with it - flesh-eating crazies that are barely still human. It's a ridiculous extreme that's not even a very good metaphor for the types of women that these guys have to deal with in their real lives.

So I guess I'm giving Doghouse a half thumbs-up. It mostly gets the job done of being an enjoyable horror comedy, despite it not really being all that funny to me. The movie is just crazy and gory enough to be enjoyable for a lot of horror fans. Men, if you've had a bad breakup or something recently, I say give Doghouse a watch for a feel good time. Your women probably won't feel the same way, though.