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Bookmark this pageDoghouse (2009)
Director: Jake West
Movie review
From Time Out London
You wait ages for a horror movie in which beery, unreconstructed blokes are set upon by sexy man-eating women, and then two come along. However, the contrast between Horne and Corden’s bloodless, laugh-free ‘Lesbian Vampire Killers’ and Jake West’s gory, funny ‘splatstick’ comedy could not be more stark. The magic ingredient here is Dan Schaffer’s sly script, which constantly undercuts the film’s inherently sexist premise.In ‘LVK’, a bloke took his recently dumped ex-mate to a remote country village, where they were set upon by blood-sucking lesbians; in ‘Doghouse’, a bunch of blokes take their recently divorced pal to a remote village, where they are set upon by flesh-eating ‘Zombirds’. The crucial difference is, while ‘LVK’ celebrated its protagonists’ leery lad-mag misogyny, ‘Doghouse’ points up the Neanderthal blokes’ deep Freudian fear of being castrated by women. ‘This is the day you rediscover your inner bloke,’ says Neil (a typecast Danny Dyer) to his despondent pal Vince (Stephen Graham). But in order to become a born-again bloke, Vince and his mates must face a horde of ‘pissed-off man-hating feminist cannibals’.
West sails dangerously close to indulging the sexism he aims to mock: many of the Zombirds are dressed like strippers or porn fantasy figures. But then Schaffer throws in an ironic line like: ‘Now is not the time to stop objectifying women,’ and the dick swings the other way. And you’d have to be barking mad not to cheer when the lairy lads risk life and limb to save their gay pal Graham from the Zombirds’ nest.
Author: Nigel Floyd
Time Out London Issue 2025, June 11 - 17, 2009
User reviews of this film
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- Fozia said...
- Posted on Jun 10 2009 20:42 i was at the primiere last night and i must say it was hillarious i cried with laughter and so did everyone else , Danny Dyer and the rest of the guys funny as hell, well done guys.
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- chi said...
- Posted on Jun 10 2009 18:36 Great British horror comedy. Top British actor MUST see this year
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- chris price said...
- Posted on Jun 10 2009 18:29 very very funny iconoclastic and bizarre...a must see
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- Chris said...
- Posted on Jun 10 2009 15:05 I was fortunate to see this movie at a preview. This is a laugh out load movie, similar to Shaun of the Dead. Highly recommended. Danny Dyer is in great form.
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Cast & crew
Director: Jake West
Cast: Danny Dyer, Stephen Graham, Noel Clarke, Terry Stone, Christina Cole full cast
Genre(s): Horror
Rated: 15
Duration: 89 mins
UK Release: Jun 12 2009
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