Film Review: DOGHOUSE (2009)

 DOGHOUSE (2009) UK 1hr 29mins

Director: Jake West

"What kind of virus only affects women?" - Graham 

"Bird Flu" - Neil

... ... ... ... ...

"We're gonna bash the living shit out of anything in a dress" - Vince

"Bloody hell Vince... not very PC is it?" - Neil

It may just be me but when it comes to modern zombie movies,  the ones made between the years of 2000 to 2010 were the best. When it comes to summing up an era these movies hit the zombie right in the brain so to speak. British zombie movies that came before DOGHOUSE (2009), such as 28 DAYS LATER (2002) and SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004), even DEADSET (2008) had set a few different levels to aspire to and I feel like DOGHOUSE (2009) was really there to consolidate the era as a whole. Whilst DOGHOUSE (2009)  is similar(ish) to these movies mentioned (and others) it tends to take a more misogynistic approach which is both hilarious as well as all kinds of wrong. Lets face it,  there is a lot in this movie that they would probably not get away with today, or they would,  but the uber offended would be having a field day on every horror forum with it. SHED OF THE DEAD (2019) is probably one of the only others that comes close when it comes to UK movies and they must have got some inspiration from DOGHOUSE (2009) on the way to writing it. The great thing about this movie is that we found it utterly hilarious at the time and we still do!! I read a review of DOGHOUSE (2009) on IMDb which was titled "Shaun Of The Dead for Nuts readers", I found this hilarious as well as very apt. Nuts, for those of you that may not know, was a UK "lads" magazine that ran from 2004-2014. It was an amalgamation of boobs, booze, football, indie music and general "lad " culture that did eventually run its course. However, like the horror/comedies of this time, Nuts did not take itself seriously and was basically all about having a laugh.

DOGHOUSE (2009) is about seven lads,  technically reaching the end of their "lads" era who go off for one last blow out. They are all in their late 20's-early 30's and most are married with the exception of Neil (Danny Dyer) the Peter Pan of lad-dom and Vince (Stephen Graham) who is going through a divorce. It is because of Vince's divorce that the guys all decide to get together for a lads weekend in a remote village called Moodley outside of London, to live it up like they used to before they attempted to settle down. The trip takes a dark turn as soon as they arrive as all the females in the village have been infected with a biological weapon turning them all into homicidal zombies who quickly kill and devour the men folk and take their corpses down to their lair. The main question here is...  how many sexist comments can the lads make before they all get killed?

The plot, in a nutshell, is a simple, tried and tested story and DOGHOUSE (2009) executes it very well, without trying to be too clever or over thinking anything. The humour writes itself because the gags are really well set up by the use of great practical FX, make up and the fact that they have a stellar cast. It is very hard to go wrong when you have Danny Dyer and Stephen Graham in the cast who are both great actors of the time. The other main cast members Noel Clarke as Mikey, Emil Marwas as Graham, Keith-Lee Castle as Patrick, Lee Ingleby as Matt and Neil Maskell as Banksy all do an amazing job. Their individual roles and one liners mean that they all have a part to play and no one character is carrying the film. I think this works really well because of the dynamic each character brings. You don't have to have a lads mentality to enjoy this film. On the surface it is a little juvenile but the end game is to strive for survival so they do have to get over themselves if they want to make it through. The characters in DOGHOUSE (2009) may be "lads" but they are not exactly men, at least not at first. As I have said it does not take itself seriously and there are no huge heroics but there are some fun and clever scenarios. 

DOGHOUSE (2009) leans heavily on gratuitous violence and great visuals whilst not having a very high body count. The guys turn up after the outbreak has happened so in terms of gore there is already plenty of destruction, viscera and bodies strewn about the place already. Bloody hand prints and disembowelled soldiers are plentiful. I love the idea that only women can get infected and that they over power and annihilate the male population very quickly. The zombies do look amazing and they are all acted incredibly well. The costume department must have had a field day as there are many different zombie looks going on here. We have the obligatory zombie bride and lollipop lady as well as a horse rider zombie, check out assistant, dentist, elderly lady,  busty witch and snip happy hairdresser played by Emily Booth. They are not your typical zombies either, however, they are quite slow and shambling but they do have weapons and are more inclined to murder you rather than eat you. This does not mean that cannibalism is off the cards though. Neil ends up as the prisoner of a house wife with a penchant for snacking on fingers. The guys spend quite a bit of time separated from each other and holed up in smaller groups in different establishments before coming up with a plan and regrouping. During this time there is plenty of action, explosions, cross dressing gags and general mishaps. As it does start off with seven guys in the group, I expected them to begin to drop off quicker than they did but it was only near the last third of the film that you find out not everyone makes it which makes it a little more dramatic as well as meaningful. 

A lot of the gags sail close to the line and often over it which at the time was just plain hilarious whereas now I expect quite a few people would take offence even though it's just for fun and it just captures the humour and mentality of the time really well. The soundtrack is very British Indie/Rock with popular tracks from Space and The Horrors who were never my thing but they do fit in well with the overall style of the movie and demographic of watcher. I score DOGHOUSE (2009) 4 brains out of 5, it is dumb but at the same time it is also clever, entertaining and a lot of fun!!

DOGHOUSE (2009) is available on DVD and Blu Ray through Amazon.