Monster Dog (1984)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

For most of his musical career, Vincent Furnier has adopted the role of horror rock legend Alice Cooper; in Monster Dog, Alice Cooper plays the part of rock star Vincent Raven, opening proceedings with a song entitled 'Identity Crisis' in which he sings about performing as several different iconic characters. I would consider that an ingenious touch, if this film wasn't from the mind of Claudio Fragrasso, the director of mightily asinine crap-fests like Troll 2 and Zombie 4: After Death, and a man who was clearly a total stranger to clever movie-making. The really sad thing is, with Monster Dog, Fragrasso doesn't even manage to do 'dumb' very well either.You might think I am doing Claudio a disservice, but watch the rest of Monster Dog (or indeed any of his work), and you'll understand the reason behind my bilious comment; when a film about a pack of killer dogs commanded by a werewolf, and starring a rock legend like Alice, proves to be as boring as this, then I'm not going to hold back on the tongue-lashing. The least Fragrasso could have done was make this film gloriously cheesy OTT fun, but he fails spectacularly to even do that.With no gratuitous nudity, an absolutely lousy creature, and virtually no gore, Monster Dog should be ashamed to call itself a low-budget, Italian B-movie horror. Fulci, Mattei, or D'amato might not have been the greatest directors, but at least they knew to pep up their films with some decent splatter and some naked babes (surely the basic requirements of such fare): the best Fragrasso can offer is a brief glimpse of a woman in her panties and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shotgun blast to the head effect. Worse still, Alice's speaking voice is dubbed throughout and his two songs in the film are diabolical 80s pop/rock garbage, far from classic Cooper.The general consensus might be that Troll 2 is Fragrasso's worst film, but at least that one entertained me a little with its silliness; watching Monster Dog, on the other hand, is the movie equivalent of treading in a dog turd.

Leviatan or Monster Dog is a fun low budget horror film staring Alice Cooper and I love it. The Werewolf effects may not be like An American Werewolf In London's but their effective and great. Another I like is that Alice Cooper does a good job in this and although they dubbed his voice I still enjoy seeing him in this film.The music video at the start of the film was good and the song that Alice sings is one of my favourites now. The plot is about rock singer Vincent Raven (Alice Cooper) and his band going to his home town to film his next music video but they soon find out that there's been some murders involving a group of dogs.The band go to Vincent's house and soon find themselves being attacked by a group of dogs and a Werewolf that can control the dogs. Written and Directed by Claudio Fragasso, Monster Dog is a fun and enjoyable Werewolf flick. 10/10

I am a huge Alice Cooper fan. I go to at least one gig on each of his UK tours, and he is the best live act I have ever seen. I own around twenty of his albums on CD. I also generally like bad movies, horror movies, and bad horror movies. In fact, I enjoy nearly every film I ever watch, regardless of genre or quality.I did not enjoy Monster Dog. Not even a little bit. It was excruciating.This is, quite simply, the worst film I have ever seen. Not so bad it's good; just so bad. So very, very bad. Not one single person involved with it was even remotely competent in any way. The dialogue sucks, the acting sucks (to the point where they frequently don't even have good cue pick-up), the pacing sucks (partly because of the aforementioned lack of cue pick- up), the cinematography sucks, the effects suck, and there aren't even any hot women. It is excruciatingly boring. There are two Alice numbers on the soundtrack, one of which is half- decent. Download them and save yourself the hassle, because they are the only reason to watch this picture.

As long as you know to expect a BAD movie this will turn out to be pretty GOOD for it's time! Big shame that Alice's voice was dubbed over...hurt the film a lot, but if you can get through all that there is a scene worth waiting for near the end where Alice is blowing away people with his trusty BOOMSTICK!If you aren't an Alice Cooper fan, then find something else to watch, leave it at that.If you are an Alice fan and like older cheesy, campy horror then check it out!...also be sure to check out Prince of Darkness featuring ALICE COOPER!