I have a confession to make. I was a bit of a snake with this picture as I kept telling Fernin how much I wanted to draw Movie Slate as a Diamond Dog from My Little Pony, and how this movie could be the perfect vehicle to do so. In the end he ended up also liking the idea so he commissioned me this piece and here we are! Movie Slate is Doggie Slate in this piece, and she will be for every future werewolf movie review she will be making. Expect a Halloween month centered around werewolf movies, you will be seeing a lot of her then.

“_Dog Soldiers_” is somewhat of an anomaly when it comes to both horror movies and first movies from a new director. It felt like Neil Marshall locked himself in a room with a typewriter, his entire collection of horror movies and his pet dog and then spent in there a whole week writing non-stop only taking breaks to go to the bathroom, eat and walk his doggie. It must have been what happened to give us this movie as the end result, because it is both horrifying and tense as fuck, but it’s also adorable and piss-your-pants-hilarious. As I described it in Movie Slate’s blog it’s like “_ALIENS_” with werewolves, with a few full scoops of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead for humor. One moment you will be dealing with the violent bloody death of your favorite character, then the next you’re laughing yourself silly at the werewolf with a pipe stuck in its head. It’s fast paced comedic horror action, something you’d think is handled rather poorly but that’s not the case. The tight editing and simplicity of the story leaves plenty of space for character moments, good build up, proper atmosphere, and as much humor and horror as they managed to cram in only 90 minutes.

“Dog Soldiers” is a gritty take on the genre that manages to entertain, horrify and make laugh, while staying faithful to its tone, atmosphere, and giving its likeable characters good introductions as well as violent send offs. It’s a hell of a lot of fun.

This picture was both fun but also a learning experience. I spent a good amount of time working on the concept of Movie Slate as a Diamond Dog, doing quick doodles, putting together a solid anatomy for her, and making sure her new body could work in the environment we’re all used to see her in. I think the end result was so successful I will be making a reference sheet for Doggie Slate in the near future, as well as a brand new reference sheet for the Movie Slate we all know and love. If you want to see those concept designs, you can check them below these lines, or go to my Art Tumblr and check the making of post.