The Breed [Blu-ray]

Studio: First Look Home Entertain Release Date: 11/04/2008 Run time: 87 minutes Rating: R

Wes Craven served as executive producer on this direct-to-video chiller about a group of friends who discover that the remote island they've chosen as a vacation spot is home to a wild pack of attack dogs. After dispatching a sailboater and his bikini-clad girlfriend, the canines (which look more cuddly than ferocious) pick off the interloping friends with all-too-human cunning; the survivors have just enough time to discover that the mutts are the product of military genetic experiments to create unstoppable attack dogs. Director Nick Mastrandrea (a longtime production associate of both Craven and George Romero) lends a professional look to his debut feature, and gets decent performances from his cast (which includes Lost's Michelle Rodriguez, Taryn Manning, and Oliver Hudson), but the script is tired almost from page one, and the resulting action and gore do little to help this indie picture stand out from the rest of the horror crowd. Dog lovers with soft hearts should be forewarned that the CGI stand-ins for the animal actors endure some gruesome abuse in the course of the picture. –-Paul Gaita