SCARY DOGS!
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Dogs have been a part of movies forever. You name it, every genre has had its iconic pooches. Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Asta from The Thin Man movies, Toto in The Wizard of Oz, Old Yeller (still one of the most traumatic movie experiences of all time, and honestly if you can’t handle watching a dog in peril, Old Yeller is way worse than anything on this list).
Then of course the Disney classics like 101 Dalmatians, Oliver and Company, The Fox and the Hound, Bolt, and Lady and the Tramp.
Television gave us Lassie and Scooby-Doo. The ’70s gave us Benji (which was huge when I was a kid), and the ’90s brought us Beethoven, Air Bud, and about twelve thousand talking animal sequels that got progressively cheaper and dumber as they went along.
Then you’ve got great one-offs like Hooch from Turner & Hooch, Baxter from Anchorman, Shiloh, Hachi, and The Incredible Journey (three different versions of it!). White Fang is a personal favorite of mine, Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog is terrific, and recently we got the animated Dog Man, which I thought was funny and inventive.
Oh, and I can’t forget Strays, which a lot of people hated but I thought was one of the funniest comedies of the last few years. It is unapologetically raunchy and ridiculous, and it features Will Forte as the single worst dog owner in cinema history. Brilliant.
And then there’s the Doberman Gang movies from the ’70s. Yes, I saw them in the theater. A bunch of trained Dobermans robbing banks. There were sequels.
It was just a thing. And we ate it up. That was Saturday afternoon entertainment when I was a kid... a dog bank-heist movie. That stuff stuck with me.
So, dogs in movies are everywhere, and usually they’re heroes or comic relief or the loyal companion who saves the day. But sometimes… sometimes they’re the villains. Which brings us here.
Because it’s Halloween season, and because this week we actually have a new horror movie told from the point of view of a dog called Good Boy.
Yep, a horror movie from the POV of a dog. A fascinating idea, but definitely not the first time filmmakers have decided dogs could be the source of terror instead of comfort.
Now, I get it, a lot of people don’t like to see dogs in peril. My girlfriend Julie, for instance, will not watch most of the movies I’m about to list. Doesn’t want to see dogs hurt, scared, or dangerous. And I get that. For many, it’s a dealbreaker.
These are not movies for everyone. But for those of you who can handle it, who maybe even want to confront a fear of dogs, or you just want to see some crazy, out-of-control, sometimes laughably bad, sometimes legitimately terrifying horror movies where dogs are the threat… then this list is for you.
Some of these films are trash. Some are great. Some are so batshit insane you won’t believe they exist. A few are so bad they’re hilarious, the perfect thing to throw on at a midnight screening with a crowd that’s had a few beers.
They’re cult oddities, Halloween-season gems, and some are even genuinely frightening.
Before I get to the 10 craziest, scariest, weirdest horror movies with dogs, though, I want to point out what I think is the best dog movie ever made, period. And that’s White God from 2014.
A Hungarian thriller about packs of dogs rising up and taking revenge in a dystopian Budapest. And these are real dogs... not CGI. It is one of the most astonishing feats of animal training and filmmaking I’ve ever seen.
It’s political, it’s scary, it’s thrilling, and it’s flat-out one of the best movies of 2014. Truly one of a kind. If you’ve never seen it, seek it out. White God is, in my opinion, the greatest dog movie of all time.
But now, let’s dive into the darker side. Here are 10 horror films featuring scary, crazy, sometimes downright insane dogs. Some are great, some are terrible, but all of them are unique and unforgettable.
10 SCARY DOG MOVIES:
The big one. Stephen King. Rabid St. Bernard. A magnificently brilliant Dee Wallace screaming her lungs out. This is the most famous scary dog movie of all time, and it still works. Claustrophobic, sweaty, relentless. Cujo is the king of killer dog cinema.
Tim Burton’s original short film (not the fun, but too-cutesy animated remake from 2012), the black-and-white live-action gem about a boy who brings his dead dog back to life. Sweet, funny, but also deeply twisted.
A pack of killer dogs terrorizes a group of dumb horror-movie victims on an island. Yeah, it’s silly, but the practical dog stunts are impressive, and it’s got that mid-2000s glossy SyFy-channel vibe that makes it a fun beer-and-pizza watch.
A crazy old lady (Yvonne De Carlo!!!) trains her dog to murder people. That’s the plot. That’s the movie. Utter insanity. It’s cheap, it’s dumb, and it’s one of those “so bad it’s good” cult items that deserves a late-night audience. By the way... this link is to the whole movie.
Oh my god. This movie. A genetically engineered dog (half Rottweiler, half everything else) goes berserk. Stars Lance Henriksen and Ally Sheedy. The dog pees acid. Yes. Acid. It is gloriously dumb and absolutely essential.
Also known as Rottweiler. Basically, it’s about a bunch of killer Rottweilers on the loose. Super cheap 3D gimmick movie from the early ’80s. It’s awful. It’s hysterical. It’s one of those “why does this even exist” movies.
Yes, this is a thing. A vampire dog. With fangs. And it actually works as a companion piece to all those cheesy ’70s drive-in vampire flicks. Hilarious and ridiculous. A vampire dog. Come on.
This one is actually solid. A group of abandoned dogs form a pack and terrorize a small island community. Kind of an eco-horror/animal-attack movie in the Jaws mold. Creepy, effective, and legitimately scary at times.
The title says it all. Dogs suddenly turn against their human masters. It’s got that post-Jaws, ’70s paranoia vibe. Totally a product of its era, complete with slow pacing and random bursts of insane violence.
This is the crown jewel of cheesy scary-dog TV movies. A satanic dog literally corrupts and destroys a suburban family. Richard Crenna and Kim Richards are in it! It’s utterly absurd, but man, if you’re looking for a fun bad-movie night, this one’s a blast.
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