DOG OF GOD
****
Directed by Raitis Abele, Lauris Abele.
Starring Jurgis Spulenieks, Regnars Vaivars, Agate Krista, Einars Repse.
Fantasy, Latvia, 2025, 92 mins.
Reviewed as part of FrightFest 2025 - UK PREMIERE
DOG OF GOD certainly grabs the viewers attention from its opening scene with a pair of giant demon legs sticking out of a clear blue sea. This quiet and surreal scene is disrupted by the arrival of an old gnarled man driving the sea apart with a whip and ripping off said giant demon's scrotum. From here it just gets wilder. Granted you can do a whole lot more in an animated film than you can with live action, but this tale, based on the true story of a scandalous trial involving witches and werewolves in 17th century Livonia, still manages to sear the eyeballs with its otherworldly, adults only atmosphere.
Using rotoscope animation techniques that put it in mind of such 70's and 80's cartoon classics as Raplh Bakshi's FIRE AND ICE and his LORD OF THE RINGS adaptation, and HEAVY METAL with its fantastical European folklore elements, DOG OF GOD will no doubt build a cult audience, ranking it along those adult animation classics. Raitis and Lauris Abele have crafted a truly unique slice of historical horror here. No concessions are made to the viewer in terms of historical or geographical context. As a result of this, it feels even more fantastical in places, like some kind of grimdark erotic folk horror fantasy with a generous helping of bawdy erotica.
The film also serves as a useful primer on East European mythology. The werewolf here at the heart of matters is not your typical full moon lycanthrope but a far more wily creature with an anarchic streak. What is more familiar is the witchcraft angle, and the religious persecution spearheaded by a hypocritical priest that reminds us of several witchcraft incidents and stories from this country's own shameful past.
Probably the most visually distinctive film to play at FrightFest this year, DOG OF GOD is also reminiscent of the dark fantasy spectacles of the 1980's, such as EXCALIBUR. This is a tale set in a muddy and bloody period of time. It wallows in its atmosphere of perpetual rain and pestilence. The kind of unforgiving atmosphere where children stand in fresh cowshit to keep themselves warm. It may prove too much for some viewers even before the copious amounts of sex and violence arrive onscreen, but fans of transgressive cult cinema will no doubt find themselves wowed by the searing visuals and lashings of black humour that are laced in, notice the placing of the scar on the ministers bald head and see what that reminds you of. Bold, wild and a lot of fun, this is an exciting and wholly original debut that will put its directors on the map.
Iain MacLeod