BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Bezenby This might be some kind of b-movie classic. This is a film where a dog is the killer, but those expecting Cujo style dog attacks will be well let down, because this dog does it's whacking gangland style, yo.Some Auntie who's into Satan and all that jive isn't too happy with the way her dead sister's estate turned out (I think). So she trains up this dog to be a killer and gives it to her niece as a present. Only prob is that this dog is out to kill all of aunt's enemies and does so by accidental car death, electrocution, strangulation and poison.Like you I was wondering why it didn't just rip the throats out of folks, but there you go. Maybe it was because the dog involved was such a cutey and no one could believe it could kill someone using it's teeth. Who knows.Also, there's this sex scene that seems to involve body doubles, and the body double covering for the chick has bweuubs three times the size of the actress she's covering for so watch out for that.This film is great!

sugerfoot As a Rottie owner I have a lot of experience with peoples reactions to my choice of breed. "Oh, he's scary!", "Those are vicious dogs" and "Will he bite me?" are common things I hear on a day to day basis.Yet nobody has ever asked me if my dog will poison them, electrocute them or watch them getting it on! Why do I bring this up? Because the killer dog in this movie rarely kills anyone the way a normal dog would! For all the killing she does she could just as easily have been a toy poodle! This movie is just ridiculous, and not in the "good" way. Very slow moving story, and considering the subject, very tame deaths. All of the actors are bad, even Yvonne De Carlo. The only bright spot here is the Rottweiler Greta, who has been fantastically trained to do some really amazing stunts.

Coventry Yvonne De Carlo (everyone's favorite Munster) gives away quite a scary and praiseworthy performance as Hester Ramsey, a rancorous and slightly deranged elderly lady who lives alone in a large mansion with her harshly trained Rottweiler Greta. She holds a *slight* grudge against her family because she's convinced that her sister stole the one true love of her life and now she developed the fiendish plan to use Greta's killing capacities to get revenge. It's a fairly interesting and original concept for an 80's creature feature, but the film lacks tension and there's too little gore and bloodshed. Greta is an astonishingly trained dog, but her skills are still underused and the script at one point even reveals that black magic is responsible for her turning into a merciless killing machine. Why the hell was that necessary? Who needs voodoo to explain the aggression of a Rottweiler? There's nothing as pathetic as wanting to make a horror movie about a dangerous killer dog and then cowardly blame his action and behavior on the black magic powers of his owner. Greta also has voyeuristic tendencies, because she observes a young couple having (overlong) sex not once but twice. Instead of doing that, or instead of electrocuting people in their bathtubs, she ought to rip out throats, dammit! The character of the police inspector provides some comical relief, with his witty remarks and arrogant behavior towards his younger colleagues, but it's just a small positive detail in an overall extremely dull and forgettable movie. Good horrors revolving on murderous dogs are quite a rarity. Top of my head I can only think of "The Pack" and "White Dog". "Play Dead" belongs in the mediocre-to-awful section, alongside "Rottweiler", "Devil Dog", "Dogs of Hell" and "Monster Dog".

zeppo-2 Not a great deal you can say about a film where the best acting comes from a dog. Yvonne De Carlo is supposed to be creepy and scary as the evil aunt but she was far more frightening as Lily in the 'Munsters.'The cops investigating the killing done by the aunt's evil possessed canine seem to have acquired their detective skills from a mail correspondence course from the back of a magazine. It's not surprising that they fail to solve the crimes.It's left to auntie to be the architect of her own doom when she seriously upsets the pooch. Word of warning: if you have 'Satan's Dog' (as my DVD copy was entitled), never, ever get on it's wrong side as it will all end in tears.....Dull and boring, poorly acted, a waste of time really. Go watch 'Cujo' or the original 'Hound of the Baskervilles.'