Ugh. Yet again, a movie controversial for its apparent "racism" obviously wasn't watched by the people who criticized it, because this is about as anti-racist as it gets. In fact, White Dog is the exact opposite of that terrible 2004 movie Crash: actually anti-racist instead of stereotypical, craftily allegorical instead of manipulative, and SINCERE. It's perfect for the time-period in which it came out, when it became clear that racism was not going to just go away because of 60s Civil Rights movements, but instead was an inbred horror of the American experience.
Definitely there is some unintentional kitsch in this. Samuel Fuller is a versatile director (how different is this from Pickup on South Street and The Big Red One? Very.) and there were a lot of different creative minds going into this, so some things did not work out quite as well as others. On one hand, this is a pure, exploitational horror movie with a very scary beast. On the other hand, it's a Greek tragedy. And also there's bits of melancholia and pessimism thrown in. People wanting a cute furry creature feature are going to be devastated. People expecting a horror movie are going to have to sit through drama. People expecting a drama are going to have to sit through some blood-letting. It is not an easy movie to watch, and also it's, uh, kinda 80s.
However, it is definitely a powerful statement and done with real intelligence instead of what has now become painful self-indulgence. They just don't make movies like this any more.
--PolarisDiB
Definitely there is some unintentional kitsch in this. Samuel Fuller is a versatile director (how different is this from Pickup on South Street and The Big Red One? Very.) and there were a lot of different creative minds going into this, so some things did not work out quite as well as others. On one hand, this is a pure, exploitational horror movie with a very scary beast. On the other hand, it's a Greek tragedy. And also there's bits of melancholia and pessimism thrown in. People wanting a cute furry creature feature are going to be devastated. People expecting a horror movie are going to have to sit through drama. People expecting a drama are going to have to sit through some blood-letting. It is not an easy movie to watch, and also it's, uh, kinda 80s.
However, it is definitely a powerful statement and done with real intelligence instead of what has now become painful self-indulgence. They just don't make movies like this any more.
--PolarisDiB