Whether you’re talking about zero-budget Found Footage movies or tentpole blockbuster productions, getting a feature-length film off the ground is always a herculean task. That’s why it’s so tragic when a project goes off the rails, as I think most cinephiles can agree that no cast or crew has ever wanted to be part of a bad movie.
I bring this up because I want to believe that the Furst Brothers’ horror-comedy A Breed Apart is not the movie that the filmmakers originally set out to make. Only a particularly turbulent production beset by unforeseen complications, one would think, could have resulted in such a messy final product that represents some of the worst trends in modern filmmaking.
A Breed Apart was marketed as a meta-fictional follow-up to the Wes Craven-produced killer dog film, The Breed. While the majority of horror fans only remember that one infamous scene where Michelle Rodriguez is accidentally shot through the leg with an arrow during a botched attempt at rescuing her from a homicidal dog, I happen to enjoy the 2006 film as a straightforward example of early-2000s schlock. However, this “re-imagining” is only barely related to its predecessor, with the story taking place in an alternate timeline where the original Breed was never completed due to a Jurassic Park-like breakout where the canine actors became infected with bat-borne rabies and rebelled against their handlers.
In brand new movie A Breed Apart, we follow a collection of popular online influencers as they’re invited to the private island where the film-within-the-film was shot in order to collect the abandoned dogs and compete for a deed to the island in a game organized by the Mr. Beast-inspired Vince Vertura (Joey Bragg). It doesn’t take long for this viral stunt to go wrong, as the dogs almost immediately attack the unsuspecting content creators. Stranded and with no means of calling for help, the group struggles to survive constant canine attacks while trying to find a way off of the island before they become dog chow.
Right off the bat, A Breed Apart exhibits some impressive visual flair, with energetic camera movements and witty comedic timing when it comes to satirizing online culture. While narratively bland, the script is a lot funnier than expected when compared to the trailer, especially since these familiar parodies of real internet personalities feel like they were written by people who are actually well-versed in this kind of content. And surprisingly enough for such a low-budget feature, the movie is also remarkably well cast, with Grace Caroline Currey making it easy to root for our well-intentioned lead and Virginia Gardner showing off her comedic talents as Vince’s bumbling assistant. Unfortunately, these positive elements make it even more disappointing that the studio didn’t think this movie was worth finishing.
This brings us to the elephant in the room. While I’m a huge fan of old-school practical effects due to the way that they blend stage-show trickery with traditional movie magic, even I can admit that low-budget visual effects can sometimes boast a certain hand-crafted charm when used correctly. Hell, The Asylum built their whole legacy off of CGI-heavy franchises like Sharknado, and you’d be surprised with the amount of invisible visual effects that are used to polish Oscar-winning dramas these days. The problem with A Breed Apart isn’t the fact that it contains cheap visual effects, but that these effects consist of lazy AI-generated imagery that doesn’t look lifelike or charming.
I won’t bore readers with familiar arguments concerning AI copyright abuse and the corporate push to replace honest labor with incompetent bots, but the use of AI in A Breed Apart would still be terrible even in a world where these things weren’t an issue. Many of these effects shots are entirely unnecessary and could have been avoided with simple revisions to the screenplay and shot list, and then there’s the fact that the whole point of effects-driven moviemaking is to either impress audiences with impossible images that look real or at the very least feature some kind of aesthetic artistry – with both of these things being impossible to achieve through automated technology. It’s a real shame because I honestly believe that the film surrounding these downright offensive moments was good enough to warrant a proper post-production budget.
This is a real frame from the movie.
Sadly, even without the abhorrent use of AI, the film also suffers from a pretty big conceptual flaw. Audiences tend to dislike seeing dogs get hurt onscreen, so it’s difficult to root for our main characters when so much of the flick’s over-the-top violence is directed at man’s best friend. This wasn’t as big of an issue in the original Breed because the more grounded nature of that film made the dogs seem more like vicious monsters than the wobbly and airbrushed cartoon characters of the new film. The whole thing just feels a little too mean-spirited, which wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if the movie wasn’t also trying to be a light-hearted comedy.
I was thoroughly amused by Hayden Panettiere’s brief appearance as an inexplicably badass actress with a bone to pick with the homicidal dogs, and the script was only a few drafts away from functioning as a legitimate horror comedy. Unfortunately, something must have gone terribly wrong and the studio ended up doing the bare minimum to guarantee a rushed release. I was actually left feeling depressed by the end credits sequence which showcases behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew, as it’s pretty clear that everyone involved with the production was having fun and likely believing that this was going to be a real creature feature and not an AI-fueled cash-grab.
As it stands, I find it impossible to recommend this film as anything other than a bizarre novelty representing a troubled era of filmmaking where producers began experimenting with technology that they didn’t yet understand. I’m aware that some readers will be tempted to watch this film out of morbid curiosity, but I’d like to point out that money still spends the same whether it comes from genuine fans or ironic haters, and I wouldn’t want studios to believe that we’re okay with them releasing even more cinematic trash-fires in the future. After all, this kind of movie isn’t just disrespectful to the audience, but to the cast and crew as well.
A Breed Apart is available now on VOD.
