Yuzna (2004)

2004 - Rottweiler - I was very surprised by this movie. The title, the DVD cover art and the plot description all make this sound like an impossibly cheezy movie; the sort of thing you watch half-drunk on cable in the middle of the night. Instead, I found it to be quite good. A man escapes from prison in some slightly futuristic, fascist Spain to search for the woman he loves as he tries to piece together what happened to her on the last night her saw her. He also happens to be chased by a robot dog (hence the title). I love the unelaborated future. There's no "It is the year 2525" subtitle, no explanation of how the dog was resurrected as a cyborg, no description of why Spain's borders are guarded so ferociously. Instead, we glean bits of information here and there, which is always more fun. I like the locations. The countryside reminded me -- fondly -- of spaghetti westerns. The industrial buildings in the city were a great backdrop. To my American eyes, they definitely looked alien/futuristic (I have no idea if they're really just a common design over in Spain). The music was quite good, as well. Mixed in with traditional Spanish guitars, I detected hints of Near Dark and Carnivàle's scores in there, setting a nice mood for the film.

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