Dog Pound
French theatrical poster
Directed byKim Chapiron
Written byKim Chapiron
Jeremie Delon
Produced byKim Chapiron
Georges Bermann
StarringAdam Butcher
Shane Kippel
Mateo Morales
CinematographyAndre Chemetoff
Edited byBenjamin Weill
Production
companies
Distributed byTribeca Film (USA)
Alliance Films (Canada; DVD & Blu-Ray)
Optimum Releasing (UK)
Roadshow Entertainment (Australia)
Paradiso Entertainment (Benelux)
Alamode Film (Germany)
Mars Distribution (France)
Scanbox Entertainment (Scandinavia)
Frenetic Films (Switzerland)
Release dates
  • 24 April 2010 (2010-04-24) (Tribeca)
  • 23 June 2010 (2010-06-23) (France)
  • 7 September 2010 (2010-09-07) (Canada; DVD & Blu-Ray)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
CountryCanada
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish

Dog Pound is a 2010 Canadian psychological thriller film directed and co-written by Kim Chapiron.[2] It is a Canadian remake of the British borstal film Scum.[3] This is Chapiron's only film to go direct-to-video.

Plot

Butch, Davis, and Angel are teenagers who have been sentenced to Enola Vale juvenile detention center in Montana. Correctional officer Sands does their initial intake, focusing on Butch, who has been imprisoned for attacking and blinding a correctional officer at another facility.

Goodyear, a tough but fair officer, urges the new inmates to follow the rules and quietly serve their time so they can earn a second chance on the outside. At first Butch attempts to conform to the rules, but soon he and his friends are attacked by the chief ruffian Banks and his bullying thugs, Eckersley and Loony.

Refusing to reveal the names of his attackers, Butch is sent to solitary confinement. Once out, he immediately exacts revenge on Banks, Eckersley, and Loony. Butch saves the worst for Banks, who is savagely beaten. The beatings establish his rank among the inmates and offers temporary protection to his friends, Davis and Angel.

During a routine painting job, Angel and Goodyear get into a physical altercation; Angel is thrown against the wall by Goodyear - striking his head against some pipes and later dies at the hospital. Butch, who was a witness to the altercation, is placed in solitary confinement while an investigation takes place.

Without Butch's protection, Davis gets sabotaged and becomes a victim of prison rape by Loony and Eckersley. Davis tries to contact his mother during the night, but an officer denies his request, telling him he'll have to wait until morning. Feeling helpless, Davis goes back to his bunk, eventually committing suicide by slitting his wrists.

The deaths of both Angel and Davis result in their dormitory going on a hunger strike during breakfast. After a stare-down in the cafeteria where tempers flare, Butch loses control, throws a chair and instigates a full blown prison riot where he brutally attacks Loony. The detention officers are overwhelmed and return to the cafeteria in riot gear, using tear gas and plastic bullets in an attempt to end the riot.

During the riot, Butch tries to escape the building but stops to feel freedom and victory for the very first time, only for the riot squad to catch him and cripple his right-leg so he cannot run anymore, and then proceeds to brutalize him and then violently drags him back inside the building.

Cast

  • Adam Butcher as Butch
  • Shane Kippel as Davis
  • Mateo Morales as Angel Ortiz
  • Slim Twig as Max
  • Taylor Poulin as Banks
  • Dewshane Williams as Frank
  • Lawrence Bayne as Officer Goodyear
  • Trent McMullen as Officer Sands
  • Jeff McEnery as Loony
  • Bryan Murphy as Eckersley

Release

Dog Pound premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 24 April 2010. It was released in France on 23 June 2010, and in Canada on 7 September 2010. It was also released in the United States, Mexico, Switzerland (French speaking region only), Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 63% of 27 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10.[4] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[5]

Writing for CinemaBlend, reviewer Perri Nemiroff described the film as "intense" and not suited to the tastes of all viewers.[6]

Awards

Dog Pound is French director Chapiron's first English-language feature, and the film earned him an award as Best New Narrative Filmmaker at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

References

  1. ↑ "DOG POUND (18)". Optimum Releasing. British Board of Film Classification. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  2. ↑ Xan Brooks (26 August 2010). "Dog Pound". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  3. ↑ Philip French (29 August 2010). "Dog Pound". The Observer. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Dog Pound". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  5. ↑ "Dog Pound". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  6. ↑ Nemiroff, Perri (22 April 2010). "Tribeca Review: Dog Pound". CinemaBlend. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
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