Dog Soldiers goofs

More than once, Megan insists that the remote cottage where most of the action unfolds is 50 miles from the nearest habitation, from Fort William, or from the next glen where she claims her cottage is. Even if she were lying to stop the soldiers attempting to leave, they ought to have realised that nowhere in the Highlands of Scotland is more than 50 miles from anywhere else, certainly not a sizeable town like Fort William.

When Sam the dog is lunging at Wells and tugging at his dressings, Ryan tells them to "shut the dog up" even though Sam isn't barking.

The MP5s recovered from the special‑forces camp are fitted with a rate‑of‑fire selector offering single‑shot, three‑round burst and fully automatic modes. Despite Cooper insisting everyone stick to standard military training and use short, controlled three‑round bursts, no one actually does so — Cooper included.

In the opening 'special forces selection' scene, when Ryan holds his automatic to Cooper's head, the magazine is plainly not inserted. This is evident when he turns his wrist to look at his watch. He then pulls back the slide (which you can see) and about a minute later uses the pistol to shoot a dog.

As with most semi-automatic pistols, a round can be ready to fire or "up the spout", so to speak, even without a magazine in place. That's why you frequently see a character drop the magazine and pull back the slide at least once — to clear the shell that's "up the spout", or, more properly, chambered.

In this case, either the props master slipped up, or Ryan quietly inserted a magazine after checking his watch, which would explain why he pulled the slide back afterwards — to chamber a round, since he had earlier pointed an empty weapon at his recruits' heads, not a loaded one. Due to the design of the 9mm Browning High Power, he would have had to fit a magazine to fire the weapon, as it cannot be fired without a magazine fitted.

When Ryan is flung across the table, the sword is shown knocked onto the floor. However, when Ryan rises and rests his arms on the table, the sword is back on the table. In the next shot the sword is on the floor once more and Cooper is reaching for it.

Just before the end of the film, Wells couldn't have lit the gas using the electric ignition button on the cooker, because the power went out shortly after they entered the house (Spoon: They shut down the generator!). This can be easily explained by the use of a piezo igniter, which requires no mains electricity.

After Spoon has reported the condition of their ammunition, Cooper lays his pistol on the table. In the following shot, two bandages suddenly appear beside its hammer.

In some scenes, the amount of blood on the characters varies noticeably between shots.

When Wells crashes into the oven, the bottom plate detaches and the gas hose falls out. He severs the hose, and in the following shot the bottom plate is suddenly back in place on the oven.

While Sam the dog holds a mouthful of Wells' bandage, strands of the bandage dangle from his mouth. In the subsequent shot, no strands are visible outside his mouth.

During Ryan and Cooper's scuffle over the dog, the pistol in Ryan's hand appears to change position when viewed from different camera angles.

Wooden slats have been nailed across the windows of the house. The window panes show bullet holes, but the slats themselves do not.

Cooper returned inside after checking on something, but he wasn't seen leaving.

The co is seen emerging from the front door, but in a long shot there is nothing left standing.

A group of soldiers is referred to as a 'squad'. However, in the British Army a small infantry unit is not called a 'squad' but a section. Sections consist of a minimum of eight soldiers rather than six, and are usually commanded by a corporal.

For much of the film’s first half, when the squad are equipped with the SA80—the standard British service rifle—Cooper shoulders the weapon on his left. The SA80 is, however, invariably shouldered on the right, even when the shooter is left‑handed.

Despite what Cooper says, superglue was not developed for medical purposes during the Vietnam War. It was first invented in the 1940s as a very strong adhesive, but the original formulation often caused skin irritation. Because it tended to bond skin so firmly, a spray form with a slightly altered formulation that did not cause irritation was later developed for medical use in Vietnam.

Situated in a forest at night-time, yet shafts of sunlight filter through the trees.

The helicopter used by the soldiers is the Agusta A109. Whilst the RAF operates a number of these, mainly as VIP transports for senior Army officers or government ministers, the British Army does not. Ground forces would be far more likely to employ the Lynx, which can carry eight soldiers, or the larger Puma.

Although Cooper severs a werewolf's arm with a sword in the house, a one‑armed werewolf is never seen again in the film. This is explained by the werewolves' ability to heal rapidly from virtually any injury — even multiple gunshot wounds, shotgun cartridges and knife wounds; only silver can cause lasting damage.

The film never makes clear whether military weaponry can actually kill the werewolves, or at what stage of transformation that might occur. Several characters are shown being killed whilst in the process of changing into werewolves; yet other werewolves are depicted taking multiple bullet wounds and exhibiting few, if any, ill effects.

No explanation is offered at the film's conclusion for how Sam the dog survived the enormous blast that Wells set off, which utterly destroyed the cottage. Throughout the film Sam had been depicted as being inside the cottage.

Near the start of the film it is revealed that the house has lost power because the werewolves have wrecked the generator, yet in the final scene Sean Pertwee’s character sparks the hob’s ignition — an action that would require electricity.

The alleged plot hole concerning the cooker is incorrect; my gas cooker's ignition is battery-operated. It runs on a standard 9V battery, so it doesn't require mains power. That has been commonplace for years.

On several occasions in the film, characters are shown with an MP5’s bolt locked to the rear; in that state the firearm cannot be fired — the bolt must be released into the forward (closed) position for the weapon to discharge.

When the team reach the destroyed special forces position, they find 105 mm charges and ammunition among the equipment present. A 105 mm artillery piece would be unlikely to be used in a wood, and certainly would not be employed by special forces.

In the farmhouse, while Cooper is topping up the MP5 magazines with fresh rounds at the kitchen table, the primers already show firing‑pin impressions, indicating they have previously been fired.

(at approximately 1 hour 13 minutes) Megan fires all the rounds from her magazine, yet the slide does not lock back on the last shot as it normally would. The weapon was designed not to lock back in this circumstance so that the next magazine can be fitted.

When Megan takes the soldiers aboard her lorry, stationary background features like trees can be seen through the passenger windows in the close-up shots of her and Private Cooper, even though the actors jolt and sway as if the vehicle were in motion.

As Megan transforms and growls at the soldier, the actress's real teeth can be seen behind the prosthetic wolf's teeth on her lower jaw.

The superglue used to close the sarge's abdominal wound comes from a Loctite Gel bottle. It has blue tabs along the edges that must be squeezed together to dispense the adhesive; in the scene they hold the bottle by its sides so no adhesive is actually released.