Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

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Stan F. @StanForrest Dec 5 Not the greatest, but it deserves more love than it's getting. Keep expectations low, and you'll discover a fun, campy cult film in the making. Sam Huntington deserves special mention as the uptight sidekick way out of his comfort zone. See more John W @RT18279564 08/08/2025 The film is neither scary nor funny. The story and dialogue fluctuate between bad and at best below average. I didn't think the idea and the world in which it is set were that bad. But if the direction isn't right it's just a bad watch. See more Anderson O @Platinum2027 11/30/2024 Dylan Dog is a Van Helsing of sorts , with an interesting plot twist behind it. But strangely ducky the landing with star Brandon Routh. Taye Diggs as the villian role could have had more scenes and sequences in my opinion, pacing was a roller coaster in an of its self. Good action set pieces, light on comedy but well centered to its plot point. See more Jacob B @RT89309114 11/04/2023 So the director of TMNT and the Ratchet & Clank movie made an obscure live-action indie film in 2011 based off of an Italian comic which the creator did not mince words when it came to expressing his thoughts on this alleged adaptation. I have no familiarity with the source material so I can only judge this film on its own merits. And sadly, I find it all too understandable why Kevin Munroe has firmly stuck to animation since then. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he was a director-for-hire for this film. My reason for this theory? Munroe was apparently a Ninja Turtles fan and was ecstatic to have the opportunity to direct an animated film and while TMNT was by no means perfect, you can't deny its animation was great and allowed for some great action sequences. His next film was intended to be an adaptation of an IP called Gatchaman only for the animation studio that was going to produce it getting shut down after the commercial failure of Astro Boy, taking a direct sequel to TMNT down with it, among other things. Munroe was probably struggling to find work and settled for some low-budget indie film. But I have no proof and this is just speculation on my part. I bring this up because, unlike other animation directors who transitioned to live-action, there's nothing here that feels like it could've only been envisioned by someone in that field. The direction is quite impersonal is what I'm saying. You'd think Munroe would be able to come up with some cool comic book-style shots but alas, no such luck. Seems he's more comfortable around anthropomorphic animals and cartoony aliens with trusty robot partners than real people. I do think the teaser trailer for the cancelled Sly Cooper movie proves my point. While fans understandably had reservations about the redesigns and changes in characterisations, I do think the action and thievery had potential. Seeing Sly Cooper do his thing in the teaser trailer was actually fun and it definitely felt like the director's experience on TMNT was an advantage in this regard. The IP already having an aesthetic reminiscent of comic books helps and honestly seems like it fit Munroe's sensibilities better than the Ratchet & Clank movie. My point is, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night looks drab. Even the aforementioned R&C film looked quite impressive for something made on a small budget. It doesn't help that this film is otherwise really bad. Brandon Routh is miscast and delivers a weak performance, his character's narration throughout the film fail to add a sense of film not atmosphere, the action is lame, the comedy's unfunny and the plot is, for all intents and purposes, a ripoff of the Keanu Reeves Constantine film from 2005, right down to being an in-name-only adaptation of its source material. Now I don't regard Constantine as the most underrated comic book movie ever unlike other people but I will admit it does have its moments and is a memorable film. Dylan Dog...is not. Some of the elements seem far too similiar to be a coincidence. The sidekick being the same as Shia LaBeouf's Chas is one thing but things do get suspicious when you have a supernatural nightclub run by a Black guy, a case related to the main female character's dead relative and even having Peter Stormare as the best character in the film. Maybe it's just detective stories in worlds populated by vampires, werewolves, etc. not getting that much exposure in movies despite being somewhat common in literature and comic books. Though there are maybe one or two good visual effects. I'll give the film some leeway for not having convincing effects but it's still laughable witnessing a guy's werewolf transformation only for him to look more like a guy in a Halloween costume. So yeah, I would be able to forgive the lack of visual spectacle from a director who works in a field all about creating visually pleasing images without limitations if it were not for the very unfortunate fact that even as a stand-alone film, Dylan Dog is a soulless, cheap-looking, clichéd mystery that struggles to find its own identity and instead just be a remake in all-but-name of Constantine but with bloodsuckers, lycanthropy and sentient zombies like in that surprisingly good pro-necrophilia paranormal romance Warm Bodies instead of religion. Didn't think I'd find a live-action film from an animation director worse than The Darkest Minds from the director of the Kung Fu Panda sequels and yet here we are. See more steve d @RT35616104 06/15/2020 Some of the jokes fall flat but Roth is great and the story is entertaining. Roth should be a much bigger star. See more 11/27/2017 The plot was kind of messy but it was still funny See more Read all reviews

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

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