i only had the watership down animated series and the hans christian andersen animated fairy tales on vhs to watch as a child when i visited my grandma, the fairy tales were kid friendly but still showed the true "bad endings" of the tales. entire summers and holidays i'd spend over there rewatching the same messed up stuff
@pepsigirl808 messed up about those movies. They just don't sugar coat the reality in watership down and the Hans Anderson storues were always meant to be cautionary tales. So tbh you probably benefited from seeing them. Unless you grew up to be the bad in those movies.
@@TheTideKing004 i don't ~personally~ view them as messed up and they're really nostalgic for me! i was always a reader as a kid too but for some reason i never actually read either of the source material but now i'm an adult i own and read them. literally just last month i picked up the watership down graphic novel :) for sure a key thing for me growing up, but i can see how it could scare a child
From what I remember, the book ending was originally the same as the movie with it being implied that they drowned, but the author had to change it in later publications because it was considered too upsetting.
@@pepsigirl808 Yeah, I wonder that too. I'm not sure if it was a case of people who read it BEFORE it was first published urged him to change it or if it happened later on, but the movie's ending is definitely more along the lines of what he originally wrote for the book. So grim!
@@sketchnscribs1465I believe the version I read years ago had both endings, though the way it was written was with the altered happier ending, then an author's note explaining their displeasure at being forced by their publisher to get the book published in the first place, then it had the original ending after that to showcase what was the author's intent and how it differed from what he was basically forced to write if he wanted a paycheck, so this one was actually a reprint and the original print likely only had the altered ending because the publisher was meddling during the editing phase and it might even be, though I'd have to check on this one, that the author changed publishers when the original contract ran out and that's when a later edition could be allowed to include to right ending. I say right, not good ending because it was never intended to have a good ending and I had the luxury of reading both, so imo the rescue ending felt a bit shallow and shoehorned in but the ending where they're not rescued fit the tone of the book, as grim as it was. I know, some people prefer the edited version and that's why it exists in the first place, but I really feel like part of the reason why it doesn't work is because it kinda... Well, this isn't a story about forgiveness quite frankly, it's a story about the consequences of going too far and if it's ever truly justifiable, to have the ending be undone because "oh wait, forget all these two dogs' trauma, they're now spoiled house pets living their best life and all is forgiven after all that humanity put them through!" Seems kinda disingenuous imo, though I wouldn't mind a third ending where they run off into the sunset and their end is much more ambiguous but slightly more hopeful, and I'm not a big fan of dogs, they just... Any character that goes through that deserves a break
@@Min-gy8zu These types of movies not only still exist but are still made. Also my point still stands either way. Its one of the many issues of our time.
@@zanemob1429no it doesn't lol. You really think people in the past were more "parent" and less "have kids"? Yknow the people who wouldn't even let their children speak in public, or beat the shit out of them if they did some slight mistake. Or the people who had like 15 kids just to have more work hands on the farm. Those people were more parent?
In the movie the Ralph first starts saying "just keep swimming" but as soon as his friend says he cant anymore, he goes "I can see it... I can see the island". This implies 2 possible things 1 - Ralph himself starts to believe the delusion to grant himself one last happy hopeful memory before death 2 - Ralph knows its the end and wants to keep his friend happy and hopeful in his last moments Either way, its to show the devastating beauty of hope... how even when all is lost the only thing someone can do is hope. I liked the movie ending WAY better than the book because it kept in line with the tone and theme of the whole movie. Aint no way two dogs who suffered so much themselves, indirectly caused so much suffering to others (sheep, fox, humans), and are traumatised beyond the point of salvation would get a "happy ending". I want them too, but its impossible-
It's a nod to the begging of the movie, where the scientists discover that animals will keep fighting for their lives if they believe they will be eventually saved
He's also shown to be far more realistic about their situation, largely due to the fact that Rowf was a stray who never knew human kindness in his life while Snitter still clung to memories of his old life as a pet and held onto false hope of living a life with a loving human when that's just not possible anymore, and also Snitter's inability to decipher reality due to his brain being screwed up. The entire time he tries to convince Snitter that they can never live a life as pets and that they can only rely on themselves as strays and he can tell that Snitter's deluded. This implies he straight up knows this is it but is either in denial or trying to keep Snitter's hopes up, which makes it all sadder.
I wish they'd kept Tod's original death from the book. In the movie his death, while sad, at least has a purpose in helping Rowf and Snitter to escape. In the book he is killed by a pack of foxhounds for sport. His death was pointless and purely for the enjoyment of the hunters, adding to the theme of the story that we make animals suffer for no good reason.
@@MikadoYuma Huh? He wasn't killed by a fox in the books he was killed by a pack of foxhounds (dogs) and human hunters. Foxhunting with hounds is a blood sport in the UK where foxes are chased to the point of exhaustion, then the dogs rip the fox apart while the human hunters stand around cheering at the fox's death.
Note: The water/swimming experiments done with Ralph at the beginning were real experiments done on rats. The experiments found that the rats/Ralph were able to swim longer during the second experiment, because having been rescued in the first experiment they now had hope they would be rescued again. This plays into the ending. My interpretation of Ralph claiming to see the island is that he just wanted to motivate Snitter to keep swimming, and knew from experience that hope could provide that motivation.
That whole scene is just horrifying. You feel bad for poor Snitter as he found someone who wanted to help him & then a freak accident takes that last bit of hope away from him 😢
I was introduced to this movie in passing by another RUclips video a couple of years ago, but when I watched it myself, I lost sleep. Animal cruelty is one of those things I just can't stomach, and The Plague Dogs is downright tragic from start to finish.
It's called Plague Dogs why would someone even think it was happy. "Ah yes the plague fun times.. fun times." Great video I never heard of this movie before now.
this really brings me back to when i was younger and came across the footage of Russian scientist basically stitching one dog head to another dog and seeing if they'd survive and they did but not too long and its just sad because it shows you how people just dont see animals as living beings with emotions and feelings when it comes to science
@@PapaPandasHasNoDad makes sense i've heard so many horrors of both German and Russian scientists that i guess its all conjoined together and i cant tell which is which but thank you
The same guy was also responsible for cutting off a dog's head and using machines to give it oxygen. It died a dew minutes later. There is also some myth or rumor that he once dug up a grave and tried to do it to a human.
@@MillyKKitty i remember hearing abt that too i hate it i would of never heard abt it if i never got into scps and creepypastas since they would use the actual photos and video clips in the creepypasta videos
I read the book years ago, and here’s the differences between the book, and the movie, to those who are curious: Every chapter between Rowlf and Snitter, would have a chapter of Snitter’s Owner recovering in the hospital. Yes, he gets hit by a car, saving Snitter who ran into the street. The Owner asks his sister to care for the dog, and instead she sells Snitter to the laboratory, because she was upset that her brother remained unmarried, and was happy with his single life. After seeing his dog in the news, as first he was in denial, then starts going after him. The part where Snitter goes blind: in the book, he has a really painful seizure and convulses, as Rowlf watches terrified. When the man picks him up into the car, Rowlf bites him, setting Snitter free. Snitter devolves further into madness, and after he accidentally shoots the man, there’s a scene where he discusses this with Rowlf, and he declares his hatred of humans. A whole chapter was cut from the book, but it was because it was irrelevant to the story. Snitter meets a female dog of his breed, and follows her to a field, then she vanishes. Rowlf wonders if Snitter is further losing his mind, because he didn’t see another dog. The scene where Rowlf and Snitter raid a driver’s car after he pulls over to pee, originally were a married couple. The wife needed to pee, while the husband checked the tires of the car. Rowlf smelled the groceries in the car, and despite Snitter’s protests, he caved in from hunger, and raided their car, eating most of the groceries. As for the ending, it did leave off with them swimming into the ocean. Then a page where the Arthur wrote his thoughts and the protests of the first edition with the original ending. He decided to expand on it, and then we got the happy ending. Originally Snitter’s Owner happened to be in the same area by coincidence. He was there on holiday, and he was by the docks. He sees two dogs swim in the ocean, while seeing the people and helicopters. He realizes that it’s Snitter. He runs to a sailor to save his dog, and they head out to sea. The dogs are saved. Snitter is happy to see his owner, while Rowlf growls at them, while Snitter introduces him to his master. Rowlf is adopted by the owner, as he shares his sandwich. When they get home, Rowlf is given a bath (Obviously wasn’t happy), and he settles into his new life. Other then these scenes, the movie is close to the novel. It helped that they had the Arthur in on developing the film.
i gotta ask since i gotta know, wouldn’t that just restart the plague from that happening though?…since they interact with people again after being infected with it?…
@@MaskedKittyYTin the book it was implied that they somehow cared the dogs of the plague leading them to live a happy life until they die, somehow it didn’t spread but I’m not gonna complain
@@hiopy8131it's been a long time since I read that book, but from what I remember the plague plot was actually worse then the movie or your recollection because from what I remember, there was never actually any plague to begin with. It was discussed and brought up as a possibility for the research facility or it had been done in a different area, but none of the dogs were involved and local media heard plague and immediately stopped listening, spreading the lie that they had the plague when they were never exposed in the first place and this info only gets out that they were wrong, as the dogs had already jumped into the water and it didn't get to the people on the shore until it was too late. They ended up dying for nothing, which is pretty grim but it definitely made an unforgettable story, for better or worse. Definitely a great book if you want a classic that touches on trauma and morality though, very depressing though ^^'
the moment where Snitter accidentally kills the man by firing the gun makes me wonder how many times that has actually happened. chances are it had to happen at least once
This is one of those movies you unfortunately saw way too young cuz youtube was a different place back in the day. Watership Down, Felidae, and Plague Dogs were those great movies that some of us learned about a little too early in our life. They're pretty damn good movies if you're ready for them.
The sad part is, they didn't have the plague, the sheep dogs earlier in the movie confirm they don't smell of sickness. But the researchers are can't say 100% those dogs aren't infected, leading to this response.
I remember my friend recommended the movie Falidae to me (another messed up animated movie) then Plague Dogs came on the "watch next" right after. Needless to say, I had a wild emotional night that night
Time to cry again... My mom just got rid of my emotional support puppy and now, this video. Coincidence, I think NOT! Just had to put that here, carry one
I remember watching this years ago as a kid when I came across it on youtube & I was both fascinated with the animation style and haunted by all the uncensored deaths. I will never forget the music swelling in the final scene, reflecting back on everything that had just happened. I cried. Years later I have a first print copy of the book, the OST vinyl and promo prints from it's time in the cinema. It's one of those films you find good for different reasons, but also feel you can't really "recommend" it to anyone because of it's themes. But I've always respected it for how raw it was, no sugar coating.
You gotta cover the stop-motion horror film The Wolf House (La casa lobos). Some of the most creative animation I’ve ever seen and it’s absolutely unnerving. It uses mixed media animation in a way I’ve never seen.
I really wish parents would use their logical skills. Back then, sure, cartoons were widely more for kids. Not a lot of people back then knew of adult themed cartoons. But now, especially because of Sausage Party, it would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble if they just knew what a dick joke is.
Great video! My dad showed me this movie knowing what it was about because it traumatized him as a kid. (Yay family bonding lol) He then also introduced me to the industrial band Skinny Puppy who samples some lines from this movie. The song is Testure which is about animal testing and vivisections is on their album VIVIsectVI. The entire album is basically about all the wrongs that humans do; animal testing, chemical warfare, the environmental issues, etc. It's such a good album, they are such a good band. Their music can sound a little scary at first but it all usually has a good message behind it.
The reason a lot of parents rented this movie for their kids (Along with the stereotype that Animation=Kids Stuff) was in part because of the UK giving it a "U" rating, which in the States is the same as a "G" rating. I recall hearing that Watership Down also had a lot of traumatized kids who just wanted a movie about bunnies.😨
Oh no... I'm honestly morbidly curious to see a list of movies given a G rating that do not fall under that category on second inspection, though I fear the list might be pretty long considering that I'm sure this was a lot of peoples' "oh shit, I can't trust the ratings" movies, but mine was a live action fantasy movie that I can't quite recall properly. I don't think I ever managed to finish it as one scene had an orb of light that melted people, starting with their clothes... But it had a G rating on the box so mom let me pick it out from the bargain buy area of our old video store! I don't blame my mom at all, it wasn't her fault that some movies were erroneously marked as kid safe, I blame the people that put that rating on the box for still influencing my nightmares to this day, some 15+yrs later
Love this film. So glad you’re covering it! I would like to mention though that the woman that the scientist is with during the scene where he pets the dog is a reporter, not his wife. The dog is hers. Doesn’t change the creep factor of how he treats pets vs. the experimental animals. Just saying.
It’s gonna be very interesting to see Bionic review watership down and to hear him talk about how both the books for plague dogs and watership down were written by the same man
This movie fucked me right absolutely up as a kid and I haven't been able to ever rewatch it. I'll soldier through this vid for your sake Mr. BP but maybe down here in the comments section :']
Pig, I know you probably get down on yourself and feel like you are constantly battling uphill against the world but as cheesy as it sounds, you are an inspiration lil pup. Seriously though. The media you cover (whether it is a movie, true crime video, or literally anything else) is so refreshingly entertaining because of how deeply you engage the topics being discussed. I hope you keep making content for as long as it brings you joy (and ideally some form of financial stability), Pig. You and yours deserve the best
Jesus Christ, this movie. I must have cried through the entire film. To this day, I still remember how heartbroken I was by the end of it. However, on a slightly funnier note. There was a time when I was in physical therapy and got into a discussion with two nurses about who had seen the most soul crushing movie. I remember vividly one of them describing the plot to Oldboy, but I basically said 'hold my beer' and laid this one out. I don't think I even got halfway through the plot before I was unanimously crowned the winner.
The ending had me crying when i first saw it. I just remembered feeling sad because they're swimming for so long thinking they're getting close to the "island" but it was never there
Good news for the peeps that wanted a not-sad ending: Read the book. The author literally felt things were too dreadful, so he wrote a happy ending for the main characters. ♥
Actually, the author wanted the ending in the movie but was told to give it a happy ending for the book by the publisher. There’s a fun little tongue-in-cheek moment at the point in the book where the movie ends where the narrator basically argues with the reader about how they’re probably upset about the dogs dying, so a new random character is thrown in to save the dogs and make the reader happy.
@@goodmanticoreyup, but people can choose to believe the happy ending if it helps them sleep at night. For me though? The originally intended ending is the true ending, as cute and somber as the good ending is, I just personally find it too out of left field with how dark and somber the entire book is to just randomly have a happy ending as if everything can be made right and good at the snap of a finger. It's just too childish for a book that wasn't afraid to explore so many mature themes to suddenly give us a fairytale ending without a metaphorical gun to the author's head
@@discordiacreates6669 I totally agree, and so did the author apparently, hence why he included the little back-and-forth with the hypothetical reader right before the “altered” ending for the book. 😂 I just love how cheeky he was being about that, even making fun of readers of Watership Down for missing the points in his books and always demanding happy endings. Good stuff.
@@goodmanticore yeah the sass was great, and Watership Down was a super good book as well, history class was always boring, but I actually quite enjoyed that book despite it's historical inspiration, now that was an author that could do politics and not instantly make the entire room sick or pissed at him for just saying the word because the stories he wrote were so raw but easier to swallow given the fantastical settings of being through the eyes of animals. Both books will always hold a special place in my heart, none of those characters ever could catch a break
You need to watch Felidae 1994. It's similar in the sense that it's a dark depressing animated movie about animals, except it's basically cat murder mystery. I actually just stopped watching some time in because it was so disturbing.
Years ago I came across this movie on yt and I watched it w my dad. It's still plays in my head all these years, even my dad remebers. We r scarred for life
Even though I don't have a dog. I still feel very horrified of what cruelty they have done to these poor pooches all throughout the movie. Even the ending lefts you with nothing more than depression of weather they lived or died. I mean this director wanted to go once step further, and thought that the book isn't cruel enough.
Something worth mentioning is the opposite outcomes of this and watershipdown. Watership down did pretty good at the box office and has been much more popular as a cult as classic. It was adapted again in 2018 into a cgi show and has been referenced/parodied in stuff like robot chicken. Plague dogs on the other hand did terrible at the box office with barely anyone going and whoever did go left the screening early due to how sad it was. Apparently the director would ask them what they thought of the movie and some people hit him for making such a sad film. It’s been a lot less known then watership down
Ever since you said you might be stepping back a bit, im always happy to see a new video pop up. Though thanks RUclips, yet again, not notifying me when a video drops. I love the different not mainstream films/shows you cover ❤.
The ending of this film hits so hard. It’s stayed with me for years now. I don’t think I’ll ever forget how devastated I was watching the credits roll.
In the book, the man who is shot in the face was a Hollo-caust survivor. One of his quotes is, "It's a bad world for the helpless." Which parallels Rowfs mantra in the book, "It's a bad world for animals."
I think in the book, they explain the lab lied about the plague. Because what they were doing was wrong and I think was not ok. Like it was all done in secret and when they escaped they had to tell the public something to avoid anyone going near the dogs, so they could recapture them without getting into trouble with what they were doing to the animals. Which I don't think they explained this in the movie.
I have never watched this movie, only ever a small handful of reviews, and I don't think I ever will watch it. I've been scarred enough by these few videos alone, thank you.
I can watch a movie/show about crimes and stuff to humans and does not effect me that badly but as soon as it is about an animal I start getting angry/upset and sad. This movie has the harsh truth of it all but I just still hated it 😒😭
The shotgun scene makes me sick to my stomache. The ONE TIME that Snitter reckognizes and accepts a helping hand from a human, this happens. He doesn’t know he set off the gun. All he knows is that a man reached out to help him and his face blew up. The way he ran away 😢 Poor Snitter
Love your review, but I thought all this time the plague was a cover up story "ye uh the dogs have the plague.. so not lying that instead we've been just doing random experiments on them or anything officer"
I once found a kids book called wings of fire that has the same let’s be as messed up as possible problem, like it’s idea if character trama makes real trama from real people look like something they could just ignore, you should cover it.
@@Spyro-The-DragonnI forgot I thought it was probably the first one, like after watching a review of one of them, I checked the wiki and some of the plots sounded like a drama by a crazy person while others sounded normal
Oh god. Why are you reviewing this? And why am I watching another breakdown of this movie after Steve Reviews already scarred me for life? This borders masochism for us both.
Actually now that i think of it theres similar beats from felidae to plague dogs, equally or kinda worse than it when it comes to human cruelty, theres also cat serial killers, cat cult, cat...nsfw scenes... its just horrifying, i watched it when i was 12 or smth :')
I came across this movie when I was younger and was so fixated on it I’ve seen it well over 10 times, even read the book. It made me cry so much but its such a beautiful movie
My rescue dog pees on things in my house all the time because he was abused and neglected before he was rescued. It's not something I knew he did when I adopted him but it's definitely a trauma response for him when he is left alone. He also whines if I am doing anything except sitting next to him on the couch. I get so frustrated sometimes with him but you got me feeling all the empathy today 😭
I personally believe, when you hear the two gunshots at the end, and you think they missed, they didn't. I believe both dogs died, and the white mist was them crossing over to their own personal afterlife, finally having what they always wanted... freedom. The lyrics from the ending song, "Time and Tide" pretty much hint at this.
I saw Watership Down when I was a little kid, and it's been my favourite animated movie ever since. I even have a tattoo of the Black Rabbit of Inlé. However I didn't discover the Plague Dogs until I was a teen, after finding out that it was done by the same guy who did Watership Down. People often talk about WD as being the ultimate "traumatising kids" movie (which is a shame because it prevents kids from seeing a great movie), but TPD is much darker and, unlike WD, doesn't have a happy ending for our main characters. It's a great film, but I definitely need to be in the right headspace to watch it.
😭 OMG. Me watching: Volume up, volume down, volume up, volume down, LOOK AWAY. The animal lover in you SUFFERED as did I. Still, i really enjoy your videos and often learning about movies i never knew existed (and i watch ALOT of movies, or so i thought 😆)
This is one of my FAVORITE books/movies. If I remember correctly, the 'happy end' was added on by the author due to a lot of uproar from his readers who were upset that after All That, the dogs didn't get a happy ending. I think the movie might have been produced before the 'extended ending' was published, which is why the ending is so ambiguous.
Having parents thinking animation is a genre and not a medium to tell a story will *always* be the leading cause to someone's childhood trauma
i only had the watership down animated series and the hans christian andersen animated fairy tales on vhs to watch as a child when i visited my grandma, the fairy tales were kid friendly but still showed the true "bad endings" of the tales. entire summers and holidays i'd spend over there rewatching the same messed up stuff
@pepsigirl808 messed up about those movies. They just don't sugar coat the reality in watership down and the Hans Anderson storues were always meant to be cautionary tales. So tbh you probably benefited from seeing them. Unless you grew up to be the bad in those movies.
@@TheTideKing004 i don't ~personally~ view them as messed up and they're really nostalgic for me! i was always a reader as a kid too but for some reason i never actually read either of the source material but now i'm an adult i own and read them. literally just last month i picked up the watership down graphic novel :) for sure a key thing for me growing up, but i can see how it could scare a child
You’d think parents could at least read the content rating though. lol
Boomer parents boomering
From what I remember, the book ending was originally the same as the movie with it being implied that they drowned, but the author had to change it in later publications because it was considered too upsetting.
holy moly that's rough. i wonder if there's many originals floating about
@@pepsigirl808 Yeah, I wonder that too. I'm not sure if it was a case of people who read it BEFORE it was first published urged him to change it or if it happened later on, but the movie's ending is definitely more along the lines of what he originally wrote for the book. So grim!
@@sketchnscribs1465I believe the version I read years ago had both endings, though the way it was written was with the altered happier ending, then an author's note explaining their displeasure at being forced by their publisher to get the book published in the first place, then it had the original ending after that to showcase what was the author's intent and how it differed from what he was basically forced to write if he wanted a paycheck, so this one was actually a reprint and the original print likely only had the altered ending because the publisher was meddling during the editing phase and it might even be, though I'd have to check on this one, that the author changed publishers when the original contract ran out and that's when a later edition could be allowed to include to right ending. I say right, not good ending because it was never intended to have a good ending and I had the luxury of reading both, so imo the rescue ending felt a bit shallow and shoehorned in but the ending where they're not rescued fit the tone of the book, as grim as it was. I know, some people prefer the edited version and that's why it exists in the first place, but I really feel like part of the reason why it doesn't work is because it kinda... Well, this isn't a story about forgiveness quite frankly, it's a story about the consequences of going too far and if it's ever truly justifiable, to have the ending be undone because "oh wait, forget all these two dogs' trauma, they're now spoiled house pets living their best life and all is forgiven after all that humanity put them through!" Seems kinda disingenuous imo, though I wouldn't mind a third ending where they run off into the sunset and their end is much more ambiguous but slightly more hopeful, and I'm not a big fan of dogs, they just... Any character that goes through that deserves a break
Considering the book, i only know the version where the dogs are rescued by Snitter's old Master.
I remember the book ending being better with them being saved and seen as subjects of abuse rather then dying drowning.
I don't know what parent would think a movie with "plague" in the title would be a kids movie.
Most parents are less “parents” and more “has kids” these days.
@@zanemob1429 this was a "back then" movie. So it applies to parents of all eras
@@Min-gy8zu These types of movies not only still exist but are still made. Also my point still stands either way. Its one of the many issues of our time.
cause they think "its just a cartoon"
@@zanemob1429no it doesn't lol. You really think people in the past were more "parent" and less "have kids"? Yknow the people who wouldn't even let their children speak in public, or beat the shit out of them if they did some slight mistake. Or the people who had like 15 kids just to have more work hands on the farm. Those people were more parent?
I vividly remember crying my eyes out at this movie when I was in high school. Good times.
Also, I so badly want to adopt these poor dogs :(
In the movie the Ralph first starts saying "just keep swimming" but as soon as his friend says he cant anymore, he goes "I can see it... I can see the island".
This implies 2 possible things
1 - Ralph himself starts to believe the delusion to grant himself one last happy hopeful memory before death
2 - Ralph knows its the end and wants to keep his friend happy and hopeful in his last moments
Either way, its to show the devastating beauty of hope... how even when all is lost the only thing someone can do is hope.
I liked the movie ending WAY better than the book because it kept in line with the tone and theme of the whole movie.
Aint no way two dogs who suffered so much themselves, indirectly caused so much suffering to others (sheep, fox, humans), and are traumatised beyond the point of salvation would get a "happy ending". I want them too, but its impossible-
Yea Humans would never let those two live after all that especially the human eating.
It's a nod to the begging of the movie, where the scientists discover that animals will keep fighting for their lives if they believe they will be eventually saved
The book ending they drown in the original
He's also shown to be far more realistic about their situation, largely due to the fact that Rowf was a stray who never knew human kindness in his life while Snitter still clung to memories of his old life as a pet and held onto false hope of living a life with a loving human when that's just not possible anymore, and also Snitter's inability to decipher reality due to his brain being screwed up. The entire time he tries to convince Snitter that they can never live a life as pets and that they can only rely on themselves as strays and he can tell that Snitter's deluded. This implies he straight up knows this is it but is either in denial or trying to keep Snitter's hopes up, which makes it all sadder.
Well, to me at least, them drowning is their happy ending. They’re free of all their trauma, they aren’t in pain. Really, that’s all they could get.
I wish they'd kept Tod's original death from the book. In the movie his death, while sad, at least has a purpose in helping Rowf and Snitter to escape. In the book he is killed by a pack of foxhounds for sport. His death was pointless and purely for the enjoyment of the hunters, adding to the theme of the story that we make animals suffer for no good reason.
The movie portrayal is actually more realistic, though. It's far more likely for a human to kill a fox than for a fox to kill another fox.
@@MikadoYuma Huh? He wasn't killed by a fox in the books he was killed by a pack of foxhounds (dogs) and human hunters. Foxhunting with hounds is a blood sport in the UK where foxes are chased to the point of exhaustion, then the dogs rip the fox apart while the human hunters stand around cheering at the fox's death.
When I read the book, that scene were Todd can't run anymore. Turns around to face the enemy, broke my heart.
Note: The water/swimming experiments done with Ralph at the beginning were real experiments done on rats.
The experiments found that the rats/Ralph were able to swim longer during the second experiment, because having been rescued in the first experiment they now had hope they would be rescued again.
This plays into the ending. My interpretation of Ralph claiming to see the island is that he just wanted to motivate Snitter to keep swimming, and knew from experience that hope could provide that motivation.
yeh the part where the man accidentally gets shot in the face point blank still haunts me. that music that plays is so creepy
That whole scene is just horrifying. You feel bad for poor Snitter as he found someone who wanted to help him & then a freak accident takes that last bit of hope away from him 😢
I was introduced to this movie in passing by another RUclips video a couple of years ago, but when I watched it myself, I lost sleep. Animal cruelty is one of those things I just can't stomach, and The Plague Dogs is downright tragic from start to finish.
Same, it's unfortunate how real it is.
I found this on RUclips also & I couldn’t watch it again. Maybe I will again sometime, but the horror of its realism is tough to stomach
It's called Plague Dogs why would someone even think it was happy. "Ah yes the plague fun times.. fun times." Great video I never heard of this movie before now.
this really brings me back to when i was younger and came across the footage of Russian scientist basically stitching one dog head to another dog and seeing if they'd survive and they did but not too long and its just sad because it shows you how people just dont see animals as living beings with emotions and feelings when it comes to science
It was a Russian Scientist, not that it matters. His name was Vladimir Demikhov if you're wondering.
@@PapaPandasHasNoDad makes sense i've heard so many horrors of both German and Russian scientists that i guess its all conjoined together and i cant tell which is which but thank you
The same guy was also responsible for cutting off a dog's head and using machines to give it oxygen.
It died a dew minutes later.
There is also some myth or rumor that he once dug up a grave and tried to do it to a human.
@@MillyKKitty i remember hearing abt that too i hate it i would of never heard abt it if i never got into scps and creepypastas since they would use the actual photos and video clips in the creepypasta videos
The problem with science is the question of “Should I” is rejected and “Can I” is put in its place.
I read the book years ago, and here’s the differences between the book, and the movie, to those who are curious:
Every chapter between Rowlf and Snitter, would have a chapter of Snitter’s Owner recovering in the hospital. Yes, he gets hit by a car, saving Snitter who ran into the street. The Owner asks his sister to care for the dog, and instead she sells Snitter to the laboratory, because she was upset that her brother remained unmarried, and was happy with his single life. After seeing his dog in the news, as first he was in denial, then starts going after him.
The part where Snitter goes blind: in the book, he has a really painful seizure and convulses, as Rowlf watches terrified. When the man picks him up into the car, Rowlf bites him, setting Snitter free.
Snitter devolves further into madness, and after he accidentally shoots the man, there’s a scene where he discusses this with Rowlf, and he declares his hatred of humans.
A whole chapter was cut from the book, but it was because it was irrelevant to the story. Snitter meets a female dog of his breed, and follows her to a field, then she vanishes. Rowlf wonders if Snitter is further losing his mind, because he didn’t see another dog.
The scene where Rowlf and Snitter raid a driver’s car after he pulls over to pee, originally were a married couple. The wife needed to pee, while the husband checked the tires of the car. Rowlf smelled the groceries in the car, and despite Snitter’s protests, he caved in from hunger, and raided their car, eating most of the groceries.
As for the ending, it did leave off with them swimming into the ocean. Then a page where the Arthur wrote his thoughts and the protests of the first edition with the original ending. He decided to expand on it, and then we got the happy ending.
Originally Snitter’s Owner happened to be in the same area by coincidence. He was there on holiday, and he was by the docks. He sees two dogs swim in the ocean, while seeing the people and helicopters. He realizes that it’s Snitter. He runs to a sailor to save his dog, and they head out to sea. The dogs are saved. Snitter is happy to see his owner, while Rowlf growls at them, while Snitter introduces him to his master. Rowlf is adopted by the owner, as he shares his sandwich. When they get home, Rowlf is given a bath (Obviously wasn’t happy), and he settles into his new life.
Other then these scenes, the movie is close to the novel. It helped that they had the Arthur in on developing the film.
i gotta ask since i gotta know, wouldn’t that just restart the plague from that happening though?…since they interact with people again after being infected with it?…
@@MaskedKittyYTin the book it was implied that they somehow cared the dogs of the plague leading them to live a happy life until they die, somehow it didn’t spread but I’m not gonna complain
@@hiopy8131it's been a long time since I read that book, but from what I remember the plague plot was actually worse then the movie or your recollection because from what I remember, there was never actually any plague to begin with. It was discussed and brought up as a possibility for the research facility or it had been done in a different area, but none of the dogs were involved and local media heard plague and immediately stopped listening, spreading the lie that they had the plague when they were never exposed in the first place and this info only gets out that they were wrong, as the dogs had already jumped into the water and it didn't get to the people on the shore until it was too late. They ended up dying for nothing, which is pretty grim but it definitely made an unforgettable story, for better or worse. Definitely a great book if you want a classic that touches on trauma and morality though, very depressing though ^^'
the moment where Snitter accidentally kills the man by firing the gun makes me wonder how many times that has actually happened. chances are it had to happen at least once
Possibly more then you think.
This is one of those movies you unfortunately saw way too young cuz youtube was a different place back in the day. Watership Down, Felidae, and Plague Dogs were those great movies that some of us learned about a little too early in our life. They're pretty damn good movies if you're ready for them.
I'm 42 and just found out about this movie
God… the ending is so heartbreaking. Just hearing you discuss this is making my tear up
I’m glad you’re doing this movie and I love the ending of you getting to choose if they live or die.
The sad part is, they didn't have the plague, the sheep dogs earlier in the movie confirm they don't smell of sickness. But the researchers are can't say 100% those dogs aren't infected, leading to this response.
Most animation in the 80s had that feel to it. I always think back to Akira when thinking about 80s animation
i've only heard tales of how disturbing this movie is
The ending is one of the bleakest things I’ve ever seen in an animated film
Watching it is an experience that’s for sure don’t get me wrong it’s fantastic just depressing
This movie was hard to sit through:( espically that ending💔
but was it any good?
@@MindlessTube it's one of my favorite movies personally!!! awesome movie
@@MindlessTube Yes it is just darkkk
I remember my friend recommended the movie Falidae to me (another messed up animated movie) then Plague Dogs came on the "watch next" right after. Needless to say, I had a wild emotional night that night
THAT HAPPENED TO ME TOO!! it’s like RUclips was going “Hey we know you just watched that messed up animated animal movie, wanna see another? 😏”
Time to cry again... My mom just got rid of my emotional support puppy and now, this video. Coincidence, I think NOT! Just had to put that here, carry one
I remember watching this years ago as a kid when I came across it on youtube & I was both fascinated with the animation style and haunted by all the uncensored deaths. I will never forget the music swelling in the final scene, reflecting back on everything that had just happened. I cried.
Years later I have a first print copy of the book, the OST vinyl and promo prints from it's time in the cinema.
It's one of those films you find good for different reasons, but also feel you can't really "recommend" it to anyone because of it's themes. But I've always respected it for how raw it was, no sugar coating.
Now that you have done this movie...I wonder if you'd do Felidae as a review.
Love the movie myself and feel it is a great animated film.
I’d love for Pig to cover Felidae!
You gotta cover the stop-motion horror film The Wolf House (La casa lobos). Some of the most creative animation I’ve ever seen and it’s absolutely unnerving. It uses mixed media animation in a way I’ve never seen.
Even just listening to the fox scream gave me chills
I really wish parents would use their logical skills. Back then, sure, cartoons were widely more for kids. Not a lot of people back then knew of adult themed cartoons.
But now, especially because of Sausage Party, it would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble if they just knew what a dick joke is.
Great video! My dad showed me this movie knowing what it was about because it traumatized him as a kid. (Yay family bonding lol) He then also introduced me to the industrial band Skinny Puppy who samples some lines from this movie. The song is Testure which is about animal testing and vivisections is on their album VIVIsectVI. The entire album is basically about all the wrongs that humans do; animal testing, chemical warfare, the environmental issues, etc. It's such a good album, they are such a good band. Their music can sound a little scary at first but it all usually has a good message behind it.
The reason a lot of parents rented this movie for their kids (Along with the stereotype that Animation=Kids Stuff) was in part because of the UK giving it a "U" rating, which in the States is the same as a "G" rating.
I recall hearing that Watership Down also had a lot of traumatized kids who just wanted a movie about bunnies.😨
Oh no... I'm honestly morbidly curious to see a list of movies given a G rating that do not fall under that category on second inspection, though I fear the list might be pretty long considering that I'm sure this was a lot of peoples' "oh shit, I can't trust the ratings" movies, but mine was a live action fantasy movie that I can't quite recall properly. I don't think I ever managed to finish it as one scene had an orb of light that melted people, starting with their clothes... But it had a G rating on the box so mom let me pick it out from the bargain buy area of our old video store! I don't blame my mom at all, it wasn't her fault that some movies were erroneously marked as kid safe, I blame the people that put that rating on the box for still influencing my nightmares to this day, some 15+yrs later
Now I wanna see a Felidae or Animal farm review. This was always an interesting movie to see people’s reactions to.
YES
Love this film. So glad you’re covering it! I would like to mention though that the woman that the scientist is with during the scene where he pets the dog is a reporter, not his wife. The dog is hers. Doesn’t change the creep factor of how he treats pets vs. the experimental animals. Just saying.
Your great pig, been watching for years. You keep getting better even if the views and subs don’t align with that.
The thrill of fully knowing the thing you’re about to watch is going to bum you out because you’re desperate to feel something haha
It’s gonna be very interesting to see Bionic review watership down and to hear him talk about how both the books for plague dogs and watership down were written by the same man
This movie fucked me right absolutely up as a kid and I haven't been able to ever rewatch it. I'll soldier through this vid for your sake Mr. BP but maybe down here in the comments section :']
Me immediately: Oh god, it's Watership Down with dogs..
10 seconds later: "You guessed it! The Watership Down guy!"
Pig, I know you probably get down on yourself and feel like you are constantly battling uphill against the world but as cheesy as it sounds, you are an inspiration lil pup.
Seriously though. The media you cover (whether it is a movie, true crime video, or literally anything else) is so refreshingly entertaining because of how deeply you engage the topics being discussed. I hope you keep making content for as long as it brings you joy (and ideally some form of financial stability), Pig. You and yours deserve the best
always happy to see Pig in my feed 💖 love listening to you talk about animated horror, especially ones I've never heard of before
Unicorn wars is still my favourite disturbing animated movie ❤
Thank you so much Pig for covering it I love that video so much!!
Jesus Christ, this movie. I must have cried through the entire film. To this day, I still remember how heartbroken I was by the end of it.
However, on a slightly funnier note. There was a time when I was in physical therapy and got into a discussion with two nurses about who had seen the most soul crushing movie. I remember vividly one of them describing the plot to Oldboy, but I basically said 'hold my beer' and laid this one out. I don't think I even got halfway through the plot before I was unanimously crowned the winner.
thank you for continuing to upload!
The ending had me crying when i first saw it. I just remembered feeling sad because they're swimming for so long thinking they're getting close to the "island" but it was never there
Huge props for getting through this movie and reviewing it! I couldn't even finish the video
Good news for the peeps that wanted a not-sad ending: Read the book. The author literally felt things were too dreadful, so he wrote a happy ending for the main characters. ♥
Actually, the author wanted the ending in the movie but was told to give it a happy ending for the book by the publisher. There’s a fun little tongue-in-cheek moment at the point in the book where the movie ends where the narrator basically argues with the reader about how they’re probably upset about the dogs dying, so a new random character is thrown in to save the dogs and make the reader happy.
@@goodmanticoreyup, but people can choose to believe the happy ending if it helps them sleep at night. For me though? The originally intended ending is the true ending, as cute and somber as the good ending is, I just personally find it too out of left field with how dark and somber the entire book is to just randomly have a happy ending as if everything can be made right and good at the snap of a finger. It's just too childish for a book that wasn't afraid to explore so many mature themes to suddenly give us a fairytale ending without a metaphorical gun to the author's head
@@discordiacreates6669 I totally agree, and so did the author apparently, hence why he included the little back-and-forth with the hypothetical reader right before the “altered” ending for the book. 😂 I just love how cheeky he was being about that, even making fun of readers of Watership Down for missing the points in his books and always demanding happy endings. Good stuff.
@@goodmanticore yeah the sass was great, and Watership Down was a super good book as well, history class was always boring, but I actually quite enjoyed that book despite it's historical inspiration, now that was an author that could do politics and not instantly make the entire room sick or pissed at him for just saying the word because the stories he wrote were so raw but easier to swallow given the fantastical settings of being through the eyes of animals. Both books will always hold a special place in my heart, none of those characters ever could catch a break
You need to watch Felidae 1994. It's similar in the sense that it's a dark depressing animated movie about animals, except it's basically cat murder mystery. I actually just stopped watching some time in because it was so disturbing.
Years ago I came across this movie on yt and I watched it w my dad. It's still plays in my head all these years, even my dad remebers. We r scarred for life
Thank you for doing this movie! I was obsessed with it back in highschool, love to see it get some exposure!
Thanks pig! Hope you are doing well and taking care of yourself. Love your content and hard work that you do!
Watched this after finding it on RUclips randomly, haven’t been the same since
The opening is grim enough but then it gets worse
Even though I don't have a dog. I still feel very horrified of what cruelty they have done to these poor pooches all throughout the movie. Even the ending lefts you with nothing more than depression of weather they lived or died. I mean this director wanted to go once step further, and thought that the book isn't cruel enough.
One of my favorite films. Thank you for covering it
Something worth mentioning is the opposite outcomes of this and watershipdown.
Watership down did pretty good at the box office and has been much more popular as a cult as classic. It was adapted again in 2018 into a cgi show and has been referenced/parodied in stuff like robot chicken.
Plague dogs on the other hand did terrible at the box office with barely anyone going and whoever did go left the screening early due to how sad it was. Apparently the director would ask them what they thought of the movie and some people hit him for making such a sad film. It’s been a lot less known then watership down
If you think this is disturbing, don't watch "Felidae", it's far more gruesome.
Gasp I remember that movie .
It’s on RUclips
That's how I watched it the first time. It was very eye opening to how brutal animated films can be.
Ever since you said you might be stepping back a bit, im always happy to see a new video pop up. Though thanks RUclips, yet again, not notifying me when a video drops.
I love the different not mainstream films/shows you cover ❤.
imagine in jjk gojo just straight up while toalking to itadori just says "nah bro im too... i dont wanna do it anymore" would be wild
The dog pressing the trigger is soo ridiculous.
It's my headcanon that those good boys were picked up by sailors and lived a long happy life
The ending of this film hits so hard. It’s stayed with me for years now. I don’t think I’ll ever forget how devastated I was watching the credits roll.
In the book, the man who is shot in the face was a Hollo-caust survivor. One of his quotes is, "It's a bad world for the helpless." Which parallels Rowfs mantra in the book, "It's a bad world for animals."
Stoked to see this type of video from you again man! Love ‘em! Keep ‘em coming bro plzzzzz!! These are your bread n butter my guy 🎉
I think in the book, they explain the lab lied about the plague. Because what they were doing was wrong and I think was not ok. Like it was all done in secret and when they escaped they had to tell the public something to avoid anyone going near the dogs, so they could recapture them without getting into trouble with what they were doing to the animals. Which I don't think they explained this in the movie.
Honestly one of my favourite movies along with Watership down ❤ the way I describe plague dogs to people who haven’t seen it is “visceral”
I have never watched this movie, only ever a small handful of reviews, and I don't think I ever will watch it. I've been scarred enough by these few videos alone, thank you.
14:27, rule number one of watching movies like this. Never let your guard down
Started watching this at work, stopped 5 minutes in, then had to stop to try again later because I can already tell this is going to destroy me
I can watch a movie/show about crimes and stuff to humans and does not effect me that badly but as soon as it is about an animal I start getting angry/upset and sad. This movie has the harsh truth of it all but I just still hated it 😒😭
0:40 Seriously, when did parents stop watching movies before they show it to their kids?!
Also, do parents not read synopsis for the movies
This movie, along with Fox & the Hound and Watership Down, are all of the most dramatically traumatizing animal movies of the 80s
This was the first movie to make me cry.
The shotgun scene makes me sick to my stomache. The ONE TIME that Snitter reckognizes and accepts a helping hand from a human, this happens. He doesn’t know he set off the gun. All he knows is that a man reached out to help him and his face blew up. The way he ran away 😢 Poor Snitter
My jaw is truly on the floor 14:20
Love when you upload!
Love your review, but I thought all this time the plague was a cover up story "ye uh the dogs have the plague.. so not lying that instead we've been just doing random experiments on them or anything officer"
Watership down is so f'up too & I love bunnies, those bunnies are evil!!😈😝
British people were really going through it in the 80's
I once found a kids book called wings of fire that has the same let’s be as messed up as possible problem, like it’s idea if character trama makes real trama from real people look like something they could just ignore, you should cover it.
Yeah but which Wings of Fire book specifically?
@@Spyro-The-DragonnI forgot I thought it was probably the first one, like after watching a review of one of them, I checked the wiki and some of the plots sounded like a drama by a crazy person while others sounded normal
Oh god. Why are you reviewing this? And why am I watching another breakdown of this movie after Steve Reviews already scarred me for life? This borders masochism for us both.
No amount of Ichi the Killer could’ve prepared me for this.
This movie is really hard to watch man, but it's really well done.
How have you not hit a million yet?!
The ending upset me at the end of it, it was the saddest thing ever and I was balling my eyes out. It was definitely sad, wish I could watch it again.
Do "FELIDAE" next lol, its even worse than this i promisse you
Actually now that i think of it theres similar beats from felidae to plague dogs, equally or kinda worse than it when it comes to human cruelty, theres also cat serial killers, cat cult, cat...nsfw scenes... its just horrifying, i watched it when i was 12 or smth :')
@@annafelizatto Oh yes Felidae is the most fucked movie I've ever seen. How it's ALLOWED on RUclips is anyone's guess.
Thank you so much for entertaining me every day Piggy
I usually like to watch the movies you talk about if I haven’t seen them, but i don’t think I could watch this one 😭
I've never heard of this... Do I wish I had? I don't know. But now I have.
This is a movie that I will absolutely not be watching as I am a huge dog lover. But thank you for letting me use you as a shield😭😭😭
I came across this movie when I was younger and was so fixated on it I’ve seen it well over 10 times, even read the book. It made me cry so much but its such a beautiful movie
Maybe the entire thing was in his head. Stories to tell himself between drownings, which he imagined as the ocean. 😢
My rescue dog pees on things in my house all the time because he was abused and neglected before he was rescued. It's not something I knew he did when I adopted him but it's definitely a trauma response for him when he is left alone. He also whines if I am doing anything except sitting next to him on the couch. I get so frustrated sometimes with him but you got me feeling all the empathy today 😭
The ending of this movie is so damn sad and leaves me genuinely disturbed for a while after but it’s still goated
When you go into a hug and exidently trigger a gun
Had to stop watching coz my dog walked into the room and i started sobbing
If I remember the experiment on Snitter was to like...sever the conscious and sub conscious and make it one?
I personally believe, when you hear the two gunshots at the end, and you think they missed, they didn't. I believe both dogs died, and the white mist was them crossing over to their own personal afterlife, finally having what they always wanted... freedom. The lyrics from the ending song, "Time and Tide" pretty much hint at this.
The animation style reminds me of old children's storybooks. I think those books that I'm thinking might have been from the 80's and 90's.
I saw Watership Down when I was a little kid, and it's been my favourite animated movie ever since. I even have a tattoo of the Black Rabbit of Inlé. However I didn't discover the Plague Dogs until I was a teen, after finding out that it was done by the same guy who did Watership Down. People often talk about WD as being the ultimate "traumatising kids" movie (which is a shame because it prevents kids from seeing a great movie), but TPD is much darker and, unlike WD, doesn't have a happy ending for our main characters. It's a great film, but I definitely need to be in the right headspace to watch it.
Whats worse is that the humans lied about them carrying the plague because the sheepdog said that he would know if they were sick
😭 OMG. Me watching:
Volume up, volume down, volume up, volume down, LOOK AWAY. The animal lover in you SUFFERED as did I. Still, i really enjoy your videos and often learning about movies i never knew existed (and i watch ALOT of movies, or so i thought 😆)
This is one of my FAVORITE books/movies. If I remember correctly, the 'happy end' was added on by the author due to a lot of uproar from his readers who were upset that after All That, the dogs didn't get a happy ending. I think the movie might have been produced before the 'extended ending' was published, which is why the ending is so ambiguous.
Me sitting here eating hot dogs and hasbrowns while watching this