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Baxter (1989) DVD Review
Baxter (1989) DVD Credits:
Baxter (1989) Directed by:
Jerome Boivin
Baxter (1989) Written by:
Not available at this time
Baxter (1989) Cast:
Lise Delamare, Evelyne Didi, Francois Driancourt, Catherine Ferran, Maxime Leroux
Baxter (1989) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
Baxter (1989) DVD Release Date:
16th July 2007
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Baxter (1989) Synopsis:

In this chilling French horror film, the inner thoughts of a sociopathic bull terrier lead him to become an eager killer when he meets his ideal guardian - a young boy fascinated with Hitler. Lonely and introverted, this boy's macabre interest helps turn the all-too-willing canine into a thoroughbred killing machine.

Baxter (1989) DVD Review:

The new artwork on Baxter is easily the worst part about the new DVD of the classic French dark comedy. The cover shows the dog to be vicious and looks as though the film may be a violent horror film. In fact, Baxter is nothing like the dozens of other killer dog films. In Baxter the dog is an actual character in the film. He is a calculating serial killer rather than harmful pet or genetic mutation, as most of these films portray the killer dog. Baxter is the narrator of the film, always telling the audience in a rather sophisticated way what he is thinking and why he does what he does. Meanwhile we watch his owners who have no knowledge of what he has told us, making the audience more of an accomplice than victim along with the unfortunate owners. We aren’t necessarily on the dog’s side, but we are in his confidence, which makes the film quite unique and humorous, but above all it is certainly not as one-dimensional as the cover art makes it seem.

Baxter is first given as a gift to an elderly woman, telling us tales of being in a cage with other dogs and longing to know humans. He is ultimately disappointed by the dull older lady who doesn’t even bother to allow him outside after she becomes a shut in. Finally in absolute desperation, Baxter inspires an accident that results in her death. After watching a young couple across the street he decides that this must be where he belongs, crossing the street to make them his new owners. This situation works well temporarily because the young wife has little to do but sit outside and pet Baxter most days, but everything changes when she becomes pregnant and a baby enters the household. Baxter is once again unsatisfied and has already had the experience that violence has a way of solving his problems and he becomes a psychopathic dog on the hunt for the perfect owner. It seems he has found such an owner when a lonely boy obsessed with Hitler and his personal life owns him next. The boy begins training the dog, but it also becomes preparation for making the dog an ultimate killer.

The choice of dog in the film is equally effective in the horror and comedy elements of the film. The long face and flattened ear give the dog more of a goofy look than it is threatening, but there is also something unnerving about the beady black eyes in which no white is visible. The long snout doesn’t look at all threatening, but when the teeth come out it isn’t as humorous how long the nose is considering there are teeth all along this length of his face, but there aren’t many opportunities to show this since most everything involving the dog happens off-camera. Yet another reason this film is really not your traditional horror film, but a piece of unique and brilliant dark French cinema.

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Baxter (1989) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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