Dog of God (Dieva suns)

This animation will be no walk in the park as a giant is castrated right at the start of the film within a horrid animated red hue. From there film shifts into a dark rural landscape, a decrepit village and church.

In 17th century Livonia, a child steps into a cowpat observing the villagers going to church where the priest Bukholcs (Regnars Vaivarsis) rails against the town tavern and its patrons.

To him it’s a den of vice fuelled by alcohol overseen by barmaid (or witch?) Néze (Agate Krista), never mind that most of his flock are drunk or drinking in the church during his sermon.

It’s grim to say the least. Indeed as the film progresses its only Néze and Klibis (Jurgos Spulenieks), the priest’s ward, servant and target of frustration and abuse who generate any sort of sympathy; the former in trying to help the villagers with her herbal medicines, the latter as genuinely devout.

A creature digs its way out of the ground pulling on a chain, which turns out to be werewolf. In the tavern merchants scorn the poor, looking for ways to make more money and gain the patronage of the local Baron Klodt (Kristian Karelins). He himself is impotent until the werewolf brings him an unlikely remedy, and then there is no stopping him.

There’s no respite in this gruelling film as evil and hypocrisy are thrown at the viewer relentlessly. Both church and establishment as bad as each other. The priest being a corrupt soul rests his faith on straw, a relic he believes came from the manger. The powerbrokers in the tavern have little faith and happy to subsist on drugs as well as booze.

For all its grotesque imagery Dog of God, directed by Lauris and Raitis Abele, co-written with Harijs Grundmanis is a bit on the dull side. The dark rotoscope animation suits the grubby setting and fantastic story but it all appears a little patchwork, as it goes from one outlandish scene or image to another.

Whether it is intended as a satire on the hypocrisy of the church, which appears to be the main target (its presented as endemic in the establishment) is not entirely clear. The occasional cut to the image of a slowly decaying dog runs through the film provides a timeline and could also be a metaphor.

Taken at a base level however it’s more successful as a dark fantasy or folk horror with the fantastic and sometime foul images wiping away what subtlety there is in the script. What doesn’t hinder the film at all is the dark synth score by Lauris Abele which would probably work well on its own.

Dog of God had its UK Premiere at London FrightFest in August 2025.