- Directed by Teemu Nikki
- Written by Teemu Nikki
- Stars Matti Onnismaa, Jari Virman, Hannamaija Nikander
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUr9XQxc2gU
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one is an offbeat film with characters who are beyond eccentric. The acting is great, and the script is a wild and weird ride through these people’s lives. As the title implies, animals die in this one. That warning aside, we liked and would highly recommend it.
Synopsis
We’re in Finland for this one.
A woman carries a cat in a cage to a man’s garage. “Do you euthanize animals here?” “Those too,” the man answers. She asks if the cat will suffer, and he gives a long speech about how animals in small flats suffer for their entire lives. He puts the cat in the trunk of his car, which has pipes to his exhaust; this cat is going to get the gas. We watch as he prepares the dead cat for burial as credits roll.
We cut to Petri, a mechanic in a garage. His boss calls him in and says things have been coming up missing, and he blames Petri. Petri has his dog in the car, and he whines that he can’t leave the dog alone for a minute. He doesn’t like the dog.
Some men in a diner see Viejo, the euthanizer, outside, and they don’t like the way he talks to Elisa, the woman with the cat.
Petri stops in to meet his white supremist friends, and they talk about the stolen tires that Petri has been bringing them. They all laugh at Petri’s dog.
Another man brings his dog to Viejo; he can’t afford to keep paying the vet. Viejo rails at the man for buying the dog from a puppy mill. Viejo says he’ll euthanize the dog for free if the man gets in the dog’s cage. He then locks the man inside the cage, takes the dog out into the woods, and he shoots it. Afterward, he lets the man out of the cage. It’s clear that Viejo likes animals more than people and has a strong sense of justice.
Petri takes his dog to the vet to get spayed, but it’s 300 Euros. He throws a fit, and they call the police. Petri doesn’t like the dog very much and tells his girlfriend that the dog ran off and got hit by a car. He makes an attempt to kill the dog with tire iron, but he just can’t do it.
Meanwhile, Viejo visits his father, Martti, in the hospital. The old man can’t feed himself and has been there a long time. Petri calls Viejo on the phone and arranges for euthanization of the dog.
Petri complains that the dog is untrainable and too wild, but Viejo doesn’t agree. Viejo thinks the dog is misbehaving because of Pietro’s actions. Viejo takes the dog out in the woods, but at the last minute decides that he’s a good dog and can’t do it either. He takes the dog home and names him Piki.
He has words with the veterinarian, who doesn’t like how he does his job; he doesn’t like the way she does it either. A woman comes to have her guinea pig killed, and she finds the process fascinating.
Petri’s boss recognizes Viejo’s new dog, and they joke about killing people. Petri flips out in front of his white supremacist friends, and it’s clear that he’s not quite right in the head.
Lotta, the guinea pig woman, comes back with a sickly dog that she found. She follows Viejo out into the woods, where he shoots the dog. She’s surprisingly OK with it. Afterward, she asks Viejo for a date. They go for a drive, and he stops to clean up roadkill animals along the way. She asks him if he does this every night, and he answers, “No. On Sundays, I watch TV.” She’s immensely turned on by this, and they have sex in the woods. She wants him to choke her, and he gets a bit carried away. Oops. He does, however, manage to revive her. This turns her on even more. “Next time, take it a little easier.”
Viejo brings his dog to the gas station, where Petri’s kids see and recognize it. Petri wants his money back since the dog isn’t dead. Viejo goes to see Petri’s boss, and they talk about weird sex. Later, when Lotta comes by, they have another go at it, right there in his garage.
Lotta is Martti’s nurse, and she talks to Viejo about the old man’s suffering. He doesn’t want to talk about that and takes the dog for a walk instead. The next day, the old man asks for some morphine, and Lotta gives him a funny look.
Viejo explains the tortures of “catch and release” fishing to a man who wanted an oil change. He gets a call to come to the hospital, where his father has died. Lotta says, “Martti is done suffering now.” Viejo plays the tape in the room, and the euthanizing song that he uses. He knows what she did. Viejo, on the other hand, wanted his father to suffer as much as possible. “My father wasn’t finished paying off his debt of suffering!” He yells at Lotta, and she cries.
At work, Petri gets fired for stealing. His wife calls because the kids told her about the dog, still alive. This causes a fight, and Petri yells a lot.
Viejo and the vet argue on the road, and he kidnaps her. They track down the animal she hit with her car, and he makes her apologize to the carcass and bury it. He orders her to hit him over the head with a pipe, and she does.
When he wakes up, Viejo goes home and talks to his dog. He calls Lotta to come and take care of Piki; he says he’s going on vacation. He then gets in his special car and gasses himself. He’s almost dead when Petri and his friends drag him out of the car to rob him. Petri wants 550 Euros for the dog.
Petri pours gasoline on the dog. Viejo says he’ll pay if they don’t hurt the dog, so they go inside. The gang guys tell Petri to kill the dog as a punishment, but Petri still can’t do it. Petri then burns the dog, which is even worse.
The gang then goes back to their hideout to celebrate how tough they are by singing karaoke. Lotta arrives in time to find Viejo burying the dog. Viejo and Lotta are sad but also… angry.
Viejo shows up at the bad guys’ place with a hammer. He leads all four of them out at gunpoint. He shoots two of them in the kneecaps, Petri in the butt, and the fourth guy, who wasn’t directly involved in Piki’s dog’s death gets away.
Viejo goes after Petri, who runs away, bleeding all the while. “What do you want?” Petri yells. When Viejo pulls out the gas can, he knows. Viejo tells him how he learned to kill animals. As Petri screams and apologizes, Viejo sets him alight.
Viejo then douses himself with gas and then lights himself up as well.
Viejo wakes up in the hospital, fully covered in bandages, in the burn unit. Lotta is there, and she asks him if he wants to listen to “the music.”
Commentary
This is a weird one. The dog dies, as do many other animals. The trailer alone pretty much gives away the whole story, but it’s really well done and is surprisingly serious. You’re really rooting for some animal revenge on Petri, and he gets what’s coming to him.
It’s very good.