Directed by, written by and starring Blake O’Donnell (who also co-directed, co-wrote and co-starred in Bergeron Brothers: Wedding Videographers with Benjamin Dietels, who is also in this movie), Guerilla Dogs is the story of three soldiers — Runway (O’Donnell), Hedgetrim (Dietels) and Wax (Ryan Lintner) who are struggling to not only keep it together but to keep a hostage named Mr. Money (Seth Gontkovic) in a time of war.

Denied nearly everything and forced to survive in the midst of a thick forest — never have the woods of my beloved Western Pennsylvania felt more like Apocalypse Now — these three feel like more of a danger to themselves than to any other military.

Everything is for the cause, which is never truly defined, yet that seems to be the way war works in the real world, even if you don’t spend it chasing a ball made of torn-apart underpants. Each night, they force Mr. Money to speak highly of the Cause and tell the world that he is being well taken care of.

And then they meet the Effect, who they have to escape being political prisoners of. There’s also some moonshine that very well could be poisonous in a bonding time gone wrong and then things seem to go on a downward trajectory for our boys. Yet if they find themselves adaptable, they’ll survive this war.

Guerrilla Dogs is weird and I mean that with the best of intentions. It’s earned weird. There’s no real description of why or where or how this war is happening, just that we’re in the middle of it and for these guys, it’s Hell. Yet they’re finding some way to survive or at least find the kind of routines that will make them delirious. Honestly, I have a lot of questions and luckily, I can pester Ben the next time I see him at the drive-in.

Also — I love the way this way filmed. The initial chase between the guys has some incredible overhead shots and is really well edited, too. It set up that this was a next level from the already great Bergeron Brothers.

Guerilla Dogs was watched as part of The GenreBlast Film Festival which is from August 31 to September 3. All screenings for GenreBlast are held at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. Passes are on sale through The Alamo Drafthouse Winchester. Learn more at the official site.