Day of the Animals (1977)

Why so much hype?

Powerful

From my favorite movies..

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

The opening caption tells us that in 1974 two UCal scientists revealed that fluorocarbon gases used in aerosol spray cans were seriously damaging the earth's protective layer of ozone. It warns that the potentially dangerous amounts of radiation (ultra-violet rays) that subsequently reached the earth's surface were affecting living things in adverse ways. Then the movie is supposed to dramatize what COULD happen if mankind didn't change its methods: the day of the crazed animals, especially those at high altitude! The movie begins with twelve campers, dropped off by helicopter, who hike in high country as spooky-looking animals (mountain lions, coyotes, bears, eagles, vultures, etc.) watch. Dogs growl menacingly; eagles screech. The owl looks like it has an evil eye. Sunrays shine menacingly. The unnerving music tells us that the folks are in danger. The campers have almost no food. Before long the animals attack the human campers; even the sheriff is attacked in his house. The police and rangers have notified the area's population to evacuate their houses in the high country. The campers split into two groups: (1) those with Buckner (Christopher George) head to lower country where it is safer but longer (35 miles), a route recommended by authorities and (2) those with Paul Jenson (Leslie Nielsen) head upland away from the safe areas but closer to a ranger station (15 miles). Jenson had been riding Buckner during the whole trip. Along the way he is a crazed man who loses his way. Wonder how many will return? HINT: the way these movies go you can bet that one-half will make it safely. Near the end there is one interesting scene that I have never seen in cinema. Three survivors of one group barely escape from wild dogs on a moored river raft. But before the raft can move quickly along the rapids several wild dogs overtake it. The humans hang on along the sides of the raft in the water while the animals are on the platform. As they struggle to stay afloat when the raft is caught up in the current, they cannot really harm the humans. Helpless, they will soon be tossed into the big drink. Gulp! Movie is rated so-so despite a rather impressive veteran cast that includes Nielsen, Richard Jaeckel, Michael Ansara, and Ruth Roman. Linda Day George, not a great actress, contributes next to nothing. Christopher George is a macho-man, along with Ansara. Out of character, Nielsen plays an advertising man who chews up the scenery, repels everybody, and calls team leaders George "Hotshot" and Ansara "Kemo Sabe." Later deranged by the sun's rays, he does despicable things and even charges a bear! Personally I doubt that the animals would act this erratic way and turn against humans if the ozone layer shrinks, but the idea does provide a story-line. By the way, did you notice that the animals did not attack one other? Smart! THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION: Women, stop using hair spray!

I am so glad I finally had the chance to see Day of the Animals. I've been a fan of William Girdler's Grizzly as long as I can remember. But for whatever reason, I had never seen his follow-up. So, did it meet my expectations? While I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Grizzly, it's still a fun ride for anyone with a taste for these animal attack movies.In this one, a varied bunch of would-be backpackers is helicoptered to the top of a mountain. The plan is to take a couple of weeks and hike down the mountain and out of the woods. Leading the hikers is experienced guide Steve Buckner (Christopher George). The rest of the group is made up of varied individuals including a boy and his overly protective mother, a couple trying to reconcile their marriage, a professor, a reporter, and an advertising executive. Things get off to a good start, but unbeknownst to the group, there's trouble brewing. It seems that ozone depletion is having a very negative effect on the animals at higher altitudes. The "negative effect" is the animals have all turned into killing machines with man as their prey. Can this band of novices make it out of the woods before they become victims? Man, do I love this kind of movie! It plays out something like a bizarre episode of The Love Boat with killer animals at every turn. But even I realize that Day of the Animals might not be for everyone. If you don't want to watch a band of ill-equipped, ill-prepared 70s types walking and talking their way through the forest, you might want to skip it. The actual animal attacks, while acceptable, are standard 70s movie stuff – nothing overly special or groundbreaking about them. The tension and atmosphere is also standard for a 70s animal attack movie. A shot of the people – a shot of the animal – another shot of the people – a shot of the animal getting closer to the people. If you've seen it once, you've seen it a million times. Fortunately for me, I get a real kick out of this kind of cheese.But the best part of the movie has to be the performance of Leslie Nielsen. It has to be the most over-the-top piece of acting I've ever been fortunate enough to see. You could look far and wide and not find anything that comes close to the scene-chewing on display in Day of the Animals. A friend of mine wrote the he almost gave the movie a 10/10 based solely on Nielsen performance. I've gotta agree with that. He's that amazing!

I'm pretty sure that if director William Grindler hadn't died prematurely, as a result of a tragic helicopter crash in 1978, he would have grown out to become Jess Franco's equivalent in America, with literally dozens of horror & cult films on his repertoire. In only six years time, Grindler had already directed eight films; of which some of them are quite derivative of each other. This "Day of the Animals", for example, is almost an exact copy of Grindler's earlier (and arguably most successful) creature feature "Grizzly", only there's a much wider selection of animal opponents – duh – and slightly more detailed character drawings. The lack of surprise makes "Day of the Animals" a rather mediocre late 70's flick, but it still comes warmly recommended to all fans of 'nature ferociously revolting against humanity'-films for several reasons. For example, Grindler maintains an effectively tense atmosphere throughout the whole film (even during the rather slow and occasionally dull first half hour), some of the animals' attacks are definitely exciting and there's a wide and interesting variety of characters trying to escape the wrath of the animal kingdom gone mad. Twelve of the most appalling people go on a guided hiking/survival trek in the Californian mountains and quickly notice there's a unusually strange and mildly unsettling ambiance in the air. Rightly so, because the overly polluted ozone balance upsets and completely disorientates all the animals and causes them to spontaneously attack the human trespassers in their area. Under the animals' siege, the group quickly falls apart and their petrified and obnoxious attitudes turns them into easy targets for the wild birds, wolves, dogs, cougars, snakes, etc etc... As mentioned above, the first half hour of the film is slow and slightly dull, mainly because there are too many characters that require a basic introduction. Their backgrounds are rather relevant for the rest of the film, so it's important you know there's the wise Indian, the troubled married couple, the ill football-player, the insufferable advertising executive, the gorgeous female journalist and so on. Still, even during these initial script-formalities, Grindler creates an ominous atmosphere using simple tricks like moody music and extended images of viciously staring animals. As soon as the group starts arguing constantly and falls apart, the story becomes slightly too implausible and particularly Leslie Nielsen's over-the-top portrayal of the ill-tempered business man is hard to take serious. The sequences in which Mandy ("Jaws" star Susan Backlinie) falls victim to a virulent bird-attack and Frank (Jon Cedar) desperately tries to avoid a wild confrontation with rabid dogs – observed by an already traumatized young girl – are downright brilliant pieces of pure suspense that reminded me of the best moments of critically acclaimed creature-features, like "The Birds", "Jaws" and "Them!". The ending, however, is severely disappointing, as I *** Spoiler *** was anticipating a typically disturbing and merciless fate for mankind, like it was the case in "Kingdom of the Spiders". Too bad.

Day of the Animals: 4/10: Filmed in glare-o-vision (either to emulate a world without ozone or to give me a headache) Day of the Animals ask what if all the animals went crazy and decided to work together to kill B-movie actors. Hmm.Unlike most nature gone wild movies that focus on one deadly animal (snakes, spiders, small dogs wearing the cutest rat outfits.) Day of the Animals, like its predecessor Frogs, throws every living creature at the cast. (Though in Day of the Animals defense unlike Frogs it at least sticks to animals, no one gets killed by the Spanish moss.) It doesn't work. It really doesn't work. The animal attacks are laughable. Rats and snakes on fishing lines are thrown at actors. A shirtless Leslie Nielson who gets attacked by a bear rug in a scene right out of that killer carpet movie The Creeping Terror. And, most laughably, the so called attacking dogs. Whom are downright lovable complete with wagging tails. (I've seen Benji look fiercer than those German shepherds whom looked every bit like they were chasing a miniature chuck wagon.)As for the acting, well you get a shirtless Leslie Nielson hamming it up (years before he did Airplane and "went" into comedy) and Jon Cedar channeling a third rate William Shatner singing Barry Manilow (you won't be able to get that Mandy tune out of your head.) The film in fact has plenty of cannon fodder (even that old comedic and anti-Semitic stand-by the overprotective Jewish mother played by Ruth Roman like she was directed by Leni Riefenstahl). It even has the Poseidon Adventure scene when one pig-headed group splits off from the other. Day of the Animals also has the worst DVD transfer ever. A third rate pan and scan picture and no chapters or even a title screen. And unlike its companion piece Grizzly it needed a good transfer. After all it's filmed in glare-o-vision.