Difference between revisions of "Day of The Animals"

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

m (Text replace - "align="right" style="border:1px solid black; padding:5px; margin:5px;"" to "class="filmbox"")
(New review and pics added)
Line 3: Line 3:
|-
|-
|-
|-
|[[Image:Dayofanimals2.jpg|300px|center|]]
|[[Image:Dayofanimals2.jpg|305px|center|]]
<center>'''Day of The Animals Poster'''
<center>'''Day of The Animals Poster'''
<div
<div
Line 15: Line 15:
* "Day of the Animals" radio spot
* "Day of the Animals" radio spot
</div>
</div>
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic01.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic02.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic10.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic03.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic04.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic09.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic05.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic08.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic06.jpg|center]]
[[Image: Day_Of_The_Animals_Pic07.jpg|center]]
|}
|}
{{USA}}
{{USA}}
==Also Known As==
==Also Known As==
Line 29: Line 40:
==Taglines==
==Taglines==
* A shocking vision of things to come...
* A shocking vision of things to come...
* For centuries they were hunted for bounty, fun and food... now it's their turn
* For centuries they were hunted for bounty, fun and food... now it's their turn
* The terrifying movie of a world gone mad!
* The terrifying movie of a world gone mad!
* This little girl has seen it... and she will never be the same again... She lived through the Day of the Animals!
* This little girl has seen it... and she will never be the same again... She lived through the Day of the Animals!
* Something Is Out There....something so evil it paralyzes the soul.
* Something Is Out There....something so evil it paralyzes the soul.
* There's no place to hide on...The Day of the Animals
* There's no place to hide on...The Day of the Animals


Line 56: Line 62:
* Cinematography by Robert Sorrentino
* Cinematography by Robert Sorrentino
* Film Editing by Bub Asman, James Mitchell
* Film Editing by Bub Asman, James Mitchell
== Review==
{{Horror}}
{{Science Fiction}}
{{Eco Terror}}
Having successfully re-made ‘Jaws’ with claws the year before, [[Grizzly]] director William Girdler must have figured that if just one bad tempered brown bear chewing on folks made for a scary movie then a flick that featured ALL animals turning grinchy and attacking the human race on mass would be a real pant-wetter!
Exploitation movie stalwart Christopher George ([[City Of The Living Dead]], [[Pieces]], [[Graduation Day]]) plays Steve Buckner, a denim clad mountain ranger who guides city folk on trekking adventures in the wilderness. Deposited by helicopter on a high altitude hillside the group prepare for a week of woodland wandering, fresh air and fishing. The characters are assembled from various soap opera clichés and contrived to rub each other up the wrong way when under stress like a B-movie version of an Irwin ‘Towering Inferno’ Allen production. There’s a nutty professor, a Beverley Hills mom who struggles to communicate with her young son, a football pro with cancer, and of course that perennial racist stereotype the Native American Indian with an almost supernatural sensitivity to nature. But unbeknownst to Steve and his party of outdoor types today is the day the teddy bears have their picnic. You see, mankind has been using too much hairspray and has fucked up the planet’s ozone layer. Consequently all the members of the animal kingdom have decided they ain’t taking any B.S. from those stupid humans no more. The armies of Mother Nature are mobilising for some payback. All over the world dogs are disgusted, rats are riled, lizards are livid and fish are furious!
Stuck halfway up a mountain our intrepid team start to think something might be amiss when an eagle swoops down at them and their camp is attacked by a wolf. One girl gets her face scratched and slobbered on and the next morning she and her boyfriend leave the group to go radio for help. They don’t get far before she’s attacked by buzzards and tumbles off a cliff. Things go from bad to worse when the group’s food is stolen by uppity critters and that night they are attacked by a bunch of cougars. And I don’t mean middle-aged women desperate for sex.
Leslie Nielsen ([[Creepshow]], ‘Forbidden Planet’) playing an obnoxious city slicker advertising executive, leads a mutiny. Splitting off from the main group and heading for higher ground along with Ruth Roman ([[The Baby]], [[Impulse]]) and son plus a pair of teen sweethearts he succumbs to the effects of the depleted ozone. Stripping off his shirt Nielsen goes native, stabbing the kid with a spear and attempting to rape his girlfriend. No-one else in his party cracks up so the implication is that ad execs are less evolved than the rest of humanity. The highlight of the movie for me is the sight of Nielsen, stripped to the waist and lashed with rain, wrestling a grizzly bear. As the animal attacks escalate the remaining group find their numbers dwindling and their fight for survival becoming more and more desperate.
In his short career as a director William Girdler turned out some genuine grindhouse gems such as [[Abby]], [[The Manitou]] and the blissfully titled [[Three on a Meathook]]. Girdler’s [[Grizzly]] is one of my personal favourite ‘animal-on-the-rampage’ movies and while ‘Day of The Animals’ doesn’t quite match its predecessor for gory thrills it’s still a helluva lot of fun. The location photography is impressive, the animals are all real (apart from a brief cameo by Girdler’s ‘Grizzly’ bear suit in the Nielsen wrestling scene), and the cast of veterans add colour to their otherwise cookie cutter characters. Christopher George is not a great actor but he has a certain weather-beaten charm. He’s always at his best when playing characters that are harassed and harangued because he has that kind of world weary face. That he finally loses his cool and pops Leslie Nielson one on the jaw in ‘Day of The Animals’ should come as no surprise; right from the start it’s a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ they come to blows.
The films limited budget curtails the scope of the animal apocalypse somewhat but Girdler uses the isolation of his protagonists to his advantage, focusing attention upon the dramatic tensions within the group. When the going gets tough Ruth Roman’s character wishes that she had stayed in Beverley Hills with other ‘civilised’ people and, as silly as its science might be, the film uses its hysterical premise to highlight how easily the pretensions of so-called civilization can crack under pressure with Nielsen’s descent into caveman mode being its most exaggerated example. Any of you animal lovers out there who enjoyed [[Frogs]], [[Kingdom of the Spiders]] and [[Night of The Lepus]] are sure to get a kick out of ‘Day of The Animals’.
'''Reviewed by [[User:Narcan|Narcan]] –  14 JUL 2012'''
__NOTOC__
__NOTOC__
[[Category:1977]][[Category:Films]][[Category:Eco-Terror]][[Category:William Girdler]][[Category: Lalo Schifrin]][[Category:USA]][[Category:WDEU AM 70]]
[[Category:1977]][[Category:Films]] [[Category:Reviews]][[Category:Horror/Thrillers]] [[Category:Science Fiction]][[Category:Eco-Terror]][[Category:William Girdler]][[Category: Lalo Schifrin]][[Category:USA]][[Category:WDEU AM 70]]

Revision as of 14:55, 14 July 2012

Dayofanimals2.jpg
Day of The Animals Poster
Day Of The Animals Pic01.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic02.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic10.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic03.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic04.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic09.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic05.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic08.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic06.jpg
Day Of The Animals Pic07.jpg

Usflag.jpg

Also Known As

  • El Día de los animales (Spain)
  • Dzien zwierzat (Poland)
  • Future animals (Italy)
  • Panik in der Sierra Nova (Germany)
  • Petojen päivä (Finland)
  • Something Is Out There
  • Ta Thiria ekdikountai (Greece)
  • Vilddjuren anfaller (Sweden)

Taglines

  • A shocking vision of things to come...
  • For centuries they were hunted for bounty, fun and food... now it's their turn
  • The terrifying movie of a world gone mad!
  • This little girl has seen it... and she will never be the same again... She lived through the Day of the Animals!
  • Something Is Out There....something so evil it paralyzes the soul.
  • There's no place to hide on...The Day of the Animals

Main Details

  • Released in 1977
  • Color
  • Running Time: 97 Min.
  • Production Co: Film Ventures International (FVI) | Mid-America Pictures | Montoro Productions Ltd.
  • Distribution Co: Film Ventures International (FVI) (1977) (USA) (theatrical) | Film Ventures International (FVI) (1978) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)

Cast and Crew

  • Directed by William Girdler
  • Written by Edward L. Montoro, Eleanor E. Norton, William W. Norton
  • Starring Christopher George, Leslie Nielsen, Lynda Day George, Richard Jaeckel
  • Produced by Edward L. Montoro, David Sheldon
  • Original Music by Lalo Schifrin
  • Cinematography by Robert Sorrentino
  • Film Editing by Bub Asman, James Mitchell

Review

Horroricon.jpg Scificon.jpg Template:Eco Terror

Having successfully re-made ‘Jaws’ with claws the year before, Grizzly director William Girdler must have figured that if just one bad tempered brown bear chewing on folks made for a scary movie then a flick that featured ALL animals turning grinchy and attacking the human race on mass would be a real pant-wetter!

Exploitation movie stalwart Christopher George (City Of The Living Dead, Pieces, Graduation Day) plays Steve Buckner, a denim clad mountain ranger who guides city folk on trekking adventures in the wilderness. Deposited by helicopter on a high altitude hillside the group prepare for a week of woodland wandering, fresh air and fishing. The characters are assembled from various soap opera clichés and contrived to rub each other up the wrong way when under stress like a B-movie version of an Irwin ‘Towering Inferno’ Allen production. There’s a nutty professor, a Beverley Hills mom who struggles to communicate with her young son, a football pro with cancer, and of course that perennial racist stereotype the Native American Indian with an almost supernatural sensitivity to nature. But unbeknownst to Steve and his party of outdoor types today is the day the teddy bears have their picnic. You see, mankind has been using too much hairspray and has fucked up the planet’s ozone layer. Consequently all the members of the animal kingdom have decided they ain’t taking any B.S. from those stupid humans no more. The armies of Mother Nature are mobilising for some payback. All over the world dogs are disgusted, rats are riled, lizards are livid and fish are furious!

Stuck halfway up a mountain our intrepid team start to think something might be amiss when an eagle swoops down at them and their camp is attacked by a wolf. One girl gets her face scratched and slobbered on and the next morning she and her boyfriend leave the group to go radio for help. They don’t get far before she’s attacked by buzzards and tumbles off a cliff. Things go from bad to worse when the group’s food is stolen by uppity critters and that night they are attacked by a bunch of cougars. And I don’t mean middle-aged women desperate for sex.

Leslie Nielsen (Creepshow, ‘Forbidden Planet’) playing an obnoxious city slicker advertising executive, leads a mutiny. Splitting off from the main group and heading for higher ground along with Ruth Roman (The Baby, Impulse) and son plus a pair of teen sweethearts he succumbs to the effects of the depleted ozone. Stripping off his shirt Nielsen goes native, stabbing the kid with a spear and attempting to rape his girlfriend. No-one else in his party cracks up so the implication is that ad execs are less evolved than the rest of humanity. The highlight of the movie for me is the sight of Nielsen, stripped to the waist and lashed with rain, wrestling a grizzly bear. As the animal attacks escalate the remaining group find their numbers dwindling and their fight for survival becoming more and more desperate.

In his short career as a director William Girdler turned out some genuine grindhouse gems such as Abby, The Manitou and the blissfully titled Three on a Meathook. Girdler’s Grizzly is one of my personal favourite ‘animal-on-the-rampage’ movies and while ‘Day of The Animals’ doesn’t quite match its predecessor for gory thrills it’s still a helluva lot of fun. The location photography is impressive, the animals are all real (apart from a brief cameo by Girdler’s ‘Grizzly’ bear suit in the Nielsen wrestling scene), and the cast of veterans add colour to their otherwise cookie cutter characters. Christopher George is not a great actor but he has a certain weather-beaten charm. He’s always at his best when playing characters that are harassed and harangued because he has that kind of world weary face. That he finally loses his cool and pops Leslie Nielson one on the jaw in ‘Day of The Animals’ should come as no surprise; right from the start it’s a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ they come to blows.

The films limited budget curtails the scope of the animal apocalypse somewhat but Girdler uses the isolation of his protagonists to his advantage, focusing attention upon the dramatic tensions within the group. When the going gets tough Ruth Roman’s character wishes that she had stayed in Beverley Hills with other ‘civilised’ people and, as silly as its science might be, the film uses its hysterical premise to highlight how easily the pretensions of so-called civilization can crack under pressure with Nielsen’s descent into caveman mode being its most exaggerated example. Any of you animal lovers out there who enjoyed Frogs, Kingdom of the Spiders and Night of The Lepus are sure to get a kick out of ‘Day of The Animals’.

Reviewed by Narcan – 14 JUL 2012

Newsletter
  • Grindhouse Database Newsletter
  • Exploitation books
  • Kung fu movies
  • Giallo BluRay