The Day of the Animals

Summary

“Hey, hot shot. We’re out of food!”

Severin Films recently released two films by William Girdler – Day of the Animals and Grizzly. Both were successful films for distributor Edward L. Montoro and his label Film Ventures International. As discussed in the excellent supplement featuring Stephen Thrower, Edward L. Montoro was a crook who eventually disappeared off the face of the earth after embezzling a million dollars from his company Film Ventures International. Grizzly grossed $39 million dollars, but William Girdler did not receive his fair share of that money. He was unfortunately already involved in the next film produced by Edward L. Montoro – Day of the Animals. Whereas Grizzly was essentially a Jaws-with-claws rip off of the Steven Spielberg classic, Day of the Animals was closer in tone to Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Birds. Fans of environmental exploitation films will enjoy the admittedly zany plot and  antics of Day of the Animals. 

The film begins by highlighting the dangers of the depletion of the ozone layer. It’s plot is speculative science fiction that envisions an adverse reaction to animals caused by the depletion of the ozone layer in high altitudes. At Murphy’s Hotel in Northern California, nature guide Steve Buckner (Christopher George) gathers a dozen campers into two helicopters. Their goal is to enjoy a true experience of being dropped off into the wild for a couple days hike. Ranger Chico Tucker (Walter Barnes) warns Steve that their have been some heightened incidents of animal attacks recently, but Steve decides to take his chances anyway. In his crew of campers there are 5th avenue advertising man Paul  Jensen (Leslie Nielsen,) anthropologist Professor MacGregor (Richard Jaeckel,) distraught and despondent married couple Mandy and Frank Young (Susan Backlinie and Jon Cedar,) teeny boppers Bob Denning and Beth Hughes, wealthy spoiled Shirley (Ruth Roman) and her son Johnny, former football player Roy Moore (Paul Mantel,) television reporter Terry Marsh (Lynda Day George,) and Native American guide Daniel Santee (Michael Ansara.) Once the campers have reached their drop off point, they begin to notice that the animals are acting strange and the sunlight feels different. As they fight to survive different animal attacks from forest creatures, they must also navigate the worst instincts of some of the campers.

Day of the Animals is an entertaining and well-shot movie that falls directly into the tropes that you would expect. Mixing aspects of Lord of the Flies with The Birds, it delivers on its promise of animal attack action. The cinematography is strong and the soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin is very good. That said – this film is not exactly Shakespeare. The film was essentially critically dismissed when it was released, and it only did a couple million dollars at the box office which was a far smaller return than Grizzly had managed. For myself, I thought that the film (despite its somewhat ridiculous premise) did a solid job of maintaining tension. The animal attacks, which are performed in camera with stuntmen and trained animals, are extremely convincing and honestly frightening. There is a sequence where two mountain lion attacks occur at the same time and it is really impressive. It is easy to focus on the more lacking elements of films like this, but the truth is, a film like this takes a lot more work and skill in many ways than filming a conventional drama. The animal attack scenes are impressive, and the actors in the film are enjoyable. For my money, the best reason to watch the film is to see Leslie Nielsen play a sociopathic elitist jerk. He is really fun to watch in the film. I also enjoyed Christopher George in the main protagonist role in the film. There is palpable chemistry between himself and his bride Lynda Day George.

Overall – Day of the Animals is a pretty competently made animals gone berserk picture. Fans of the genre will enjoy it.

Video

Severin Films has provided a good looking transfer in 1080p of Day of the Animals in an aspect ratio of 2.38:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode from a 2K scan of the interpositive. I was happy with the work that Severin put into the release. Fine detail for the most part is solid and the film stays well saturated. The cinematography in the film is fairly lush due to the outdoors shooting locations, and the way in which the film was shot feels very much of its time. I was impressed for the most part with clarity of the picture and thank fans will be pleased.

Audio

Severin Films has provided an enjoyable DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track. The sound quality on the track is essentially reference quality, and the soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin is excellent. Clarity is solid and I had no difficulty understanding what was said onscreen. Obviously, immersion is limited. This is a good track overall.

Supplements:

• Nightmare USA Author Stephen Thrower on the Career of Distributor Edward L. Montoro – this is one of the most interesting special features I have watched this year. I had never heard of Edward L. Montoro before, and it was fun to hear about the conniving scoundrel that produced some of the more interesting B-movies of the Seventies and early Eighties. Watch this piece.
• Nature Boy – an interview with actor Bobby Porter.
• Against Nature – an interview with actor Andrew Stevens.
• Monty Cox Unleashed – an interview with animal wrangler Monty Cox.
• Lynda and the Animals – this is a short but enjoyable interview with actress Lynda Day George, who also was married to actor Christopher George until his death.
• Something Was Out There: Day of the Animals 30 Years Later – this is a great archival making of featurette. Well worth your time.
• Alternate Opening Title Sequence Something is Out There 
• Radio Spot
• TV Spots
• Trailer
• Audio Commentary with Lee Gambin, Author of Massacred by Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film 
• Audio Commentary with Actors Lynda Day George and Jon Cedar, moderated by Evil Dead II Co-writer Scott Spiegel

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4/5

Day of the Animals is an enjoyable piece of natural horror cinema. The premise itself is a little wonky, but the well choreographed animal attack scenes are incredibly impressive. The score by Lalo Schifrin is enjoyable and the cinematography does a good job of taking in the wilderness of Northern California. While the film is by no means perfect, I find it hard to dislike a film that casts Leslie Nielsen as an absolute jerk. The technical specs are solid, the supplements enjoyable, and the overall package is really well thought out. Fans of the film or the genre will enjoy this release from Severin!