Day of the Animals

Day of the Animals
Poster
Directed by	William Girdler
Produced by	Edward L. Montoro
Written by	William W. Norton and wife Eleanor E. Norton
Story by	Edward L. Montoro
Starring	Leslie Nielsen Christopher George Lynda Day George
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography	Rober Sorrantino
Distributed by	Multicom Entertainment Group Inc., Film Ventures International
Release date	May 13, 1977 (1977-05-13)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Budget	$1.2 million
Box office	$2.8 million[1]

Day of the Animals is a 1977 American natural horror film directed by William Girdler and based on a story written by Edward L. Montoro. Premiering on May 13, 1977, the movie reunited stars Christopher George and Richard Jaeckel, director Girdler, and producer Montoro from the previous year's hit film Grizzly. Leslie Nielsen stars as the main human antagonist.

Day of the Animals tells the story of a psychosis brought on by depletion of the Earth's ozone layer. This madness affects all animals at high altitudes. A group of hapless hikers must survive the animal onslaught and make their way to safety, even as the psychosis turns them against each other.

In 1978, Film Ventures International re-released the film to theaters as Something Is Out There. Reviews on release were generally negative, but later commentators have been more favorable.

Plot

The depletion of the Earth's ozone layer by aerosols has been causing increased exposure to UV radiation at high altitudes. Scientists observe that animals over 5,000 feet in altitude become highly aggressive.

At Murphy's Hotel in an alpine village somewhere in Northern California, Steve Buckner (Christopher George) prepares to board a dozen hikers into two helicopters to fly up the mountain to Sugar Meadow, where they will begin a days-long nature hike. Local ranger Chico Tucker (Walter Barnes) privately tells Steve that there have been all kinds of accidents lately and maybe this hike isn't a good idea, but Steve refuses to call it off.

Steve and his group then set off, which after a short rest, the group is introduced; anthropologist Professor MacGregor (Richard Jaeckel). Frank and Mandy Young (Jon Cedar and Susan Backlinie) are a bickering married couple. A wealthy older woman, Shirley Goodwyn (Ruth Roman) and her son, Johnny (Bobby Porter). Paul Jenson (Leslie Nielson), an advertising executive with an angry, derisive sense of humor. Bob Dennins (Andrew Stevens) and Beth Hughes (Kathleen Bracken), a teenage couple. Roy Moore (Paul Mantee), a former professional football player sidelined by cancer. Terry Marsh (Lynda Day George), a television reporter. The steadiest person among them is Daniel Santee (Michael Santee), a Native American guide.

Meanwhile, in the restaurant of Murphy's Hotel, Tucker sits down with Burt, the local sheriff, and tells him there's been a spate of rattlesnake bites. At that moment a reporter on the television set over the bar says a White House bulletin is claiming that chemical waste released into the atmosphere has dangerously depleted the ozone layer, which protects all life from the sun's radiation.

On the mountain, the hikers stumble upon a camp where a fire is burning and coffee cups are ready to be filled, but nobody is around. Steve says the campers will soon be back. He leads the hikers to a nearby spot to bed down for the night. They build a fire, and while Daniel pulls Steve aside to tell him that something strange is going on in the woods. Steve asks him not to say anything to panic the others. The two decide to take turns standing guard. That night, as Terry wonders why the other campers haven't returned, several wolves attack Mandy in her sleeping bag. The campers chase them off, but Mandy's hand has been badly bitten and she needs to get to a hospital.

At daybreak, Mandy and Frank leave the others and hike to a nearby ranger tower to call for a helicopter, but birds gather in the trees and circle overhead. Suddenly, hawks swoop down and attack her, and before Frank can chase them off, Mandy falls over a cliff to her death.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the hikers continue down the mountain, Johnny picks up snatches of radio reports about an ozone emergency resulting in a chemical imbalance in the forest. When Johnny alarms the other hikers, Shirley shouts at him and accidentally knocks his radio into a creek. When the hikers reach a spot where food has been left for them, the boxes have been ripped apart by raiding animals and nothing is left. Jenson, challenging Steve's competence, says the group should stay there and wait for a helicopter to return, but Steve insists on pushing on down the mountain.

Frank is wading through a creek when he finds a little girl standing on the bank. Frank asks the girl where her parents are, but she is in shock and doesn't react to him until a hawk swoops down and makes her scream. Frank picks her up and carries her.

At the camp, after wolves attack the hikers again and injure Daniel, Jenson (who is clearly growing more crazy due to the radiation now affecting him) says he's going to walk back up the mountain to the ranger tower, which is closer than the village, and talks Shirley, Johnny, Bob and Beth into going with him. The others continue down the mountain. That night, as lightning flashes and rain pours, Jenson suddenly becomes violent for no reason by insulting Shirley and threatens to toss Johnny off a cliff. Bob and Beth realize they've made a mistake by coming with Jenson as he is the only human now affected by the sun's radiation, but before they can leave, Jenson kills Bob with a blow from his walking stick and drags Beth away to rape her, but large grizzly bear appears and Jenson wrestles the bear, which kills him by biting his neck out. Shirley and Johnny grab Beth and run away.

That night in town, Ranger Tucker is awakened by the telephone. Burt tells him the National Guard is in town to evacuate everybody above 5,000 feet where the radiation is the strongest and is making all animals go crazy and attack people. As Tucker hangs up, he hears something rattling and gnawing. He turns on the kitchen light, finds the room empty, and gets a plate of chicken out of the refrigerator. But as Tucker goes into a drawer for a knife, some rats jump onto the table. Tucker tries to stab them, but a couple of rats leap on him. Tucker runs upstairs to wake his wife, Rita. They hurry outside and get into their car and escape before several vicious dogs can bite them.

In the morning, after a night of walking, Frank and the little girl arrive in the deserted village. Outside Murphy's Hotel, a mad dog attacks them. Frank puts the girl inside a vehicle and grabs a hammer from a toolbox and makes a run for his car not far away. As soon as Frank reaches his car and opens the passenger door, several rattlesnakes inside bite him. This results in the dog attacking Frank and killing him.

Meanwhile, Shirley, Johnny and Beth take sanctuary in a grounded Park Ranger helicopter whose pilot has been killed by a pack of dogs.

Steve's group is attacked by another pack of wild dogs at a camp of dilapidated cabins. Professor MacGregor and Roy are both killed by the dogs, as Steve, Terry and Daniel Santee run. The three hurry down to the nearby creek and push a raft into the water, but as they push off, the dogs leap onto the raft, forcing them overboard. The three hang on as a current catches the raft and pulls it downstream through rapids while the dogs pursuing them on the raft drown.

Some time later, Shirley, Johnny and Beth are still in the grounded helicopter. Everything is quiet and the dogs are all dead. As Johnny and Shirley step out of the chopper, they hear another helicopter coming and wave their hands as it approaches.

In town, U.S. Army soldiers in hazardous-material suits approach Murphy's Hotel. Dead birds and animals lay everywhere, killed by the very same solar radiation that drove them crazy in the first place. Four of the soldiers see the little girl hiding inside the car were Frank left her and rescue her.

Not far away, Steve, Terry and Daniel are sleeping on the drifting raft when they hear voices and a distant siren. Looking up, they see a dozen people standing on a bridge, welcoming them back to the normal world.

In the final shot, a surviving eagle flies at the camera.

Cast

• Christopher George ... Steve Buckner
• Leslie Nielsen ... Paul Jenson
• Lynda Day George ... Terry Marsh
• Richard Jaeckel ... Prof. Taylor MacGregor
• Michael Ansara ... Daniel Santee
• Ruth Roman ... Mrs. Shirley Goodwyn
• Jon Cedar ... Frank Young
• Paul Mantee ... Roy Moore
• Walter Barnes ... Ranger Tucker
• Andrew Stevens ... Bob Denning
• Susan Backlinie ... Mandy Young

Production

The budget of the production was $1.2 million.^[2] Shooting took place at Long Barn, California, on Todd-AO 35 film. The cast recalled having a good time.^[3]

Animals for the film were trained by Monty Cox, veteran of such productions as Apocalypse Now and The Incredible Hulk, who partnered with cast member Susan Backlinie.^[4] Backlinie also doubled for Lynda Day George.^[2] Leslie Nielsen recalls being very impressed by the bear.^[5]

Release

Day of the Animals was released in U.S. theaters on May 13, 1977. A novelization, written by Donald Porter, accompanied its publication.

The film was released on VHS in pan-and-scan format. Media Blasters released a DVD print on April 25, 2006, under its "Shriek Show" imprint, featuring interviews with actors Jon Cedar and Paul Mantee integrated into a featurette.^[6] Scorpion Releasing published a Blu-Ray print and another DVD version in November 2013. The Blu-Ray and new DVD feature extended versions of the Media Blasters interviews, a sound track isolating Schifrin's score and the original TV spot.^[7] Katarina Waters hosts an introductory "Katarina's Nightmare Theater" segment.^[8]

On March 24, 2017, Rifftrax released a VOD of the film with comedy commentary by Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett.^[9]

Reception

Day of the Animals was mostly mocked by critics for its poor special effects, goofy premise, banal execution (derivative of The Birds) and on-the-nose environmental themes.^[10][11][12] Later reviews have noted that Leslie Nielsen's ruthless character is shocking for a modern audience raised on his work in comedy.^[13] Writer William W. Norton was himself disappointed in the film.^[14] Modest praise was issued by The Hollywood Reporter.

Some critics nevertheless recommended the film to fans of natural horror and disaster films of the 1970s.^[15] AllMovie compared it to Kingdom of the Spiders and Frogs^[6][16] Those who saw the film at a young age have formed a cult following of sorts.^[2]

References

External links

• Day of the Animals on IMDb
• Day of the Animals at the TCM Movie Database
• Day of the Animals at AllMovie
• The Hollywood films of William Girdler at williamgirdler.com

See also

• Dark Night of the Scarecrow, another early TV horror film
• Natural horror
• Grizzly