DAY OF THE ANIMALS (1977)

Director: William Girdler

Writers: William W. Norton, Eleanor E. Norton, Edward L. Montoro

Producers: Edward L. Montoro, David Sheldon (uncredited)

Cast: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Leslie Nielsen, Michael Ansara, Paul Mantee, John Cedar, Susan Backlinie, Richard Jaeckel, Ruth Roman, Bobby Porter, Andrew Stevens, Kathleen Bracken, Walter Barnes, Michelle Stacy, Michael Andreas, Gil Lamb, Jan Andrew Scott, Gertrude Lee, Garrison True, Walt Gorney (uncredited), Mike Clifford (uncredited) 

Depletion of Earth’s ozone layer is allowing unfiltered ultraviolet radiation to affect the behavior of animals and turning them aggressive. The radiation levels have the most extreme effects at higher altitudes. The many beasts in the California mountains menace a group of hikers trying to get back to civilization. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

1954’s film The Naked Jungle climaxed with Charlton Heston’s South American plantation owner character trying to defend his property against an approaching wave of army ants. Then Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 classic The Birds probably set the standard for the nature attacks movies. It was not until the ecology conscious '70s that the animal vs. man theme became the impetus for many a fright flick. Aside from the individual animal freaks of Jaws (1975) and Grizzly (1976), there were the animal armies united to wipe out humans in films such as Frogs (1972) and Piranha (1978). Director William Girdler dealt with both forms of this horror sub-genre; first in the aforementioned Grizzly, and then the following year in Day of the Animals.

Some of the animals-attack-man movies had no specific reason for the beasts’ homicidal behavior. Others had a man use his animals as murder weapons. More, however, had the animals become a menace due to the unforeseen consequences of man’s environmental contamination. Day of the Animals is dealing with this latter situation. 

The film opens with another '70s habit of the grim expositional text appearing on screen to lend a bit of gravitas and truth to the subject matter of the story. This film does not pretend to be based on a true story, but wants us to believe it is possible in the near future due to the very real and contemporary concern about depletion of Earth’s ozone layer by man-made fluorocarbons used in so many aerosol products. Like the radiation fears of the '50s justifying the mutated menaces of so many movie monsters in that era, ozone layer depletion is the unlikely culprit that drives animals crazy. Once again, a very real worldwide threat is used to justify the creation of a movie menace to thrill and chill the audience. For horror junkies, like myself, that’s making the best of a bad situation. 

This film also seems to be a variation on that other '70s film genre: the disaster film. We have here a diverse cast of characters stuck in a dangerous situation. Most of them are given just enough of a back-story to maintain their individuality. In the course of the ongoing dangers they face, conflicts arise between them. 

Heading up this cast of unfortunate characters are two of the stars from William Girdler’s previous film Grizzly: Christopher George and Richard Jaeckel. George’s wife and frequent co-star Lynda Day George joins him. Susan Backlinie, the shapely first victim in Jaws, is on the receiving end of more animal aggression here. Behind the scenes, Backlinie also assisted her husband wrangling some of the animals used in this film. John Cedar plays her character’s nearly estranged husband. Ruth Roman, from Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951), plays the nagging single mother of her young son (Bobby Porter). Andrew Stevens appears here in an early role with Kathleen Bracken as his girlfriend. Two familiar faces from television, Michael Ansara and Paul Mantee, are also in this group of hikers. 

Speaking of familiar faces from television, in the '70s Leslie Nielsen frequently appeared as the guest star heavy in network crime dramas. No matter how despicable he may have been in those roles, they were only warm-up acts for his awesome assholism in Day of the Animals. With him around, hiking is never boring. As advertising executive Paul Jenson, Nielsen is the perfect example of the character you love to hate. He is arrogant, insensitive, opinionated, snide, and hilarious. That’s all before his character takes a turn for the worst and he devolves into a caveman. When burly Leslie Nielsen grabs a small boy by the collar and roars into his face calling him a “little cockroach,” a new pedestal in the Movie Villains Hall of Fame has to be furnished for him. 

Aside from the animal menace to the hikers, the conflict between Christopher George’s hiking guide Steve Bruckner and Leslie Nielsen’s Paul Jenson is the other main point of interest in this film. Despite the fact that Jenson is a jerk, he does not seem completely unreasonable when he displays increasing criticism of Bruckner’s leadership. Of course, all of this seems a bit suspect because Jenson is a conceited blowhard that is completely out of his element in the great outdoors. His ego is driving his attempt to take command. Yet there is the very real concern that Bruckner’s hiking plan seems to keep running into unforeseen disasters. This results in a division in the hiking group between those still being led by Bruckner and those choosing a different direction to be led by Jenson. To find out which leader is most capable you’ll have to watch the film, but Leslie Nielsen’s Paul Jenson led march is certainly the most entertaining.