The 70's was - of course - the decade of killer animals. Most of them are actually quite decent, including Robert Clouse's The Pack, John "Bud" Cardo's Kingdom of the Spiders and eh... William F. Claxton's Night of the Lepus! Oh, and lets not forget John Frankenheimer's awesome The Prophecy - fans of mutade killer bears rejoice!
The 70's was also the decade of extremely good TV-productions and the US was in front of almost everyone (they couldn't be beaten by UK of course), often with high concepts, slumming stars, cheap production values - and very effective scripts. The Beasts Are on the Streets is made by no other than Peter Hunt, the director of In Her Majesty's Secret Service, Gold (Roger Moore's best movie!) and second unit and a little bit of everyone on the early Bond-films. He also directed The Wild Geese II, but I have no memory of that one so I won't comment.
It starts of really good. A typical disaster movie set-up: lots of characters absolutely everywhere - the staff (including Philip Michael Thomas!) at a zoo with African safari theme, some rednecks with guns fucking around on the motorway, a girl with an ugly hair cut, the local sheriff etc etc. You know the deal. It all leads up to a terrible accident when a truck filled with flammable liquid crashest through the fence of the zoo, out again and explodes in a sea of fire. This also means every damn animal in the zoo escapes! What's really dangerous are the lions, panters, bears... and ostriches! They start to attack people, first those involved in the big traffic accident and then a local tivoli!
Yeah, as I wrote above: this starts really good - and the rest is quite good also, but after the truly spectacular first half most of the animals are caught and now there's just a lion mother looking for her cub (and an ostrich, confused as hell, trying to find a new life in the suburbs). This is good, nothing wrong with that. Some fine thrills when the stupid fucking girl with her ugly hair cut takes care of the cut without understanding that it's a damn lion cub! Oh, I hate her. Just look at "it":
Brrr! Her cold, demonic face gives me the chills!
It's a pity the story doesn't go all the way with animal attacks over and over again. Now it kinda fizzles out during the last half, becoming more cute and nice and focusing on that little bitch up there. Still, I'll have to admit it's still a fine little production. Some of the animal attacks are actually among the best I've seen, especially for such a small production. Some of it looks quite dangerous, but I guess - like the sign in the beginning of the movie says - that no animals was harmed and yadayadayada. I really hope so. Some of it looks quite close to be a bit too dangerous for the animals, for example when a dune buggy almost crashes into a rhino!
Like always, this have no offical release (maybe on tape a thousand years ago?) and the version I've seen is a good-looking bootleg with fragments of commercial breaks from time to time. It's worth seeking up nevertheless, and if you're a fan of disaster and killer animal movies it's a must!
"The 70's was - of course - the decade of killer animals. Most of them are actually quite decent, including Robert Clouse's The Pack,"
Some fine stuff was made in this genre during the 70´s.
"Oh, and lets not forget John Frankenheimer's awesome The Prophecy - fans of mutade killer bears rejoice!"
Present!
Also, even though the film is not really fitting in this actionfilled genre, Phase IV (1974), Saul Bass was a genius.
"He also directed The Wild Geese II, but I have no memory of that one so I won't comment."
I haven´t seen that one yet, but if you get the chance review, Death Hunt (1981), uneven but entertaining flick with Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin.
"Some fine thrills when the stupid fucking girl with her ugly hair cut takes care of the cut without understanding that it's a damn lion cub! Oh, I hate her. Just look at "it"
She would have been perfect for a Excorist sequel.
"Some of it looks quite dangerous, but I guess - like the sign in the beginning of the movie says - that no animals was harmed and yadayadayada. I really hope so."
Well, you never know, but I hope not.
"It's worth seeking up nevertheless, and if you're a fan of disaster and killer animal movies it's a must!"
I will, great review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | June 22, 2013 at 14:48