Another killer animal movie, this one (from 1984) has a bit more going for it than most thanks to the carnage it tries to depict and the bizarre explanation of events. It’s also not one for animal lovers to watch, mainly due to the mistreatement of animals onscreen, be it real (as claimed by some) or created by movie magic.
Everything starts going wrong when a bunch of zoo animals break out and go on a killing spree. Nobody knows just why this has happened, and few would think that it’s all because of the water supply being contaminated with PCP. Laura Schwarz (Lorraine De Selle) is trying to solve the problem and also has to get to her daughter (Louisa Lloyd, playing an annoyingly precocious young lass). Laura is being helped by Rupert Berner (John Aldrich) and the movie focuses on these two people for the majority of the runtime, moving occasionally to take in another moment of death by animal.
We’ve got an undisclosed European country here, a lot of dubbing, the mistreatment of animals, poor editing and murky camerawork and plenty of bloodshed – it all adds up to an Italian horror from the 80s, which is exactly what it is. Fans of this kind of stuff will enjoy what’s on display while everyone else will roll their eyes and wonder how anyone can watch such nonsense.
Despite it’s many failings, Wild Beasts does better than many other beasts vs. man movies of the era thanks to the way it ropes in every variety of animal available in any large zoo, the leads trying to discover just why the animals are suddenly all murderous and the pacing between each death scene.
The acting is as risible as you would expect but that’s not a major obstacle to overcome in a movie where you just want to see what the next death will be and which animal will cause it.
The script, by director Franco Prosperi, is inconsequential but things move from A to B to C briskly enough and there’s an enjoyably dark turn of events in the final act arguably more shocking than anything preceding it.
Wild Beasts is not hailed as a classic, and most likely it never will be, but it’s actually a lot of fun while it’s on and never dull, unlike some other entries in this particular sub-genre.
DIRECTOR: FRANCO PROSPERI
STARS: LORRAINE DE SELLE, JOHN ALDRICH, UGO BOLOGNA, LOUISA LLOYD
RUNTIME: 92 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: ITALY
Film Rating: