ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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[Also released as: "Something is Out There"]

Director William Girdler took two of the stars from his 1976 film "Grizzly", put them into the same American wilderness situation, and unleashed a variety of murderous wildlife on them.

An unlucky group of backpackers are inexplicably attacked by the animals of the forest. The reason finally given for the animals' unusual behavior is the effects of unfiltered sunlight through an ozone-depleted atmosphere -- which, of course, is mankind's fault.

It's a variation on the old atomic-radiation-creates-mutated-monsters theme. Not a very good variation, granted, but that's about the size of it.

The film contains little of interest except a cast with several sci-fi veterans: Leslie Nielson ("Forbidden Planet"), Paul Mantee ("Robinson Crusoe on Mars"), Richard Jaeckel ("The Green Slime"), Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Michael Ansara, Andrew Stevens, and Ruth Roman.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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This must be a very weird movie!

In this clip, a crazed shirtless Leslie Nielsen tries to rape a young woman during a rainstorm, but he's interrupted by a grizzly bear . . . which HE then attacks!

Wow!
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__Day of the Animals — Leslie Nielsen Wrestles A Grizzly Bear


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Surely you're kidding?

[Gord Green]

Don't call me Shirley !

[Bud Brewster]

[Bogmeister]

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A bunch of backpackers in the wilderness run into a heap of trouble from crazed animals . . .

Stars a cast of several sci-fi veterans: Christopher George (Project X, The Immortal, Grizzly), Leslie Nielsen (Forbidden Planet), Paul Mantee (Robinson Crusoe on Mars), Richard Jaeckel (The Green Slime, Latitude Zero), Lynda Day George, Michael Ansara (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Star Trek's Day of the Dove), Andrew Stevens (The Fury), and Ruth Roman.

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I think the problem with most of these sci-fi/horror pictures of the later seventies, including the 'eco-terror' trend, is that they and the genre simply ran out of steam by the year of this film (1977).

The earlier ones, though not very good to begin with, still had some energy, and they poked a little fun at themselves. These later ones seemed to take themselves too seriously and were more dull.

The beginning of this movie has some info to read, explaining in pseudo-scientific fashion what "could" happen (ozone layer, etc.), almost as if this were a documentary. This type of gobbledygook reached a nadir a couple of years later in The Dark, where-in a similarly solemn explanation was offered for the appearance of a crazy alien from outer space.

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The film moves pretty slowly. The group of backpackers, led by guide Christopher George, aren't very interesting. Ansara does OK as an Indian, but Roman is downright annoying. Most everyone else is forgettable. I will say this, Leslie Nielsen (billed after George) is a hoot as the defacto villain of the group. Nielsen's problem during his early Hollywood years was that he was a bit wooden playing dull heroes.

Much later in life, he found a new niche in wild comedy (after Airplane in 1980).

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In between, he tended to ham it up as nasty sorts, as if he was preparing himself for the turn to all-out comedy. In the one almost-clever plot development, it's revealed that not just animals are affected by the change in our atmosphere. Certain people are, as well (aren't we also animals — mammals — just with more intelligence?). Nielsen, who starts out as a threatening closed-minded bully, becomes a downright dangerous psychopath by his last scene.

I admit I enjoyed watching Nielsen chew up (not literally) the scenery here.

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Chris and Lynda Day George were married and probably enjoyed playing their roles together out in the wilderness and getting paid for it. This didn't translate well to the audience. Bobby Porter, who plays the kid, also played a chimp in Battle For the Planet of the Apes] (1973). Nielsen grabs him and calls him a little cockroach here. Most of Porter's career was as a stuntman.

Not helping the slow pace are the numerous pointless shots thrown in of various creatures wandering in the woods — there's one of a tarantula, for example, crawling over a rock, meant to evoke a sinister feeling, and you expect it to bite one of the humans later. But, it doesn't.

BoG's Score: 5 out of 10

Some trivia: Sources say that the budget for this was $1.2 million, one of Girdler's higher budgets. Grizzly (1976) cost just under a million, while The Manitou, his biggest, cost $2.6 million.


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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My goodness, this minor movies with all the major stars certainly gets a lot of attention from Bogmeister!

His review is well written and respectful, and he really did a fine job with the images he included. I've never been tempted to watch this one, and even BoG's fine review doesn't change that opinion — which is not surprising, since he neither praises it nor criticizes it to any great degree. So I guess I'll remain blissfully ignorant.

Then again, this trailer makes it look sort of interesting . . .
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__DAY OF THE ANIMALS (1977) | Official Trailer #3


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

[Bud Brewster]

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Actually, when you said, "Surely you're kidding?" (with a queston mark), I just thought that when I made this outrageous statement —

"A crazed shirtless Leslie Nielsen tries to rape a young woman during a rainstorm, but he's interrupted by a grizzly bear . . . which HE then attacks!"

— you were asking if I'd exaggerated a bit. That's why I said to watch the video.

However, perhaps if you'd said, "Surely, you can't be serious," (the way it was said in Airplane) I'd probably have gotten the joke.

Gord did get it, of course, as shown in his humorous reply.

[Bud Brewster]

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Actually, when you said, "Surely you're kidding?" (with a queston mark), I just thought that when I made this outrageous statement —

"A crazed shirtless Leslie Nielsen tries to rape a young woman during a rainstorm, but he's interrupted by a grizzly bear . . . which HE then attacks!"

— you were asking if I'd exaggerated a bit. That's why I said to watch the video.

However, perhaps if you'd said, "Surely, you can't be serious," (the way it was said in Airplane) I'd probably have gotten the joke.

Gord did get it, of course, as shown in his humorous reply.