TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: DAY OF THE ANIMALS (1977)

DAY OF THE ANIMALS (1977)

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Nature run amok flick is one of many of this popular 70s sub-genre. Here a group of wilderness hikers are under siege from basically every animal in the park. The ozone layer depletion is the blame here, as the earth’s animals have had enough and decide to rid the planet of us pesky humans, starting with this bunch. Is there anywhere these folks can hide?

Flick is directed by WIlliam Girdler (Grizzly, Abby) from a script by Eleanor E. Norton and William W. Norton, based on a story by producer Edward L. Montoro. The film has a somewhat serious tone, which helps with such a silly story. Birds, bears, mountain lions and even rats are all on the attack and this group of campers and a remote mountain community are at ground zero. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as good as Girdler’s Grizzly and is a slow paced affair with most of the animal attacks coming across as more silly than scary. Shots of owls and other birds of prey staring at their potential snacks are fun and there is a mountain lion attack which works well enough, as does the wild pack of dogs in the last act. The bickering and whining between the panicking campers gets old quick and Leslie Nielsen’s alpha male, advertising executive engaging in a power struggle with nature guide Steve Buckner (Christopher George), gets a bit tiresome as well. Nielsen’s Jenson gets so over-the-top he becomes laughable. His bare-chested battle with a grizzly bear is extremely entertaining, though. The scenes of rival predators moving together as an army, under what appears to be the guidance of various birds of prey, do work better than they should. It’s too bad the animal attacks are few and far between, with things being far too talky for a flick like this. Too much melodrama and not enough mauling. Day of the Animals also ends very anti-climactically, when something with more “bite” would have served the film better.

Cast has a lot of 70s familiar faces. Christopher George is solid as nature guide Steve Buckner. Very much like his park ranger character from Grizzly. His wife Linda Day George, is a reporter. Leslie Nielsen is hilariously over-the-top as arrogant advertising exec Paul Jenson. This guy has issues and uses the situation to assert his perceived dominance. When the groups splinter, his abusive treatment of those dumb enough to follow him is hysterically tyrannical, as is his before mentioned bare chested battle with a grizzly bear. He definitely takes a badly written part into camp territory and not the camp one stays at when in such woods. Michael Ansara plays a Native American guide, a role the Lebanese actor played many times. He gives his Daniel Santee nobility and is the voice of reason between Buckner and Jenson. Richard Jaeckel is present as a professor and provides some possible scientific explanations. Rounding out is 70s TV and movie fixture Andrew Stevens and Robinson Crusoe on Mars star Paul Mantee as a cancer stricken athlete. A solid cast with not a lot to work with.

In conclusion, this could have been a lot better with a much better script. Grizzly proved Girdler could make a solid action flick, even from a derivative idea, as long as he had a good script. The film is very talky and very slow paced for a flick like this. The animal attacks range from effective to silly and it’s pretty tame bloodshed wise as it was a PG release. The character interaction gets tedious, as Leslie Nielsen’s tyrannical advertising executive gets ridiculous, despite an overall serious tone. There are a few moments and plenty of 70s nostalgia, but could have been a lot better.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 2 and 1/2  (out of 4) rattle snakes.

 

 

 

 

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TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)

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Produced by prolific 70s disaster movie producer Irwin Allen, this is simply one of the best, if not the best of the 70s disaster flicks. Story finds an assortment of characters, like a rebellious preacher (Gene Hackman), a New York detective (Ernest Borgnine) and a kindly Jewish couple (Jack Albertson and Shelly Winters) traveling from NYC to Athens on the final voyage of the S.S. Poseidon. It’s New Years Eve, and while there is a lavish celebration in the ship’s grand ballroom, a massive underwater earthquake triggers a 90 foot tidal wave and sends it in the aging ship’s direction. The wave slams into the vessel, capsizing it and setting the remaining survivors on a journey upwards through the upside-down decks, towards the hull of the ship in hope of rescue.

Flick is well-written by Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes from a book by Paul Gallico. What makes it a step above most others is that it is directed with passion and intensity by Ronald Neame, where most of these types of flicks are very by-the-numbers. The characters are well-rounded and appear very human and even our hero is flawed. The melodrama between them is kept to a minimum, as the action starts within the first half-hour and doesn’t stop till the end. Along the way we get some very thrilling action and escapes, as our group overcomes one challenge after another, all the while trying to keep their heads above water…literally. It makes for a very exciting and suspenseful two hours and the sets the survivors climb through are very impressive. It’s a maze of pipes and steel, either flooded or on fire and the benefit of this is that models and miniatures are kept to a bare minimum, making it far more realistic feeling than say, Earthquake. The cheese factor here is limited to the heavy 70s vibe and a few over-the-top performances like Stella Stevens’ ex-hooker turned policeman’s wife. There is also a heavier religious undertone, with it’s preacher hero and Israel bound Jewish couple, than is fashionable today, but I find that very charming and old-fashioned…as is the rest of this fun flick. There is a rousing score by John Williams and crisp cinematography by Harold E. Stine to accent a top-notch suspense thriller.

The cast here is not as obnoxiously star-studded, as some of these movies can be, containing more character actors. This gives it a more identifiable feel than with an all A-listers cast. Hackman really sells it as the preacher who walks to the beat of his own drum. He’s a bit more relatable than a more larger-than-life actor like Charlton Heston and more passionate in his portrayal. Borgnine gives us a Lt. Rogo with a fiery temper who battles Hackman’s preacher at every turn. The quality script and Borgnine being an absolute pro, makes the character more than a stereotypical antagonist. He’s angry, afraid and even though the two man battle for leadership, Rogo can be seen in a heroic light by the end credits. Albertson and Winters are very endearing as the old Jewish couple headed to Israel to meet their grandson. Winters can lay it on thick here and there, but is never out of control. We also have Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall, Carol Lynley and Pamela Sue Martin as accompanying survivors with Stella Stevens a bit overacting as Rogo’s wife and Leslie Nielsen, before Airplane turned him into a comic actor, as the ship’s ill-fated captain. A great cast.

This might be one of my all-time favorites of this era and genre. It’s well-written, intensely directed and has a wonderful cast of character actors to give some dimension to the struggling survivors. There is a lot of personal nostalgia, as it is another flick seen with the folks at the long gone Park Lane Theater, but is also just a really good flick that holds up to the test of time. It’s setting cleverly omits the need for SPFX that may be seen as cheesy in today’s digital world, instead settling for well-crafted sets and dramatic set pieces that still work. Add in some 70s nostalgia to an already solid adventure flick and you have a film that earns the title classic easily! Still as effective today as back in 1972!

-MonsterZero NJ

3 and 1/2.

 

 

 

 

 

TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: PROM NIGHT (1980)

PROM NIGHT (1980)

Prom Night is one of the more famous 80s slasher flicks mostly because it stars legendary scream queen/final girl Jamie Lee Curtis among it’s predominately youthful cast. It’s actually glossier and more sedate then most of the horror flicks of the time with a small body count, very moderate bloodletting and virtually no gore. It does have a lot of early 80s nostalgia though, especially with it’s very heavy disco soundtrack that fills the last act of this prom set horror.

The film opens with a group of kids playing a mean spirited variation of hide and go seek in an abandoned building. When little Robin Hammond (Tammy Bourne) goes to join her friends, they turn their attentions toward her and begin to chase and frighten her. Their really mean prank terrifies the little girl right out of a second story window and she falls to her death. Terrified at what will happen if anyone finds out what they’ve done, they all make a pact to never speak of this to anyone and flee. Though, unknown to them, someone has seen them. The police blame Robin’s death on a local pedophile and when they go to apprehend him, he runs and becomes involved in an accident which scars him for life. We then cut to six years later, the Hammonds, including siblings Kim (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Alex (Michael Tough), still mourn their loss as the anniversary of her death approaches…and it falls, unfortunately, on prom night. Complicating matters further is that the high school principal is Robin, Kim and Alex’s father (Leslie Neilsen). Also, at this time, not only has the deformed sex offender escaped, but the four really responsible for Robin’s death, Jude (Joy Thompson), Kelly (Mary Beth Rubens), Wendy (The Boogens‘ Anne-Marie Martin) and Kim’s prom date, Nick (Casey Stevens) are getting ominous and threatening phone calls. Someone knows who the guilty parties are and it seems the anniversary of Robin’s death will be a time of reckoning and the prom will be it’s setting. Has this crazed sex offender come to exact revenge on those who are really responsible, or has a witness to their misdeed decided to stay silent no longer and give little Robin some payback?

As directed by Paul Lynch, Prom Night is a slow burn which is actually fairly common at this point for slashers like this. Pacing and body counts would increase as the 80s horror trend continued, but at this point, Halloween was still the template, which had the creepiness build slowly then cranked things up in the last act. As such, Prom Night doesn’t gives us our first kill till literally an hour in, but from then on it’s a tense last act as our mysterious masked killer hunts down the remaining three victims in the high school hallways while the prom rages on. Lynch is not an overly stylish director. He’s fairly by the numbers, but does build some tension and anticipation with the creepy voiced phone calls and obvious clues that something at school isn’t right. Once the killer is unleashed, the pace and suspense pick-up as his prey are hunted down and slaughtered, as is anyone who might be with them. Lynch does a decent job here with the chills and thrills though, he is far from a John Carpenter.

The cast are all fine with Curtis doing her virginal final girl thing and the rest of the actors looking far too old to be teenagers. Neilsen was still in serious actor mode, but as Airplane also came out this year, that would change. Overall it’s a decent slasher and more-so the film has gained some really fun nostalgia three decades later especially with it’s disco prom complete with floor that lights up and even giving Jaime Lee Curtis and co-star Casey Stevens a Saturday Night Fever-ish dance number that hilariously goes on far too long. The kills are simple but effective and it has enough of what fans look for in slasher flicks in it’s last act. It doesn’t really give us too many suspects to choose from, but the reveal works and actually evokes some sympathy for our killer.

Prom Night was a successful flick and spawned a number of sequels, none of which have anything to do with the original, a film now considered an 80s classic. It used a time honored slasher formula… someone violently avenging a wrongful death and represents this era of early 80s horror fairly well. Not a great movie, but well done enough and very representative of it’s time. There was also a forgettable remake in 2008 which hardly qualified as a remake as it actually used just the title, but had it’s own storyline.

3 glass shards… one of our Prom Night killer’s preferred weapons of choice.