After a series of strange animal attacks, the zookeeper in a small town comes to believe they were committed by the same killer black panther that escaped shortly before and reluctantly agrees to team up with several others to stop it once the creature leaves a trail of bodies in its wake.
This is a pretty decent and enjoyable effort. Among the more enjoyable facets here is the fun build-up to the creature getting out and being on the prowl which is certainly fun for these types of films. With the zoo-keeper already well aware that the creature is on the loose and responsible for the series of attacks in the neighborhood, this setup provides a fun counterpoint to a lot of creature features by getting the creature out quite early on rather than waiting for it to be free and go on its spree. As well, the storyline about his reluctance and eventual resignation that he's the best one suited for the job is a nice addition to keep things going since the main focus here is that the continuing attacks force him into action to stop it even if he believes he's not the right one for the job. It's a pretty serviceable and enjoyable change-of-pace in these kinds of films. On top of that, the animal attack scenes here aren't that bad, and have some fun with them. The majority are shot through the red filter for the animal-vision point-of-view that keeps it off-screen yet still able to stalk victims in their yard while tending to their gardens, leaving their children unsupervised on playground equipment or out for a jog in the neighborhood. That is usually switching up to include the initial shot of the point-of-view and then out to regular shots of them doing anything else to be distracted enough for the switch back into the creatures' vision for it coming out of the cover and attack provides some decent attempts at suspense here while still enabling the usual indie tropes of gathering up random bodies to be dispatched. The action throughout here isn't bad and pops up frequently enough to be enjoyable, especially with the way the finale goes off which shows the hesitation was all for nothing with how it's brought down. These all give it a lot to like while there are a few minor issues featured here. The main drawback is the fact that the cat attacks are obviously done through the point-of-view to distract from it never really being present on-screen. The only time we really get a glimpse that it's in the film is the opening narration scrawl that mentions the creatures, but everything else is done through the camera and featuring some growling heard on the soundtrack to denote its intentions. This is done to get around the low-budget obviously and is a feature, not all are going to be on-board for since they'll want to see a killer cat in a killer cat film. As well, the few scenes of padding that crop up without contributing anything, from the opening public service announcement, time spent with the student in the park drawing by the lake before going home who's never attacked, or the time at the club seeing the bands' performance are noticeable and tend to bring this one down slightly.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.
