Wild Beasts - Belve feroci

This is only okay but it has a very good start and if it had only gone a little bit further could have ad a sensational finish. The rats (mice?) and the lovemaking couple in the car is really well done to get things off to a scary, horrible and ultimately very gory beginning but although there is some fun to be had with elephants breaking out of the zoo and a cheetah chases a car down a high street (Frankfurt?) ir is not too horrific. Elephant foot on the face is not too pretty, I must say, though. Most interesting thing here is that the director is he of the Mondo Cane films and aside from the documentary style, Uncle Tom is his first dramatic feature. There is also quite an Umberto Lenzi feel here both with those constant zoomed close-ups of gory detail and the presence of Lorraine De Salle who also stared in cannibal Ferox and Ugo Bologna, here the police chief but also featured in Nightmare City. Interesting rather than gripping film and I can only imagine that to end when the children have begun to appear so menacing might have been in hope of a follow-up.

If you love Italian horror then you already know and have seen some of the best of the genre such as Suspiria, Deep Red, Demons, Cannibal Holocaust...

Well it turn out this one is a truly unknown hidden gem of Italian horror from the 1980's, starring Lorraine Desalle (Cannibal Ferox). No, it's not scary or that gory, but an entertaining and unintentionally hilarious animal attack movie, a perfect Italian B movie cheese. And it features real animals too instead of practical effects which is impressive.

So many cool scenes such as a jaguar chasing a jeep in the middle of a city, but the best scene is when tigers attacking passengers in a subway train. The scene is surprisingly suspenseful, this movie is cool check it out.

Franco Prosperi must really get off on killing animals, between this and all the shockumentaries he's done. This one's got some great sequences (shot in Frankfurt-am-Main) but never lives up to its great premise. Filmed entirely at night, the direction is clumsy and only rarely suspenseful. It's never boring or predictable but not terribly exciting or original, either. Though if you've waited all your life to see a naked woman get eaten by rats, here's your chance.

Dangerous zoo animals escape from their cages and run amok in the city after drinking water contaminated by PCP (a hallucinogenic drug also known as angel dust, busy bee, peace powder, zombie dust and jet fuel).

Technically speaking, Franco Propseri's Wild Beasts is far from a good film, with clumsy direction, terrible performances and diabolical dialogue throughout; that said, it sure is entertaining, a cheesy trash-fest full of unintentional laughs and OTT death scenes, and what has got to be the greatest 'cheetah chasing a car' scene in movie history (on account of there being no other contenders for the title).

The bloody death and destruction on offer includes stampeding cattle running down pedestrians, rats devouring a couple having sex in a car, a woman's head stomped by an elephant, a seeing-eye dog savaging his master (he didn't see that coming!), and a savage polar bear attack on a bunch of kids (who, having drunk some PCP themselves, also become killers!).

This being an early-80s Euro-horror, there is also some incredibly un-PC content which only adds to the bonkers exploitation vibe: not only does Prosperi deliver a gratuitous topless shot of obnoxious pubescent schoolgirl Suzy (Louisa Lloyd ) within the first few seconds, but there is enough real animal violence on display to give PETA supporters an instant coronary—animals were most definitely harmed during the making of this motion picture (sucks to be a rat in the European horror movie business).

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

WILD BEASTS is the tender, joy-filled tale of what happens when PCP is introduced to the drinking water of zoo animals, driving them berserk. Cuddly critters make their escape, dining on unwary human snacks, after an elephant destroys the cage locking system.

From the infamous "rat attack" and "elephant car stomping" scenes, to the all-out shred-a-thon of the big cats' feeding frenzy, this movie makes other such films appear timid by comparison!

Unfortunately, as with many Italian gore films of the era, animal cruelty is included, sending several real animals to their premature, unnecessary doom. Still, in spite of all of its ludicrous elements, WB does manage to be entertaining throughout. Some of the more memorable scenes show a cheetah, a polar bear, cattle, etc., on the move down city streets or school hallways!

Stars exploitation movie regular, Lorraine De Selle as Laura.

Warning: Nothing can prepare you for the "shock" finale!...