Wild Beasts - Belve feroci

My review was written in June 1986 after watching the movie on Lightning video cassette.

"Wild Beasts" is an Italian horror feature that underscores the current dilemma between fantasy and realism in the shriek genre. Filmmaker Franco Prosperi applies his experience in the "Mondo Cane" school of shock tactics to a science fiction theme with technically good results but an audience turnoff and counter-productive to the film's socially conscious theme. Pic was made in West Germany in 1982 tith alternate title "Savage Beasts" and has been released domestically to the home video trade.

Premise is that PCP (angel dust) has seeped into the water supply of a German city as a result of industrial waste, with the immediate result that animals in the local zoo freak out, break out (aided by a power outage) and go on the rampage. Along with a horde of sewer rats the revenge of abused Mother Nature in the form of zoo beasts quickly turns into a disaster film mode. Zoo scientist Rupert Berner (John Aldrich), police inspector Nat (Ugo Bologna) and reporter Laura (Lorainne de Selle) lead the fight to save humanity.

Prosperi's talented special effects and animal experts crew provide the utmost realism to even absurd stagings, such as a polar bear attacking the dance class that Laura's daughter Suzy (Louisa Lloyd) attends. Some footage, such as flamethrowers applied to the horde of rats, looks real rather than faked. Mixed with the usual overdone makeup effects of gorily mangled human victims, the thrills are gruesome rather than entertaining. Just as in so many Italian-made cannibal films, the message alerting us to stop raping the environment gets lost in the urge to maximize the titiallation value of the horror scenes..

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.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Wild Beasts; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.50 Direction: 1.50 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.50

TOTAL: 7.00 out of 10.00

I have to state that after watching this movie, I was more than considerably impressed. I can understand the saying, never work with animals and children, so I have great respect for the guys and gals in this flick as they had to cope with both. Moreover, they do it so well. Remember, they filmed this movie before CGI was a dream in Pixar's Luxor Jr's shining eye. These beasts are real - Real Claws - Real Teeth.

The story writer and director Franco Prosperi delivers to the audience is a logical and enjoyably lively succession of animal attacks. Everything appears normal at the unnamed European City's Zoo. (Leaving it unnamed was a great idea because it enforces the notion that these events could happen anywhere. Sadly, in the filming you'll see both the city's and zoo's names.) Franco introduces the audience to the principal characters in these opening sequences and displays the normality of zoo life. We see Professor Laura Schwarz and Rupert Berner, head-keeper and vet, making their rounds. They have to sedate and operate on a female tiger to stem the blood flow from her wounded nipples due to her cub's overanxious feeding. These unexpected moments and the busy workload keep Laura away from her daughter Suzy, who appears to be a latch-key kid of twelve or so - and there were quite a few back in the 80s. But that night, Rupert gets a call from the police because a pack of rats have turned ferine. Whilst at the scene of the fatal rodent attack, the animals in the zoo grow restless and start assailing the keepers. What's wrong with the city's creatures? Laura and Rupert are assigned the problem of solving the mystery. Will they be able to figure out the trouble, or will the incidents worsen? The characters are well written - though a few subtitle translations needed better revision as the dialogue is a tad unnatural. I loved Suzy; she's a tough, single-minded kid who isn't afraid to tell her mother that she needs more time with her than she's willing or able to give. I wish there had been more of her in the story. Another letdown of the story is the scope. I admired Franco's progression of the induced insanity - Rats to Zoo animals to pets to farm animals to humans. But once you learn the source of the infection, you begin to wonder why so few incidents had occurred. The scope needed to cover the entire city.

Franco, though he needed to polish the story a little more, didn't need to do anything with his cinematography. It's not perfect, and because of the imperfections, it works better. It possesses a grittier style that works splendidly with the subject matter. If you are squeamish, Wild Beast may not be your cup of tea. The opening sequence shows feeding time at the zoo. We open on a decapitated horse's head being cleaved in two. Yep, an actual equine noggin. Feeding time can be gross, but it aids in building the authenticity of the zoo. And Franco maintains the naturalness throughout the movie - well, almost. The polar bear at the ballet class was a little hard to swallow - it's all that fur; it gets stuck in your throat. He keeps the pictures' realism simply and effectively. He utilises real animals whenever he can. But will then substitute mock creatures for the kill scenes and more complex notions. In one sequence of a tiger attack, Franco films a stunt man wrestling a live tiger. Next, the tiger's been swapped out for a model big cat. Back to the real one. Then back to fake. Finally, when the big cats have defeated the man, we see two of them pulling their prey apart by the legs - a fake bloke. Franco keeps it tight and uses differing angles and quick cuts to make the whole segment appear realistic and ramp up the exciting tension. And for the most part, these work brilliantly; I especially liked the head-stomping elephant rampage. But there are times, like the polar bear and the jaguar attacks, where it doesn't work so wonderfully. The bear simply looked fake, and there's no genuine dread to the scene. But the Jaguar was okay until Franco decided the cat needed to tug off the shoes. The effects team bring in one of the worst-looking puppet Jaguar heads. Its jaws are solid, and they have trouble removing the footwear. It may have been better to have the actual cat remove the shoes from a false leg. These scenes display Franco's resourceful filmmaking. However, for most of the remainder of the movie, Franco adopts a routine filming style. Happily, he possesses a talent for composition and using light and shade effectively to create tense and dread-filled atmospheres. The subway sequence will keep you glued to the screen. There's one brilliantly thought-out death scene. We see a hand and arm slap down onto the counter in the zoo's control room. Heavy shadows enshroud the room. The fingers move as if they're walking the arm down the countertop towards the phone. They stop short of the dial. A man jolts upward from behind the desk - so it's not a supernatural severed limb - then falls back down - Dead! It's quick and straightforward, but I found it massively entertaining.

The cast isn't half-bad either, though they all could've done with a smidgen more pizazz in their performances. Antonio Di Leo as Rupert Berner needed more forcefulness in some of his scenes. I liked the character, but there are moments when he's too wishy-washy. And these instances come in the heat of the action when he should be more authoritative. The actress who does an excellent job is the young Louisa Lloyd as Suzy Schwarz. She has the pizazz the others are missing.

I loved this creature feature and admired the use of actual animals in most segments. Though I'm unsure if any got hurt or killed - it is an 80s Italian flick. That said, the story is entertaining and well structured with okay characters. But the situations will entertain the viewers most - there's a cheetah running through the city streets chasing a VW Bug. So, if you like your Animals Strike Back movies, I suggest you give Wild Beasts a look-see. I'd also recommend it for a Friday Night Is Fright Night movie-fest whilst cuddled up in your loved ones' arms on a cold winter night.

Okay, Mister Polar Bear, practice your pirouettes while I check out his IMDb lists - Absolute Horror and Monstrous to see where he rated Wild Beasts.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Somehow PCP gets into the water supply that ends up driving the animals to attack people in this mid 80s eurotrash creature feature. Although the movie is never as fun as its concept promises. It still manages to be so utterly absurd especially when it concerns killer ballet dancer kids it's just fun and wild. What's really impressive is the real animals they used and I wonder how it all came together. The training must have been insane and I'm sure the film had some fatalities.

3.25/5

Gloriously insane "Nature Strikes Back" cinema from director Franco Prosperi, the "Godfather of Mondo", who delivers action and violence in very high doses, and has a body count...well, to die for. Much like many entries in this genre, the animal rampage is the result of human screw up. High levels of PCP contaminate the water supply of a zoo in a major European city. As a result, all the animals - including tigers, bears, and elephants - go crazy, bust out of the zoo, and terrorize the unlucky citizens of this city. The hero on the case is zoo employee Rupert "Rip" Berner (John Aldrich, in his only feature film appearance), and his leading lady is journalist Laura Schwarz (French beauty Lorraine De Selle, "Cannibal Ferox").

Prosperi decides early on, to Hell with good taste and common sense, and gives us a messed up horror film to cherish. Among our colorful characters are a daughter (Louisa Lloyd) who mocks and disrespects her mother, and a police inspector (Ugo Bologna, "Nightmare City") who obviously really likes to snack. The animal action is definitely first rate, and the various set pieces are comprised of actual animal attacks choreographed and supervised by circus trainers, and special effects. The delightful highlights include a cheetah attempting to run down a potential victim who's driving away, and elephants suffocating one person with a trunk, and stomping another chumps' head flat. (There really is some first rate gore here, as witness the after effects of a massacre by rats.) Prosperi wastes very little time in getting to the good stuff, and there's an amusing subplot late in the game involving that contaminated water.

Aldrich is a cheesy looking but entertaining guy, De Selle makes for a pretty decent heroine, young Lloyd is a definite hoot, and Bologna is a treat to watch.

If you love this genre, and haven't seen this one yet, I recommend you see it as soon as possible.

Eight out of 10.