Les Assiégés

Thanks to uncaring tourists, a pack of wild dogs has slowly been building on Seal Island. Tired of devouring horses, the dogs decide to wag...er, wage an all-out man vs. beast war against the island's inhabitants led by marine biologist Jerry (Joe Don Baker, who qualifies as both man and beast). A pretty darn exciting horror-action flick from director Robert Clouse that re-teams him with Baker after the equally entertaining GOLDEN NEEDLES (1974). Baker is affable, but the real stars here are the pack of canine characters, led by a mongrel that probably spent his later years terrified of mono filament line. The last 40 minutes is basically NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD with dogs and the attack scenes are well staged with some superior slo-mo. The only thing lacking is a higher body count (a paltry 4 human deaths here). There are also some dopey bits like people always running outside and the characters not being attacked as they carry a dead body out of the house because, as Baker puts it, "we have torches." I'm surprised at how much the recent killer dog flick THE BREED (2006) ripped this one off.

On a small tourist island, a handful of people is besieged by a pack of wild dogs. What may at first appear to be a TV movie is actually an R-rated bloodfest, as the hungry canines tear into the folks and rack up an impressive body count. The movie has its share of scary moments, and is surprisingly exciting with carefully choreographed sequences of man versus beast. There is no hesitation on veteran action director Robert Clouse's part to show the dogs being killed in equal measure. One great scene has the hero mowing down several of the pack with his truck. Great musical score to boot. Joe Don Baker stars, and several familiar faces, among them Richard Schull, Bibe Besch and R.G. Armstrong, provide strong support. A must-see for action horror fans. Considering the film was made in the 1970s, it feels like it was shot yesterday.

After the cheap 'n' cheerful sci-fi movies of the '50s which sometimes featured mutant animals, the animals-on-the-rampage genre was promoted into an art form when Alfred Hitchcock scared us all half to death with his horrifying "The Birds". In the years that followed, we had killer sharks (Jaws); killer bees (The Swarm); killer whales (Orca); killer ants (Phase IV); killer amphibians (Frogs); and, believe it or not, killer rabbits (Night Of The Lepus). The Pack, released in 1977 with a cast of solid but not-all-that-well-known actors, is the inevitable killer dogs variation of the theme. When I sat down to watch the film, I expected little from it. Surprisingly, the film proved to be very well-made, with lots of excitement and some skillfully edited dog attacks, plus an unexpected injection of humour (sample: R.G Armstrong has a hilarious line, commenting upon the disappearance of an overweight tourist: "if he had any sense, he'd climb a tree. That is if he can get his fat ass off the ground!")

Marine biologist Jerry (Joe Don Baker) has been working on a remote island called Seal Island, where he has begun to build a house for himself, his girlfriend Millie (Hope Alexander-Willis), and their children from previous marriages. Seal Island has a fairly steady summer tourist trade, but once the holiday season is over the only folks left around are its handful of permanent residents. This year, a small party of bankers also stick around after the summer season for a little extra fishing and recreation. Things get awkward for the holiday-makers and the residents when they learn that a pack of dogs - mostly pets abandoned by tourists at the end of the season - are roaming the island. Starving and rabid, the dogs have started to target people as their likeliest possible food source. One by one, the people on Seal Island are hunted by the bloodthirsty canines and torn apart, leading the survivors to barricade themselves inside a building where they attempt to survive until the arrival of the weekly ferry.

Writer-director Robert Clouse (of Enter the Dragon fame) has fashioned a genuinely exciting story here. It's predictably plotted, yes, but Clouse quickly disguises the fact that this is an old, old story by introducing a clutch of refreshingly oddball characters and building an ever-present undercurrent of suspense. Because the cast is relatively unknown, it becomes hard to guess who will live and who will die (more than once characters you don't expect to get killed do just that, while characters who you're sure are about to be devoured unexpectedly survive). The dog attack sequences are very well handled and seem realistic, which adds to the film's excitement (in films like Nightwing, the animal attacks looked too fake, too funny, to be frightening... but not so in The Pack!) If you're searching for a rampaging animal movie that is actually good, then look no further.

The basic premise of this underrated 70's "Nature revolting against Humanity" flick truly fascinated me, because I've always been concerned about how it would affect dogs' most primitive instincts if they were to be abandoned by their owners. Every year, usually during summer time, you hear depressing reports about pets that are dumped, either tied up to trees or simply thrown out of driving cars, whilst the owners go on vacation and just don't ever look back on them. What goes on in an animal's head at such a moment? Do the instincts of loyalty and amiability slowly develop into aggression and even the urge for vengeance? Does their relentless treatment slowly stimulate a hate for humans? Personally I think this is a terrific outline for a low-budget horror movie, and in the competent hands of director Robert Clouse ("Enter the Dragon", "The Ultimate Warrior") it became a magnificently atmospheric and suspenseful thriller, with some very memorable moments and good acting performances. The events take place on a small vacation resort called Seal Island, where tourists mainly come for to fish and to enjoy nature. During the opening sequence, we witness how a family of three is about to return back to the mainland after their holiday but they have one more thing left to do, namely a tying up their cute and howling dog to a tree in the backyard. The animal eventually bites through his leash and joins an entire pack of abandoned and already bewildered of dogs, led by a vicious and truly menacing crossover breed. The pack gradually becomes more aggressive and devours horses and a helpless old blind man before reverting to their main targets, a group of obnoxious tourists and unsuspecting locals. This is easily one of the best "killer-dog" movies I've ever seen, and it benefices from a whole lot of secondary aspects like the isolated and claustrophobic island location, the detailed character drawings of the locals and the fact that the emphasis lies on tension instead of on graphic massacres. Joe Don Baker gives a terrific performance as the marine biologist who eventually also turns into a loud-barking pack-leader himself. The dogs – and then particularly the leader of the pack – are impressively scary, so big kudos to the people who trained them. I can image that this is what behaviorist spiral a once loyal and friendly dog goes through when mistreated like this. Clouse's direction is extremely solid and the cinematography is moody and splendid. The absolute highlight-sequences involve the fierce dogs chasing down an obese victim until he falls of some cliffs, the virulent dog-attack on the jeep and – of course – the fabulous end shot. Highly recommended… And continue to treat your pets with the respect they deserve!

The late film director Robert Clouse showed himself to be fairly versatile when it came to his projects. After having already made one bonafide classic with the martial arts actioner "Enter the Dragon" and the similarly fun "Black Belt Jones", he went on to do the futuristic sci-fi saga "The Ultimate Warrior". Here he tackles the "nature strikes back" sub genre with very enjoyable results.

It takes place on a resort island where the year round residents, and some visitors, now have to deal with the problem of a ferocious dog pack that is the result of vacationers having adopted these dogs for the summer and then abandoned them. Yeah, there's a real message in here about mankinds' callousness towards his fellow animals that gives this movie some appreciated (and not overdone) subtext in addition to its thrills.

There's no filler here, just a good, straightforward story (based on a novel by David Fisher) that moves forward at a decent pace. The rural scenery is, not unexpectedly, very nicely photographed and the booming music by Lee Holdridge is perfect accompaniment. The animal action is first rate - the principal trainer is Karl Lewis Miller, an old hand at that kind of thing for many years, and he gets utterly convincing performances from the canine stars, especially the primary antagonist, a mangy mongrel, and the pathetic straggler of the group whom we see abandoned near the beginning of the movie.

The human cast does not fare badly, either, with the ever solid Joe Don Baker, playing a marine biologist (!), as the kind of hero you can root for. (Of course, there are also the standard characters in this thing whom you pretty much *hope* are going to come to a bad end.) Hope Alexander-Willis is his appealing leading lady, and the supporting cast features such reliable performers as Richard B. Shull and R. G. Armstrong.

"The Pack" never gets too graphic, preferring to leave some things to the imagination, but doesn't skimp on the thrills, being genuinely exciting at times, especially in the last half hour. Overall it's more effective than the movie "Dogs" which was also released in that busy period, post-"Jaws", when a number of movies like this were coming out. It's entertaining all the way; that final sequence will just melt your heart.

Clouse returned to animal horror five years later with "The Rats", a.k.a. "Deadly Eyes".

Eight out of 10.