William Girdler’s penultimate film, “Day of the Animals” from 1977, was made in response to the overwhelming success of his “Grizzly” the year previous. It combines elements of the disaster movie with the vengeful animal scenario popular at the time. Though its ozone depletion angle gives it a prescient edge over “Grizzly,” it doesn’t make the film itself any more entertaining. “Day” surrounds a group of doomed back packers on a hiking expedition through some scenic California mountains. Helicopters drop our victims-to-be off at the top of a mountain where the local animal life seems to be taking an unusual interest in their actions. Christopher George (the star of “Grizzly”) plays mountain guide Steve Buckner who leads the disparate characters through the hiking trail. Each character is introduced, Irwin Allen-style, in broad strokes; the bickering married couple hoping to rekindle their romance, the kvetching mother and teen son, the wise professor, the TV journalist, the retired football player, etc. Leslie Nielsen (before he became bankable again) plays loud mouth advertising exec Paul Jenson. George’s wife Lynda Day George is sexy TV journalist Terry Marsh, Richard Jaeckel is shutterbug Prof. MacGregor and pre-“Manitou” Michael Ansara is the spiritual Indian Daniel Santee.

During the first night of camp resentful lawyer’s wife Mandy (Jaws’ Susan Backlinie) is savagely attacked by wolves. The next morning Buckner sends the wounded woman and her husband Frank (Jon Cedar) in the other direction to get help. Nothing’s going to ruin this hiking expedition! The couple are followed by menacing birds who end up attacking the scarred Mandy and driving her off a cliff. The following evening our intrepid hikers are attacked by wildcats and finally come to the conclusion that something might be amiss. In town news reports reveal the horrifying reason for the animals aggression: the depletion of the ozone layer. What’s worse is that the effect of the ozone break is even more concentrated in the higher elevated areas. The small mountain town declares martial law and is evacuated, but not before the Sheriff (Michael Andreas) is attacked by flying rats. As the hikers attempt to make it down the mountain, lazy screenwriting dictates that infighting break out among the group. For no apparent reason, Jenson gets testy and insists that everyone walk back up the mountain to one of the closer contact stations. This splits up the group and gives the film an unnecessary human villain for the audience to hate (and root for violent comeuppance). Young, wandering aimlessly, happens upon a little girl (Michelle Stacy) who has seemingly lost her family to the day of the animals. The two seek shelter at a deserted campsite while the rest of the fractured team fend off more animal attacks including a grizzly bear and a pack of wild dogs. The film follows the three groups of survivors as they attempt to stay alive until help arrives - or they make it back to civilization. Who will survive “The Day of the Animals?” And, more importantly, will anyone care by its anticlimactic conclusion?

“Day of the Animals” is easily one of Girdler’s more mediocre efforts. While the cast does what it can with the cardboard characterizations, the uneven storytelling and excruciating dialogue quash any attempt at empathy or suspense. George is solid, as usual, as the lead, though his cowboy twang makes his awkward dialogue even more painful. Nielsen’s performance is very broad and somewhat comical, but it’s unlikely anyone could have made that annoying character work as written. Jaeckel, Lynda Day and Ansara are all perfectly fine, but the script, credited to producer Edward L. Montoro, gives them nothing substantial to work with. It is interesting to note that while the set-up of the film introduces characters with ready-made conflicts, not one of their stories is “resolved.” The bickering couple fights to the end, bitter mom and resentful son have no real resolution; the only character who gets to enjoy the typical film arc is Nielsen - whose wacko exec gets his just deserts by way of killer bear. Stranded without the benefit of the “Jaws” template to work off of, the script meanders until it’s time for the movie to end.

After being sued by the writers of “Grizzly” for their share of the profits (and losing), Montoro took no chances and evidently decided to have a hand in writing this follow-up. The infamous producer of “Beyond the Door,” “Don’t Go in the House,” “Great White” and dozens more wrote this rare non-hit for his own company Film Ventures International. Part of its failure might have been its poor advertising campaign; something that was rare for Film Ventures. Say what you will about the quality of FVI films, their ad campaigns were inspired and always honest. Even “The Dark,” a dreadful, confusing piece of schlock had a great TV ad ‘Now there’s a reason to be afraid of the dark!’ and intriguing newspaper and one-sheet art. “Day of the Animals” went through several one-sheet variations, none of them half as interesting as that spectacular “Grizzly” one-sheet. It was re-released a few years later and given a title change to the vague “Something is Out There.” This change did little to pique the interest of the drive-in crowd. “Day” does have several positive aspects; great cinematography by Robert Sorrentino, a solid score by Lalo Schifrin (who would also give “The Manitou” a creepy score), and superior suspense sequences. There are some great animal attack sequences, especially compared to the clumsy bear action in “Grizzly.” Backlinie’s attack by the birds even rivals her opening moment in “Jaws.” Before a matte shot breaks the illusion.

This is another solid DVD package by the Shriek Show team, hindered only by the misinformation in the copy about the film transfers. Presented on one disc are the two different versions of “Day of the Animals.” A “vintage” theatrical print of the re-tilted version called “Something is Out There” and a “pristine” television master retaining the original title. Though neither version could be called pristine, the TV edit is the far superior transfer. The picture is fairly sharp with few artifacts or color imbalances. As for the “vintage” print of “Something,” well, let’s just say it feels like an authentic drive-in experience. This is a very rough print of the film, filled with scratches, artifacts and washed out color in several scenes. This doesn’t necessarily make it a disappointment; it’s a fun viewing for those who recall those scratchy drive-in prints. But the copy is a bit misleading and “vintage” doesn’t even begin to describe the condition. They are both presented in widescreen - though in different ratios; the truncated television picture at 1.85:1 and the preferable theatrical version at 2.35:1 which preserves Sorrentino’s beautiful cinematography. The Dolby Digital mix services the TV version a bit better; the theatrical print suffering from the pops and breaks of well-used celluloid. It must be said however that during a quiet moment at the beginning of the theatrical print (while wearing headphones) this reviewer experienced a warm flashback. Those old drive-in speakers would pick up every nuance of a film’s soundtrack - including the worn celluloid as it ran through the projector. Digital purists will surely yell ‘bullshit!’ and write endless angry feedback reviews on Amazon and other sites, but this reviewer was content, if not thrilled, by the “vintage” transfer. Included on this release is a host of extras including commentary with the wonderful Linda Day George, her co-star Jon Cedar and “horror icon” Scott Spiegel. It’s one of the more informative commentaries for an older exploitation film in quite a while. Though Spiegel can be a little annoying, there’s no denying his passion for exploitation film - and he keeps the dialogue (and arcane trivia) going full throttle throughout. Also included are on camera interviews with Cedar, Backlinie and actor Paul Mantee, two trailers for each version of “Day” (neither one very exciting) and a photo gallery. It’s a solid package for such an obscure film - and the perfect second bill for Girdler’s “Grizzly.”