A motley crew of whining city-slickers on vacation traverses the wilderness at altitude under the watchful eye of guide George and his faithful American Indian companion Ansara, until the animals that inhabit the region turn rabid. Despite its ominous prediction, "Day of the Animals" remains a fairly low-key action thriller, tame by both the genre and Girdler's standards.Director Girdler continues to promote a perverted conservation agenda by using animals to inflict the natural world's revenge on mankind's neglect, highlighting the message he more vaguely introduced in "Grizzly". Much of the same personnel were employed for this outing, although his earlier success with the predecessor allowed him to boost his acting stocks, resulting in a veritable smörgåsbord of character actors and B-grade leads (Ansara, Neilsen, Mantee, Roman and Barnes in addition to the return of leading men George and Jaeckel). As the character's succumb to the harmful rays caused by damage to the ozone layer, they engage in strange and in some instances, downright absurd behaviour – Cedar's hallucinations and violent mood swings while Nielsen goes nuts-ville first murdering one of his stricken companions, then sexually assaulting the victim's wife, and in a corny contest, going mono-a-mono with a towering Grizzly bear (which for me was the film's crowning highlight).There's a lot of time devoted to the carbon emissions debate and the impact of mankind's toxic lifestyle on the earth's fragile atmosphere, well ahead of the populist campaign. Had Girdler lived longer, perhaps this message would have become more prevalent in mainstream films, such was the momentum and success he was building up to his untimely death. Photography is a highlight and while the film employs the tired disaster movie formula, the real stars are still the hawks, cougars, bears, dogs, rats and the rest of the menagerie that turn on the 70's star-studded cast in some well-staged attacks.

Hiking guides Steve Buckner (Christopher George) and Santee (Michael Ansara) take a group of civilians (including Leslie Nielsen, Andrew Stevens, Richard Jaeckel, Ruth Roman and, naturally, Lynda Day George) into the California mountains. What they don't know is that a hole in the ozone layer is allowing rays from the sun to reach animals and make them thirsty for human blood! If you are looking for the ultimate "animals gone truly wild" movie, check out William Girdler's entertaining-as-hell flick. This has snakes, birds, mountain lions, dogs, wolves, and bears (oh my!) stalking (in perhaps the greatest tribute to the Kuleshov effect) and going off. The cast is great all around with the stand out being Nielsen as a racist jerk ad man from the city ("Hey, did you know Indians can't cry?"). Girdler effectively stages several attack scene but seems to have dug himself into a hole regarding how to correct all of this at the climax. The end is a total cop out as the animals just roll over and die ("We're lucky it stopped when it did"). Regardless, it is a great ride getting there. I mean, where else can you get to see a shirtless Nielsen wrestle a bear?

I am so glad I finally had the chance to see Day of the Animals. I've been a fan of William Girdler's Grizzly as long as I can remember. But for whatever reason, I had never seen his follow-up. So, did it meet my expectations? While I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Grizzly, it's still a fun ride for anyone with a taste for these animal attack movies.In this one, a varied bunch of would-be backpackers is helicoptered to the top of a mountain. The plan is to take a couple of weeks and hike down the mountain and out of the woods. Leading the hikers is experienced guide Steve Buckner (Christopher George). The rest of the group is made up of varied individuals including a boy and his overly protective mother, a couple trying to reconcile their marriage, a professor, a reporter, and an advertising executive. Things get off to a good start, but unbeknownst to the group, there's trouble brewing. It seems that ozone depletion is having a very negative effect on the animals at higher altitudes. The "negative effect" is the animals have all turned into killing machines with man as their prey. Can this band of novices make it out of the woods before they become victims? Man, do I love this kind of movie! It plays out something like a bizarre episode of The Love Boat with killer animals at every turn. But even I realize that Day of the Animals might not be for everyone. If you don't want to watch a band of ill-equipped, ill-prepared 70s types walking and talking their way through the forest, you might want to skip it. The actual animal attacks, while acceptable, are standard 70s movie stuff – nothing overly special or groundbreaking about them. The tension and atmosphere is also standard for a 70s animal attack movie. A shot of the people – a shot of the animal – another shot of the people – a shot of the animal getting closer to the people. If you've seen it once, you've seen it a million times. Fortunately for me, I get a real kick out of this kind of cheese.But the best part of the movie has to be the performance of Leslie Nielsen. It has to be the most over-the-top piece of acting I've ever been fortunate enough to see. You could look far and wide and not find anything that comes close to the scene-chewing on display in Day of the Animals. A friend of mine wrote the he almost gave the movie a 10/10 based solely on Nielsen performance. I've gotta agree with that. He's that amazing!

This was one of the first films I ever saw that dealt with the depletion of the ozone layer. I loved the scene's with the animal attacks and it did produce the odd jump especially the guy who was bitten by the snake in the town near the end. Leslie Neilsen is so hammy you could coat him maple syrup and slap him between some bread, but the main cast of Christopher George, Richar Jaekel and Linda Day Georgewere excellent. The scene that still creeps me out is where the above, along with Santee & Moore arrive at the abandoned camp site, and one, then three then a wholepack of German Shepards appear and give chase. definitely one of the better "animals v man" movies of the seventies