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.

Wild Beasts (1984)* 1/2 (out of 4)PCP gets mixed in with a water supply, which just happens to lead into the local zoo, which causes the animals to go crazy. After an elephant crashes through the wall all of the animals are on the loose and attacking humans.Films like THE FOOD OF THE GODS, FROGS and DAY OF THE ANIMALS were just a few of the "nature attack" films that were popular in America during the 1970s. These types of movies continued to be produced and of course Italy would jump on the bandwagon and the result is this rather bad film that manages to be incredibly boring as well as stupid. As someone who really enjoys these nature movies, this one here was a major disappointment.The biggest problem with this film is that the characters are just so stupid and so annoying that you really want to see them eaten by the animals. Rooting against your lead characters is never a good thing but even with the bad characters couldn't you enjoy the animal attacks? I wish you could but sadly the film is shot so dark that more times than not it's hard to see what's going on. Even worse is the fact that the animal attacks really weren't that believable and it was obvious the animals weren't really attacking.Another problem I had with the film is that even at just 91 minutes the film really dragged at times. The only reason to watch this is if you're a fan of actress Lorraine De Selle who most will remember from HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK and CANNIBAL FEROX. It's always fun seeing regular faces in these movies but even she can't save this turkey.

Franco Prosperi's "The Wild Beasts" is a fairly routine Italian horror flick about nature gone nuts.The real animals were used in this movie and in many cases killed just for the sake of this Italian shocker.The animal attack scenes are very gory,but the photography by Franco Delli Colli is too murky.The use of animals in "The Wild Beasts" is quite stunning,unfortunately the acting is truly horrible.Still it's nice to see Lorraine De Selle of "Cannibal Ferox" and "House on the Edge of the Park" fame in the main role as a professor.There is also a really tense sequence where a cheetah chases a VW bug down the road and a scene where some rats are burned off a windshield in slow motion.So if you are a fan of Italian horror cinema give this one a look.7 out of 10.

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.