By Mrparka
Severin Films brings us the uproarious 1983 animals attack
film “Wild Beasts” to Blu-Ray and DVD. A group of dangerous animals exposed to
PCP break out and run amok in the city; eating, stomping, and tearing their way
into anyone unlucky enough to cross their path.
Franco
Properi, the film’s director, manages to add in political and ecological
messages into the film with some of these elements smashed in with violence,
sex, cheese, and nudity. This is nothing new when you look at some of the other
Italian films of the time, but “Wild Beasts” has a few more tricks up its
sleeve. The animal scenes in “Wild Beasts” are executed very well; the deaths
and scenarios put forth are truly mind boggling and come off as very dangerous.
One scene in particular is the stuff that nightmares are made of: A Cheetah
decides to chase a car down and try to eat the driver in the middle of the
city, nothing quite as surreal as racing a Cheetah along street lights and sky
scrapers. Another brilliantly executed scene involves a man’s faithful
companion deciding to end their relationship while he unknowingly listens to a
record oblivious to his fate, or that his Seeing Eye dog snuck a quick drink at
the zoo. The score by Daniele Patucchi brings a lot of these scenes to life;
its funky when showing shots of the city and paranoid when the attacks are
ready to take place. The film's stuntman must be congratulated, there are
dozens of scenes with men and women alike being torn apart and mauled by the
beasts. The effects in these scenes are good, but the scenes work due to the
animal and human performers more so than the splatter. Like other Euro Horror
of the time, the dialogue is a tad painful as are the social messages; not that
they are ridiculous, but just executed in such a ham-fisted way that one can't
help but smile. Not every movie can be “Cannibal Holocaust” after all. Franco
Properi does follow the approach as to shock the audience to get their
attention; in fact he probably invented it, being half responsible for the
shockmentary “Mondo Cane”. This is shown as he burns rats on film for real;
this scene is pretty unpleasant but, again, a product of its time. We are made
to believe all this violence toward animals is to send home a message about the
infiltration of drugs, terrorist, and ecological disasters in the world, maybe,
but doubts are abundant. By the end of
the film “Wild Beast” wraps up these pretty heavy questions without much
subtlety, this is expected even from the opening when a pile of needles flashes
across the screen amidst shots of a beautiful city. These social messages will leave you
smirking, but it won’t stop “Wild Beasts”
from being a high energy, bat shit crazy entertaining animal attacks movie with a good score.
from being a high energy, bat shit crazy entertaining animal attacks movie with a good score.
The
Blu-Ray looks and sounds great in English or Italian. The disc has a nice
amount of features including interesting interviews with the director and
editor, the latter of which even shows his old editing deck. “Wild Beasts” is a
definite watch for any animal attacks enthusiast or Italian Horror film fanatic.
Video Review
DVD http://www.cavd.com/product.php?productid=2752
Blu-Ray http://www.cavd.com/product.php?productid=2751
For his final work, Godfather Of Mondo Franco E. Prosperi
took on the Nature Strikes Back genre and delivered perhaps the most shocking
movie of his controversial career: When PCP gets into the water supply of a
city zoo, the drug-crazed beasts including tigers, lions, cheetahs, hyenas and
elephants, as well as seeing eye dogs and sewer rats go berserk and rampage
through the streets of Rome. What follows is a terrifying mix of actual animal
attacks (supervised by professional circus trainers) and over-the-top 80s
Italian gore that remains the greatest eco-revenge shocker in EuroCult history.
Lorraine De Selle (CANNIBAL FEROX, HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE PARK) and Ugo
Bologna (NIGHTMARE CITY) star in this disturbing urban bloodbath, now digitally
remastered for the first time ever and bursting with all-new Special Features!
- Altered Beasts: Interview With Director Franco E. Prosperi
- Wild Tony: Interview With Actor Tony Di Leo
- Cut After Cut: Interview With Editor & Mondo Filmmaker
Mario Morra
- The Circus is in Town: Interview With Animal Wrangler
Roberto Tibeti's son, Carlo Tiberti
- House Of Wild Beasts: A Visit To The Home Of Franco E.
Prosperi
- International Trailer
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