Day of the Animals

The depletion of the Earth's ozone layer by aerosols has been causing increased exposure to UV radiation at high altitudes. Scientists observe that animals over 5,000 feet in altitude become highly aggressive. One small-town sheriff barely escapes getting mauled to death by rats. The government orders the evacuation and quarantine of all settlements above that altitude.

In the midst of this, a group of tourists in Northern California set off on a hike through the wilderness, led by tour operator Steve Buckner (Christopher George) and Native American guide Santee (Michael Ansara). With no way of communicating with the outside world, they are ignorant of the strange animal activity and are baffled when a mountain lion attacks their camp. They shrug off the incident and continue the hike, as the woodland creatures eye them menacingly. Later, they are beset by hawks, and a woman falls to her death as a result. They abandon the hike upon finding that their helicopter-dropped food cache has been raided by animals.

Hiker Paul Jenson (Nielsen), an arrogant and violent executive, abandons Buckner and Santee and takes four of the hikers with him: a mother and her boy and two young lovers. He hopes to find help at a Ranger station. The guide takes a less risky route down the mountain. The hikers are not immune to the high-altitude aggression anomaly, and tensions begin to run high. The hot-tempered Jenson finally breaks down; he kills one of his charges and attempts to rape his girlfriend. A grizzly bear approaches, however, and he is killed while trying to wrestle it. The boy, his mother, and an older hiker manage to find refuge inside an abandoned helicopter.

One hiker strays, and picks up a little girl who was abandoned when the government quarantined her town. He tries to drive her to safety, but is slaughtered by vicious dogs and venomous snakes, leaving the girl alone in the relative safety of a junk car. The others manage to get to a town below 5,000 feet, but find it deserted. A pack of German shepherds kills two of them and Buckner leads his surviving charges onto a raft in a nearby river. They are rescued the next day as they float downriver to a Ranger station.

The next day, U.S. Army soldiers in hazmat gear arrive to secure the towns. By then, almost all the animals that went mad have been killed by the same solar radiation that drove them mad in the first place. The little girl and the survivors in the chopper are rescued by the army. At the end of the film, a surviving hawk lunges at the screen just before the credits roll.

• Christopher George as Steve Buckner
• Leslie Nielsen as Paul Jenson
• Lynda Day George as Terry Marsh
• Richard Jaeckel as Prof. Taylor MacGregor
• Kathleen Bracken as Beth Hughes
• Michael Ansara as Daniel Santee
• Ruth Roman as Mrs. Shirley Goodwyn
• Jon Cedar as Frank Young
• Paul Mantee as Roy Moore
• Walter Barnes as Ranger Tucker
• Andrew Stevens as Bob Denning
• Susan Backlinie as Mandy Young
• Michelle Stacy as the little girl

The budget of the production was $1.2 million[3] and shooting took place at Long Barn, California, on Todd-AO 35 film, with the cast recalling that they had a good time.[4]

The animals for the film were trained by Monty Cox, veteran of such productions as Apocalypse Now and The Incredible Hulk, who partnered with cast member Susan Backlinie,[5] who also doubled for Lynda Day George in some scenes.[3] Leslie Nielsen later recalled being very impressed by the grizzly bear.[6]

Day of the Animals was released in U.S. theaters on May 13, 1977 and a movie tie-in novelization, written by Donald Porter, accompanied its release.

Day of the Animals was mostly panned by critics for its poor special effects, goofy premise, banal execution (derivative of The Birds) and on-the-nose environmental themes.[7][8][9]

Some critics have recommended the film to fans of natural horror and disaster films of the 1970s,[10] with AllMovie comparing it to Kingdom of the Spiders and Frogs.[11][12] Additionally, the film has a cult following among many who saw it at a young age.[3]

The film was first released on VHS by Media Home Entertainment in pan-and-scan format. Media Blasters released the film on DVD on April 25, 2006, under its "Shriek Show" imprint, featuring interviews with actors Jon Cedar and Paul Mantee integrated into a featurette.[11]

Scorpion Releasing released a Blu-ray and a second DVD in November 2013, featuring extended versions of the Media Blasters interviews, a soundtrack isolating Schifrin's score and the original TV spot.[13] Katarina Waters hosted an introductory "Katarina's Nightmare Theater" segment.[14]

On March 24, 2017, Rifftrax released a VOD of the film with comedic commentary by Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett.[15]

In 2021, it was re-released Region Free on DVD and Blu-ray by Severin Films.

• Dark Night of the Scarecrow, a 1981 TV horror film
• Grizzly
• Wild Beasts
• Zoombies

• Day of the Animals at IMDb 
• Day of the Animals at the TCM Movie Database
• Day of the Animals at AllMovie