Wild Beasts

This one is easily one of the nuttiest, most insane Italian exploitation movies ever made. In fact, I don't think this 1984 flick was ever released in the United States until now--although it did circulate pretty widely in bootlegs of varying quality. The story concerns PCP somehow getting into the water supply of a large European city. This causes the animals in the local zoo to go crazy and when the new electronic cage system malfunctions the animals escape and go on a rampage through the city.One notable sequence has a pair of young lovers in a car getting eaten alive by a horde of crazed rats. Those rats are later torched alive by police in what doesn't appear to be a special effect. Another standout scene has an unfortunate woman in an underpowered convertible trying desperately to outrun a cheetah. That sequence somehow manages to be completely ridiculous and extremely suspenseful at the very same time.Things take an even darker turn when it's revealed that animals aren't the only ones driven crazy by the PCP-laced drinking water.Wild Beasts is likely a love it or hate it film. The premise is ludicrous. The violence over the top and occasionally pretty tasteless. The acting and dialogue aren't likely to impress anyone. But the movie has a crazy verve that makes it undeniably compelling--it's nervy, crazy and bizarre, one of those very rare films that has to be seen to be believed.

Warning SPOILERS!!! Director Franco Prosperi (FAREWELL UNCLE TOM - 1971) goes straight for the throat in this exceedingly gory film about animals going berserk after drinking water tainted with PCP. Although low in the logic department, WILD BEASTS offers so much carnage and crazy set-pieces that I doubt you’ll be worrying too much about the gaping plot holes in the storyline. Witness rats devouring a couple making love in a car, a seeing-eye dog attacking his blind master, a herd of elephants crushing a woman’s head like a grape, a cheetah chasing a woman in a Volkswagen Beetle, the same herd of elephants causing a plane crash after invading an airport runway (which results in a citywide blackout), a tiger chomping down on people in a stalled subway car and various other bits of brutality. When a bunch of bratty schoolkids drink the same tainted water (after surviving a polar bear attack!), things get even hairier. Prosperi’s use of real animals in the attack and stampede scenes greatly enhance the proceedings. I felt uneasy watching real animals hunting down people in a blood frenzy, kind of like witnessing a bad accident on the highway (my cats seemed to enjoy it, though, as they grinned at me whenever their overgrown cousins were tearing people apart on screen). Forget the acting here, it is not at all important. But if you want balls-to-the-wall gore (along with some car crashes and real animal mutilations), look no further than this baby. Those Italians. You gotta love’em! Starring Lorraine de Selle, John Aldrich, Ugo Bologna and Louisa Lloyd. A Lightning Video Release Available on widescreen DVD from Severin Films. Not Rated.

Somehow PCP gets into the water supply that ends up driving the animals to attack people in this mid 80s eurotrash creature feature. Although the movie is never as fun as its concept promises. It still manages to be so utterly absurd especially when it concerns killer ballet dancer kids it's just fun and wild. What's really impressive is the real animals they used and I wonder how it all came together. The training must have been insane and I'm sure the film had some fatalities.3.25/5

I've seen a ton of animal attack/creature feature movies, and I've NEVER seen anything like this. Offensive, wild, over-the-top, thrill-a-minute, and containing that special grimy Italian charm horror fans love. I was watching the whole movie with wide shocked eyes. It's not intelligent. It simply delivers what it promises: zoo animals hopped up on PCP attacking people in gory, action-packed ways.Despite some offensive things, I found this one to be highly entertaining. I didn't expect to be so blown away by the insanity of it all. This is a must see, folks. The nice twisted ending also propels this movie over many standard animal attack features.5/5.

Not bad.Not GOOD.But not bad. This is a film I bought based on a review *I* read for it some years ago, and maybe it is because I am older now than I was then, but the reality didn't make up for the anticipation.The telling story of what happens when PCP gets mixed in to a cities (Zoo's) water supply and makes the animals go mad. It has some frighting scenes in it (Elephants bursting through a brick wall among other things) but there are also plot holes big enough to drive a circus train through.My advice? If you are not expecting anything that a mildly gorey, completely brain dead romp with critters high on crack who have the munchies for human meat, then go for it. Warning though, this one also has child nudity and violent death.

My cat loves this movie as you can tell from the photos. Mr. Tinkles (my cat) was rooting for the lions, tigers, and cheetah in this movie. There is an awesome chase scene through the city involving a cheetah that was awesome. The picture and sound quality was astounding. You will never see this movie look better. Severin did a great job on the blu ray. Plenty of extras for all you movie buffs. Lots of gore for you gorehounds. Overall I'm very satisfied with my purchase and so is Mr. Tinkles lol.

Seriously gory nature-gets-revenge on people Italian horror. Only for hard-core horror fans and definitely not for animal lovers. If you like seeing people chased down by cheetahs, mauled by lions, crushed by elephants, devoured by rats and - I kid you not - a children's dance class attacked by a polar bear, then this is the flick for you.

i didnt think the movie could pull off the whole crazed animals terrorize the city but il be damned this turned out to be a fantastic movie find, i dont think theres another movie like this very glad i found it.

THE WILD BEASTS.. Here's a nice English friendly disc of Franco Prosperi's outrageous 1984 creatures on the loose flick.Pcp is unexplainedly released into the Frankfurt water supply and sends the zoo inhabitants crazy. One evening after a malfunction of zoo security the gonzo critters rampage through the city eating and killing whatever they fancy, wreaking a night of bloody terror. It's up to regular Italian-trash whipping girl Lorraine De Selle and obnoxious Super Mario lookalike zookeeper John Aldrich to sort it out.Containing numerous jaw-dropping scenes of animal attacks in urban locations you have to wonder how exactly Prosperi pitched this to the Germans. Would you let a cheeta off the leash on one of your streets in traffic? The story doesn't really hold up to too much scrutiny, but it is one of the last great Italian gore movies and really couldn't be done today without cgi, and that would take all the fun out of it now wouldn't It?My Italian is sketchy but I'm sure there is a text disclaimer at the start that state no animals were harmed in the film, but what they really mean is no expensive ones so be prepared for about 100 live rats eating a real cat, before being set on fire with a flamethrower, and then the poor survivors stomped to death, and a scene at a corral where big cats jump on and then devour loads of terrified cattle and pigs in thier pens. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. Prosperi was one of the co-directors of the original Mondo Cane which set the tone for all subsequent Shockumentaries so these tactics come as no suprise and are probably why the film has never had distribution in the UK or America.Another World Entertainment's disc is leterboxed, uncut and 16:9 with 2 channel stereo surround in English or Italian. The Italian release disc has no English option so take care to get the right one. The transfer is ok considering the vintage but a little dark in some scenes. No feature related extras. THE WILD BEASTS..

A great film very close to reality, not for children or anyone with a feint heart, this is a classic, and very well made and what would or could happen in our day.

I recently watched this film and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.The success of this venture was due to the inclusion of actress Lorraine de Selle who had acquitted herself well in previous projectsie: The House on the edge of the park and Cannibal ferox.In this she plays an animal behaviourologist who has to rescue her daughter from zoo animals who have been exposed to PCP and renderedFeral.

This is a quick review for the " Another World" release. The depicted artwork that looks like a Black Panther appearing through a city skyline and that reads "Rovdyrenes Nat". Great print. You can turn off the subtitles on your dvd player and it's in English dubbed. Superb dvd imported from Italy.

A real holy grail of a film for me. I'd only read about it for years. It really is as good as it gets in the 'animals run amuck' genre. This Scandinavian DVD release boasts a pretty good picture and is uncut so can't complain at all.