STACK July 2016 Issue 141

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visit DVD&BD FEATURE
38 JULY 2016
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&
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If you're an adventurous viewer who's eager to leave the comfort zone of generic
Hollywood blockbusters, let STACK point you towards strange and exciting new
frontiers in cinema – from the grindhouse to the arthouse and beyond. Words: Scott Hocking
[Note: Some titles discussed may not be available on DVD and Blu-ray, so please check the JB Hi-Fi website.]
WHAT TO EXPECT
Films in which nature runs amok are
essentially an offshoot of the disaster movie.
Instead of earthquakes, towering
infernos and erupting volcanos, it's
killer sharks and bears, or swarms
of insects and arachnids wreaking
havoc. They also don't feature the
big name casts that disaster films
used to attract, but work just fine
with dependable tough guy actors
like Christopher George, William
Shatner, Joe Don Baker and Sam
Elliott in the leading roles (although
1978's A-lister laden The Swarm
was a major exception).
So why does nature rebel against
us in these movies? The reasons are
many and varied but the usual culprit
is some kind of threat to their environment –
toxic waste, pollutants and pesticides can all
turn the most placid tarantula or slug into a
vicious killer. Some of the catalysts are more
outrageous – PCP pumped into a zoo's water
supply (Wild Beasts, 1984), or the depletion of
the ozone layer by fluorocarbons (Day of the
Animals, 1977). A lot of the time there's no
reason, it's just predators doing what they do.
(There are also mutations from
genetic tampering, frequently
of the oversized variety, but
that's a subject for another
chapter.)
An expert in whatever
branch of zoology is relevant
will be called in to discover
what's behind all the animal
aggro – usually a pretty
female scientist to provide
a romantic interest for the
film's macho park ranger/
sheriff/hero. Sometimes a
Native American will offer up
some mystical explanation as
an alternative to the scientific one (Nightwing
and Prophecy, 1979).
The initial attacks are on individuals and will
appear random, but as in any decent disaster
movie, there's always some kind of town fair,
festival or community event where maximum
mayhem can erupt for the film's climax. And of
course there will be an arrogant official who's
more concerned with tourism and profits than
people being eaten, and will refuse to close the
beach/national park or call off the county fair.
The formula remains consistent regardless of
the type of species attacking, which is usually
the title of the movie anyway, so you know
exactly what you're in for.
WHERE TO START
Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is the seminal
nature runs amok movie, but it was Jaws that
established the template just discussed, so
you should really start there. Shark attacks
are a hazard whenever we venture into their
domain, but few films have incited the kind of
phobia over a dip in the ocean as Spielberg's
masterpiece did on its release in the summer
of '75. Jaws not only created the event movie
blockbuster, it also spawned the nature runs
amok sub-genre, being swiftly followed by
William Girdler's killer bear movie Grizzly
(1976) – pitched as "Jaws with claws" and also
required viewing, albeit extremely difficult to
find these days.
BEGINNER’S
GUIDE
#4 - NATURE RUNS AMOK
Following the success of Spielberg's classic Jaws in 1975,
filmmakers seized the opportunity to capitalise on animals on the
rampage. Suddenly every conceivable species on the planet began
attacking humankind, from the ferocious (bears, alligators, dogs) and
the innocuous (worms, cockroaches, frogs), to the just plain ridiculous
(rabbits, slugs, shrews). This horror sub-genre was most popular
during the '70s and early '80s, but wrathful wildlife continues to rise
up against us on the screen to this very day.