STACK #141 Jul 2016

FEATURE DVD & BD

REPEAT OFFENDERS

SHARKS Jaws and its three sequels not only encouraged terrestrial species to run amok, it also sent sharks into a feeding frenzy in films like Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976), Tintorera: Tiger Shark (1977), Deep Blue Sea (1999) and Shark Night (2011). Sharknados and hybrids ( Sharktopus ) don't count!

SNAKES Serpents continue to slither their way into

Now proceed to The Birds (1963) for an atypical example of nature going berserk. In Hitchcock's classic, the Californian town of Bodega Bay is besieged by angry avians with no explanation provided for their bizarre behaviour, although the cast do speculate. Free of the tropes that would define the genre post- Jaws , The Birds is eerie, bleak and terrifying. But what else would you expect from a master filmmaker like Hitch?

rats... an entire ecosystem awaits you. As you will have now realised, these movies are all pretty much the same, and all of them are entertaining in their own insane way. The sidebar on the right will provide you with some useful pointers, but you can't really go wrong with Squirm (1976). A "night of crawling terror" ensues for the residents of Fly Creek,

cinemagoers' worst nightmares, whether in a guest appearance or a leading role. Ophidiophobes should avoid the likes of Sssssss (1973), Rattlers (1976), King Cobra (1981), Venom (1981), Anaconda (1997) and sequels, and Snakes on a Plane (2006).

DVD & BD

Georgia, when thousands of biting worms erupt from electrified mud following a violent storm that's toppled power

Follow up with Joe Dante's Piranha (1978), which of course owes its existence to Jaws but offers a more lighthearted look at the sub- genre, via a blackly humorous script from John

BEARS When nature runs amok you can be sure that belligerent bears will be amongst the rampage. The grizzly dominates ursine horror – Grizzly (1976), Grizzly Rage (2007), Into the Grizzly Maze (2014) – although a black bear ( Backcountry , 2014) and a mutant variety ( Prophecy , 1979) also contribute.

Sayles and the B-movie magic touch of producer Roger Corman. The flesh- eating fish of the Amazon are an obvious candidate for a nature amok movie, but Dante unleashes a genetically engineered freshwater species (bred for release in Vietnamese rivers during the war!), a school of which turn an American summer camp and resort into a bloodbath. FURTHER VIEWING

pylons. This guilty pleasure features some spectacularly gruesome make-

up FX that are guaranteed to

make you, well, do what the title says.

The creepier the creature, the more effective the movie, and spiders send shivers down most people's spines. While Arachnophobia (1990) has numerous skin-crawling moments (and John Goodman for comic relief), by far the scariest arachnid-themed horror is Kingdom of the Spiders (1977). An army of hungry tarantulas overruns a desert town in Arizona, and not even star William Shatner is immune from their bite. An arachnophobe's worst nightmare, this one ticks all the boxes required by a classic nature runs amok movie.

ALLIGATORS & CROCODILES They might have different snouts and habitats, but these prehistoric-looking reptiles are both maneaters, as depicted in The Great Alligator River (1979), Alligator (1980), Lake Placid (1999) and sequels, Primeval (2007) and Rogue (2007).

Where you go from here entirely depends on which particular creature you want to see spreading terror and inflicting damage to the human body, be it snakes, bees, bats, spiders,

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